Heritage Tour 2019 to Newgrange

Bernadette Forde

Heritage Tours

Annual Heritage tours became a regular feature of our calendar almost since we were founded. It began with a mystery heritage tour of our parish to celebrate heritage week many years ago and it has grown in popularity every year since then. We have gone to many places accompanied by from 30 to 50 people and had fabulous times visiting some amazing venues. The same people come back again and again, so we must be doing something right.

Heritage Tour 2019

The Heritage Tour to Newgrange in 2019 was just prior to the pandemic which put a stop to our tours for a considerable time.

Newgrange

Approximately 40 people set off by bus early in the morning from Barnaderg. We drove straight to Newgrange where we met our guide. After a short break for refreshments, we were divided up into two groups as only a limited number can enter the chamber at any one time. Indeed, we were told by our guide that entering the chamber will be phased out in the near future to protect it from wear and tear. Once that happens, it will only be possible to view its interior virtually, in their visitors’ centre. We hadn’t realised that we were so lucky to be inside and that we would be one of the last groups to do so.

Our tour guide was excellent and all those that entered found it an amazing experience.

Site of the Battle of the Boyne

We then went on to the site of the Battle of the Boyne which is located just a few miles from Newgrange. If our guide at Newgrange was good, our guide here was truly amazing. She brought the tour to a new level and was full of fascinating facts about the battle. She explained about all the artefacts that we were looking at. She brought the story of the battle to life, for us, and surprised us with the fact that some of the sayings we are very familiar with today have their origins in that battle such as ‘a square meal’ and ‘bite the bullet’ just to name two.

Mellifont Abbey & Monasterboice

Our next stop was Mellifont Abbey and we strolled around taking in the old ruins and the historic significance of the place. From there we went to Monasterboice, home of the tallest High Cross in Ireland. We were blessed with the weather as the sun shone for the whole day giving us the freedom to enjoy our tour at our leisure. Here those that had any energy left, strolled around and enjoyed the grounds and the sight of the High Cross.

Sunshine and cameraderie

We enjoyed fantastic sunshine all day as you will see from our photos and stopped on the way home in a venue familiar to most people of a certain vintage “Harry’s of Kinnegad” (popular pre-motorways for match-goers travelling to Croke Park) for dinner and planning our next tour. Little did we know what was to come and that it would be 2023 before we would be venturing forth again.