Welcome to Fourknocks! - a quick tour of ancient megalithic monument in photographs and video

A wide-angle view of Fourknocks from the northeast. It was excavated and restored in the 1950s.

Fourknocks is a small megalithic passage-tomb on a ridge in southeastern County Meath, about 9 miles (14.7km) miles from Newgrange. The passage of Newgrange actually points towards Fourknocks, although neither site can be seen from the other due to intervening hills. There were two mounds excavated at Fourknocks by archaeologist P.J. Hartnett in the 1950s - this one, labelled Fourknocks I, and a nearby mound known as Fourknocks II. The latter was found to contain a cremation trench, where it is thought the remains of the deceased were cremated before being placed in Fourknocks I. This is a small selection of photos and a video from Fourknocks I, showing several of its features.

The short passage leading into a large, egg-shaped chamber with three recesses.

The entrance lintel stone has been placed on its side in the chamber for protection.

The western or right-hand recess. It is the largest recess and has a small plinth stone within.

A view towards the entrance, showing the lintel (left) and the "guardian" stone (right) illuminated.

Zig-zag carvings on a lintel above the interior of the passage. Their meaning is not known.

Concentric circles on another stone near the passageway. The stone is known only as Stone B.

Honouring the ancestors at Fourknocks.

A faded spiral on Stone B.

Lozenges and zig-zags on the lintel of the southern (end) recess.

Don't forget to watch this short video from inside Fouknocks. It gives a brief idea of the size of the monument and some of the features inside.

Tara calling - Anthony Murphy speech video

Archaeologist Professor George Eogan speaks about discovering Knowth's two passages

Professor George Eogan, who excavated the megalithic passage-tomb at Knowth for more than four decades, speaks about discovering the passageways and shares some of his memories of working on the site.

Ever wondered what the inside of Dowth looks like?

This is one of the most interesting and useful videos relating to the Boyne Valley that I've seen in a long time. It's a fly-through tour of Dowth's northern and southern chambers based on laser scanning and gives you a real sense of what it's like inside. The survey work was carried out by David Strange-Walker of Trent & Peak Archaeology and Marcus Abbott of ArcHeritage. Thanks to Dr Steve Davis of University College Dublin, and the Office of Public Works, Ireland, for funding this project.

I was inside Dowth's northern chamber a number of years ago. I visited with a group, and we accessed this chamber through the souterrain, just as shown in this video. The imagery is from real scans, and is therefore incredibly accurate.

Those of you who have visited Dowth for the sunset at winter solstice might be familiar with the interior of the southern chamber, which is the shorter, circular chamber. However, the northern chamber is completely off bounds to the public - at least those who might never get the chance to go inside it can now do so virtually. Fantastic stuff.