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Images of Fourknocks Megalithic Passage Tomb

Photographs of Fourknocks in County Meath, including the grass-covered passage tomb, aerial views, and the remarkable megalithic art carved inside the chamber.

Grass-covered Fourknocks mound with a dark stone entrance, chain-link fence and information board under a clear blue sky. Fourknocks passage tomb, front view.
Aerial view of three labelled grass mounds at Fourknocks in green fields divided by hedgerows. Fourknocks, main mound and two unexcavated tombs.
Top-down aerial photograph of the circular grass-covered Fourknocks mound with a dark entrance opening at its base. Fourknocks aerial view.
Lintel stone over the western recess at Fourknocks carved with rows of zigzags meeting in stacked lozenge shapes. Lintel stone over western recess, Fourknocks, 140cm (55 inches) x 50cm (20 inches).
Lintel stone over the southern recess at Fourknocks covered in nested lozenge and zigzag carvings. Lintel stone over southern recess, Fourknocks, 130cm (51 inches) x 50cm (20 inches).
Decorated chamber stone west of the Fourknocks entrance with three horizontal rows of zigzag carvings above dry-stone walling. Decorated stone in the Fourknocks chamber, west of the entrance, 160cm (63 inches) x 30cm (12 inches).
Decorated stone east of the Fourknocks entrance with concentric circles and spiral carvings across a pale triangular slab. Decorated stone in the chamber east of the entrance, 90cm (35 inches) x 50cm (20 inches).
Black and white drawings by Martin Brennan of three Fourknocks lintels labelled central recess, west recess and entrance lintel. Megalithic art at Fourknocks illustrated by Martin Brennan.

Fourknocks Passage Tomb: an intimate site

There is no visitors centre and often no one else around to disturb the peaceful atmosphere. Spend as long as you want inside the chamber, studying the wonderful megalithic art or in quiet meditation. The engraving of a human face and torso on a stone in the chamber is one of the oldest anthropomorphic representations in Ireland. See the Fourknocks Face Stone.

Fourknocks was constructed about 5,000 years ago and is contemporary to Newgrange and the other passage tombs in the Boyne Valley. It is located 16km (10 miles) southeast of Newgrange. The name Fourknocks is from the Irish Fuair Cnocs meaning Cold Hills.

Fourknocks has a short passage leading into a wide pear shaped chamber with three smaller offset chambers. The original roof was probably a wooden structure supported by a central pole. The current concrete roof was constructed in 1952 at the end of a two year excavation. Fragments of 65 burials were found in the tomb, both cremated and unburnt remains of adults and children. Decorated pottery and vessels and personal ornaments including pendants and beads were also found. All of the items found were moved to the National Museum.

The entrance to Fourknocks is too far north to have a solar alignment, however the Fourknocks mound is aligned with the path of winter solstice sunrise towards Newgrange. During the stone age the passage at Fourknocks was aligned with the heliacal rising of the "W" shaped constellation of Cassiopeia, perhaps this accounts for the dominance of W shaped zig zag megalithic art at Fourknocks.

Close-up of a Fourknocks lintel with multiple rows of zigzag carvings, lit from above inside the dark chamber. Decorated stones at Fourknocks I, excavated by Hartnett in 1950. Photograph: Kieran Campbell.

More on Fourknocks, the excavation reports, and Fourknocks in the snow.

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