Richard Moore's latest art installation - giant 'High Man' Orion/warrior/hero figure grabbing summer solstice sun

Richard Moore’s latest giant art installation will be completed today, on the summer solstice, in a field in front of Newgrange.

These stunning aerial images of the artwork were taken by
Noel Meehan of Copter View Ireland
 (facebook.com/copterviewireland)

His new creation is the ‘High Man’, a giant warrior/god/hero holding the sun, based on Irish legends and the fact that in the sky, the huge hero constellation Orion appears to grab the sun on the longest day of the year.

The High Man measures almost 150 metres tall (493 feet) and is situated in such a way that it reflects alignments concerning both winter solstice and summer solstice.

Richard shot to fame on Easter weekend when he created a huge Byzantine image of the face of Jesus in a field in Drogheda, helped by another local artist, Derek McCloskey.

Now the pair have created an even larger image, but this time in the heart of the historic Boyne Valley.

Artist Richard Moore at the site of the art near Newgrange.

It’s based upon a giant warrior figure dubbed the ‘High Man’ which was discovered in the landscape of Louth and Meath by Moore and fellow author and researcher Anthony Murphy. They wrote about it in their book ‘Island of the Setting Sun - In Search of Ireland’s Ancient Astronomers’.

The giant heroic figure is located in an area anciently known as Ferrard - from Fer Ard, meaning ‘High Man’. This area stretches right down to the Boyne river, and so Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth were all in this ancient region.

Midday on summer solstice - Orion holds the sun.

“The summer solstice is a very significant time in this current era,” Richard explained. “On this day, the sun is located above Orion, in his upraised hand, as if he is holding onto it. This is something that only happens in this modern age. The sun’s solstice positions are slowly regressing through the Zodiac, taking almost 26,000 years to complete one revolution. So when the summer solstice sun’s position gradually moves out of Orion’s hand, as it will do over the next few decades, it will be almost 26,000 years before that happens again.”

Artist Derek McCloskey, who is helping Richard with the
image, demonstrates the pose of the High Man.

Moore and Murphy are convinced that the builders of Newgrange were aware of this 26,000-year movement, known to astronomers today as the ‘Precession of the Equinoxes’.

The pair say that the Stone Age builders were advanced astronomers and were also keen surveys, based largely around their comprehensive astronomical knowledge.

The beauty of the new ‘High Man’ creation is that it is positioned in such a way as to reflect both summer solstice and winter solstice.

A close-up aerial view of part of the new High Man image.
Picture: Noel Meehan, www.facebook.com/copterviewireland

“It is located on the winter solstice line from Newgrange,” said Richard. “If you could trace a line from the chamber of Newgrange, out through the entrance, towards the rising sun on winter solstice, this line would intersect Mound A, this mound in the field where the High Man is located, and further on it would eventually meet Fourknocks, a small Neolithic mound almost 15 kilometres away.”

In addition to this, the figure itself is aligned to mark summer solstice. It is positioned so that it is pointing towards the place on the horizon where the sun rises on summer solstice. If you could darken the sky and see the stars, you would see the giant warrior constellation Orion appearing to ‘carry’ the sun through the sky. It’s quite remarkable,” said Richard.

Richard Moore at work on the 'High Man' image near Newgrange.

An overview of the High Man image in progress. Picture by Noel Meehan
(https://www.facebook.com/copterviewireland)

Could the moon's mountains be seen from ancient Ireland?

The writings of Diodorus Siculus describe an island which many think was Ireland, inhabited by the Hyperborei, from which he said the moon appeared closer to the earth, and features like mountains could be seen. He also wrote that these inhabitants knew all about the 19-year cycle of the moon. Interesting stuff. You can hear me reading from Siculus and discussing the passage in the above video. 

Mythical Ireland news bulletin May 2014

Comparative images of the possible monument at Ballyboy Lake, in the Boyne Valley near Dowth

This is a series of images of the possible archaeological feature at Ballyboy Lake, near Dowth, in the Boyne Valley, as seen on Google Earth, Flash Earth and Ordnance Survey imagery. The circular feature may just be an optical peculiarity, or a vegetation feature. It certainly warrants further investigation. Might it be a crannóg - a lake dwelling, of which there are 1,200 known examples in Ireland? I have brought this feature to the attention of an archaeologist, who will hopefully be able to ascertain whether this might be a newly discovered archaeological monument. Of course, there's always the possibility that it's nothing . . . but we will wait and see.

Possible monument at Ballyboy Lake, near Dowth

A short video about a circular feature that I discovered on Google Earth. This is a quick look at three separate aerial/satellite images of the possible archaeological feature at Ballyboy Lake, near Dowth and Newgrange, in the Boyne Valley, Ireland. I initially spotted it using Google Earth, which is showing imagery taken in 2013. But the feature is also present in Ordnance Survey images and also on Microsoft's Flash Earth. The Google Earth and Flash Earth images look very similar, but were taken at different times of day, as you can see by the hedgerow/tree shadows. At the very least, this feature deserves further investigation. It might not be anything . . . but given that this is just 1.25km from Dowth and 1.8km from Newgrange, anything is possible. Might it be a crannóg? I have brought it to the attention of an archaeologist and hopefully someone will get to take a closer look and ascertain what it might be.

Remarkable gold technology from ancient Ireland

Artist creates incredible resurrection image for Easter

Irish artist Richard Moore has created an enormous image of the resurrected Jesus in a field in his home town of Drogheda. The huge depiction - based on a Byzantine image of the resurrected Christ - was created using fertiliser to help bring out the image from the surrounding grass. The gigantic portrait covers an area of approximately two acres.

Richard Moore's image of the resurrected Christ viewed from the air.

Richard explained the inspiration behind the image: "This image stems from a line in the Psalms - 'I will remove sin as far as the East is from the West'. Jesus's crucifixion and resurrection is the balance restored for mankind.  The eyes of the image are on a line in that is on an east west line that extends all the way from Drogheda to Croagh Patrick, an alignment which also marks the Spring and Autumn Equinox sunrise and sunset. And of course Spring Equinox is the astronomical event from which Easter is calculated each year."

"Artist Derek Closkey and myself used very basic materials and astronomy to measure out the image," Richard explained. "I was trying to see how the ancient builders of megalithic sites might have worked out methods of transferring large images on to the ground without being able to see it and still get it right."

Richard has a major interest in ancient megalithic sites and their alignments and is co-author with Anthony Murphy of the book 'Island of the Setting Sun - In Search of Ireland's Ancient Astronomers'.

The giant depiction took about two weeks to create. Richard and Derek marked the area out and then put down fertilizer along the outline of the image to help the grass grow faster so that the image would 'appear' out of the surrounding field.

He has never done anything like this before. Richard typically paints landscapes and streetscapes using mainly oil and acrylics on board and canvas. This is certainly the biggest canvas he's ever used!!