Celtic art in Pagan and Christian times

John Stuart Mill · en
Feet. Inches.
    Length of passage                              62     0
    Length from end of passage to back of
       N.W. recess                                 18     0
    Average width of passage                        3     0
    Width of chamber from back of N.E.
       recess to back of S.W. recess               21     0
    Height of passage varies from 4 ft. 9 in. to    7    10
    Height of chamber                              19     6
    Depth of N.E. recess                            8     8
      ”      N.W.    ”                              7     6
      ”      S.W.    ”                              3     4

The side walls of the passage and chamber are constructed of tall
upright stones, having the interstices filled in with rubble work.
The passage is roofed over with single lintel stones. The roof of the
chamber is in the form of an irregular six-sided truncated pyramid
composed of stones corbelled out until they meet sufficiently near
together at the top to be covered by a single slab. The floor was
originally paved with carefully selected, water-rounded pebbles. These
with equal originality and care have been removed by the Irish Board of
Works, and placed in the bottom of the pit dug in front of the carved
stone at the entrance.

There are on the floor four rudely made shallow stone basins, one
in each of the three recesses, and the fourth in the centre of the
chamber. The one in the middle of the chamber was taken from the
position it formerly occupied on the top of the basin in the N.E.
recess (where it was seen by Edward Lhuyd in 1699), and placed where
it now is by the over-officious zeal of the Irish Board of Works. The
large stones used in the construction of the chamber are of the lower
silurian grit of the district.

The following stones of the Newgrange Tumulus are sculptured:—

_On exterior of Mound at Base._

    No. 1.—Above entrance of passage leading to chamber.
    No. 2.—Front of entrance.
    No. 3.—Nearly in a line with axis of passage prolonged to
           cut circumference of mound on N.W. side.
    No. 4.—N. side of mound.

_In Passage._

    N.E. side—twenty-one uprights—Nos. 3, 12, 18, and 21 sculptured,
         counting from entrance inwards.
    S.W. side—twenty uprights—Nos. 10, 11, 17, and 20 sculptured,
         counting from entrance inwards.

[Illustration: Plan of Chamber and Passage of Tumulus at Newgrange, Co.
Meath]

_In Chamber._