Monknewtown Pond

Nearest town:
Slane (4km WSW)
OS reference:
O004753
OS sheet:
43
Latitude:
53° 43' 3.65 N
Longitude:
6° 28' 44.46 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Monknewtown Pond (Enclosure) by ryaner

The pond is surrounded by a bank and external ditch. This shot is taken from the north-west of the site.

Image credit: ryaner
ryaner
ryaner Oct 11, 2013
Image of Monknewtown Pond (Enclosure) by ryaner

The bank on the western arc of the enclosure rises to a height of over 3 metres.

Image credit: ryaner
ryaner
ryaner Oct 11, 2013

Articles

Monknewtown Pond

ryaner
ryaner Oct 22, 2013

Highlight of the day (and we still took in the magnificent Dowth henge) and a wonderful surprise, I don’t know how to classify this. There’s an ancient pond and this has been enclosed by a bank, well over 2 metres high in places, like you might see in classic henge construction.

I pondered (excuse the pun) the purpose for quite a while, thinking of ritual drownings (recent reading about iron-age and neolithic sacrifices encouraging my more morbid imaginings) or some sort of neolithic baptism or ritual bathing, with punters lining the sides of the enclosure in awe and reverence. I mean, why else enclose the place?

There’s a ditch very visible on the outside to the east. The bank is at its highest on the western arc. There’s an entrance to the north where the stream that feeds the pond cuts through the bank and there are signs of another entrance on the eastern side. I’d like to go back here in say January, when all the growth will have died away and the construction would be more visible. A real treat this.

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