Dowth Hall

During renovation and restoration work at Dowth Hall in the Boyne Valley, Co. Meath, just east of the great mound of Dowth itself, the remains of a large passage tomb, or cluster of tombs, were discovered underlying the gardens immediately surrounding the house. The uncovering of the passage tombs was one of the most extraordinary discoveries in the Boyne Valley since the major excavations at Newgrange and Knowth in the 1960s.

There, archaeologists from UCD School of Archaeology, under the direction of Dr. Clíodhna ní Lionáin with Devenish Nutrition, uncovered two main chambers and a series of kerbstones. Some of the stones bear typical megalithic art of the passage tomb tradition. The discovery of so much art only enhances the Boyne Valley’s status as the highest concentration of megalithic art in Europe.

I was very priviliged to be involved from the very beginning with the documentation and interpretation of the site through aerial and ground photography of the passage tombs and the artefacts discovered there.

Selected photographs from my archive were chosen for large scale reproduction and included in the group exhibition ‘I send my love along the Boyne’ at the Solstice Arts Centre in Navan.