Boyne Voyage: Getting the best of Ireland's Ancient East and Newgrange
Newgrange, BrĂș na BĂłinne, Boyne Valley.
Irelandâs Ancient East can often be overlooked, but with its close proximity and transport links to Dublin, in particular, it can be a nice and stress-free staycation destination.
For this reason, we decided to leave the car at home and hop on the Drogheda-bound commuter train, which serves Pearse, Tara and Connolly stations in the city, as well as a number of suburbs in north Co Dublin.
On our agenda was all of the arts and culture Boyne Valley could offer, starting off with a visit to Highlanes Gallery on St Laurence Street.
This public gallery and exhibition space is regularly transformed, depending on what is being showcased. From moving walls, to light installations and sound, itâs possible to not even recognise it on your second visit.
What stays the same, however, is how the staff treat the space and the guests.
Visitors are encouraged to treat areas of the gallery âlike your kitchenâ, with colours and paper for children â and big artists â to create their own masterpieces.
Our guide told us that on busy days, there may be children sprawled across the floor of the whole room putting their imaginations down on paper.
Stuffy and stuck-up is not the kind of gallery Highlanes is. Set in a former church building, some of the original features of an altar have been restored and sit in a bright white room next to whatever the latest collection is.
There is also stained glass windows casting a glow on the art when the sun is shining.
There is a cafĂ© on site, but we moved on for some lunch, following the hilly streets of the town, past the church that houses Oliver Plunkettâs head, to the teal façade of 79th West Street.
Inside is decorated with big, bold prints and framed paintings of animals and insects. This gastropub looks like it would be lively in the evening, but as itâs midday and the sun is shining on this day, itâs fairly quiet.
There is an extensive cocktail menu and plenty to eat too. We opt for a carvery and feel like we need to roll out of the place afterwards as the portions are generous.
Itâs a good thing our next stop is a walking tour, as it will give us plenty of time to digest.
We head to Droichead Arts Centre to meet GrĂĄinne Rafferty, our guide for the DRAWDA Mural Art Tour.
She leads us through the streets of Drogheda, stopping at large and detailed works of art on the side of buildings and walls, telling us the stories that inspired them, such as the Morrigan, the Salmon of Knowledge and Etain, all of which have connections to Boyne Valley.
Raffertyâs storytelling is both humorous and immersive, with each scenario playing out in your mind as she speaks.
This tour would appeal to anyone with an interest in history, art, legends and even those just wanting to get to know the area better. It would go along nicely with a trip to the actual Boyne Valley, to piece it together better.
We had to cut our tour slightly short to make our way to Slane, Co Meath, on the 190 bus from Drogheda bus station.
Home to massive live shows and quant establishments, Slane is always a treat to visit. Our first stop here was Patâs Art Studio.
Itâs a fairly unassuming building on the townâs crossroads but inside is truly a treasure chest of art and lore.
Upstairs is Pat Doyleâs home, but downstairs is open to the public to browse his collection and even watch him at work. We sat down with the man himself to have a chat about his life and art, before he brought us on a tour of the whole shop to tell us about the paintings.
From America, to Africa, Asia and Achill Island, heâs seen so much of the world and captured it in his artwork as he paints onsite.
Itâs astonishing to see and hear what he encountered in some of the most remote parts of the world. I highly recommend stopping by, taking a look and asking Pat about his travels.
One painting that stood out wasn't from the depths of rural Australia, but rather from right outside his own front door, in June 2023, when Harry Styles came to town.
He captured the scene as hoards of fans tackled Slaneâs hilly terrain to the sell-out show at the Castle, wearing brightly coloured clothing and feather boas. The sheer excitement and camaraderie of the fans is brilliantly captured through Patâs work.
Next, we crossed the road to the Conyngham Arms Hotel for a delicious evening meal before heading back to Drogheda by taxi and checking into our home for the evening, the Marcy hotel, directly across from 79th West Street.
The hotel is perfectly located for a night out, but as we had an early start the next day, we decided to take it easy. The in-house bar sounded lively as we passed through the lobby, too.
This three-star boutique hotel had recently been renovated when we stayed and definitely did the job for our evening.
After a pleasant nightâs sleep, we made our way back to Drogheda bus station to catch a bus to our next destination: BrĂș na Boinne.
The bus is a small van and parks outside of a Spar, rather than in the actual station, which confused us at first. But once on board, we took the windy roads to the main attraction, with a brief stop to the site of the Battle of the Boyne.
When we reached BrĂș na BĂłinne, we took the pathway to the visitor centre which, with itâs wooden gazebo walkway, felt like something straight of the Japanese city of Kyoto.
After checking in, we headed downstairs to the on-site Brambles café for some breakfast, before heading back upstairs to read and hear more about the historic site.
With interactive displays and a light show resembling the Book of Kells experience in Trinity College Dublin, there was plenty to take in and learn about before visiting the actual ancient sites.
Out the back door of the visitor centre, youâre immediately greeted with peace and serenity as you cross over a bridge and take a moment to watch the swans as they drift up the river. The countryside is so still.
There are blackberries, trees and bird song. We had to wait for the bus to the sites so we sat on a bench and read from a book I had bought from the gift shop about Irish ghost stories (it was the beginning of spooky season after all).
After a short wait, a coach picked ourselves and others up and brought us to our first stop: Knowth.
The prehistoric monument overlooks the River Boyne, and a field with animals who havenât a notion of the importance of the area they graze on. Itâs made up of a large passage tomb and 17 smaller tombs.
Home to the largest assemblage of megalithic art in Europe, itâs so interesting to look at the different swirls and shapes carved into the stones and trying to decipher what they could possibly mean.
After this, the group is taken across the road to watch a short video and there are different rock types to feel and even take a crayon trace of, aimed at children but is a nice souvenir if youâre so inclined.
After hopping back on the bus, itâs time to head to the main event of Newgrange.
The group must be split up in two due to the small space inside the tomb, and bags need to be held in front of you to avoid getting caught or scratching the walls.
Itâs a fair rule to follow considering the sheer age of the tomb and the amount of intentional and unintentional vandalism it has had to endure over the years.
Surprisingly small inside, itâs fair to say that very few people will get the chance to visit Newgrange on the Winter Solstice, when the sun perfectly illuminates the chamber. The tour, however, gives guests the chance to see how it would look.
The group spent a moment in complete darkness before a replica light begins to rise, just as the sun would. Within minutes, the whole chamber is painted with an amber glow of what would be the rising sun.
Though completely fabricated, it is such a magical feeling to imagine the real deal playing out like that.
As the second group headed inside, we took a walk around the perimeter of the tomb, taking it all in.
Though itâs not somewhere I would have necessarily bookmarked to go on a staycation to â mainly because I have been there plenty of times for one reason or another and even worked in Drogheda for a period â I was genuinely impressed with what the Ancient East had to offer as a destination.
BrĂș na BĂłinne is literally Europe's largest and most important concentration of prehistoric megalithic art, but the street art tour and the galleries are the cherries on top. In fact, we would have loved to spend another night soaking it all up.
There is no denying that some areas of Drogheda, in particular, are quite run down, which is a shame for this historic town.
It has the potential to be as vibrant as the likes of Edinburgh with the right initiatives to rebuild and repurpose abandoned buildings.
- Irish Rail's Northern Commuter line serves Drogheda from Dublin city, with tickets approximately âŹ9.75 each way, irishrail.ie.
- The Marcy has rooms from âŹ108, themarcy.ie.
- Tickets for BrĂș na Boinne are âŹ10 for an adult and âŹ5 for children, with other options available, heritageireland.ie.
- Rebecca was a guest of Boyne Valley Tourism, discoverboynevalley.ie.
