Newgrange Triple Spiral

Newgrange is where the Story of Ireland starts: older than the pyramids, this 5,000 year old earth and stone structure in the Boyne Valley is celebrated for many extraordinary features including the elaborate decorative carvings, typified by the iconic triple spiral.

The engineers, who built the structure 5,000 years ago, designed it so that at sunrise on the shortest day of the year the first rays of sun would travel along the passage and light up the inner chamber.

Wild Goose visited Newgrange to find out more about the inspiration for the bronze Triple Spiral we make. We spoke to eminent archaeologist Elizabeth Shee Twohig and she told us about the care and precision involved in capturing this particular angle of light at Winter Solstice.

It’s clear that the shortest day held huge significance for our Neolithic ancestors. And now 5,000 years later, Christmas is widely regarded as our most important festival. While we can’t know what rituals and traditions were maintained by the civilisation that built Newgrange, we do know about some of the folkloric traditions that survived for centuries in rural Ireland.