Photo: Jimmy Harris (CC BY 2.0)

Premium · Walking Tour

Brú na Bóinne — Newgrange, Knowth and DowthNewgrange, Knowth and Dowth in the bend of the Boyne

A self-guided audio companion in 16 stops to Brú na Bóinne, the bend of the River Boyne where Neolithic communities built the great passage tombs of Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth around 3200 BC. It starts at the visitor centre and the footbridge over the Boyne; Newgrange and Knowth are reached only by the visitor-centre shuttle bus on a guided visit. At Newgrange: the Great Circle, the reconstructed quartz façade and the debate over it, the entrance stone and the roof-box that admits the winter-solstice sunrise, the passage and chamber, the kerb and kerbstone 52. At Knowth: the great mound, the timber circle, the eastern passage, the carved kerbstones, the souterrains of the early medieval settlement and the satellite tombs. Dowth is a separate roadside site, not on the shuttle route. Under 2 km on foot in all, in short walks at each site.

Hear a sample narration
Already purchased? Continue your tour → ⤓ Download for offline

16 narrations, yours to keep — no subscription, no expiry. Works offline once downloaded, and if it isn’t for you we’ll refund it.

Going somewhere with no signal? Put the guide on your home screen first, then download it from that icon while you are on wi-fi — that way you download once, and it works in airplane mode with no roaming charges. Show me the order →

16 narration points ~3 hours with the shuttle The visitor centre and the Boyne footbridge, Newgrange's Great Circle, quartz façade, entrance stone, roof-box, passage and chamber, kerb and kerbstone 52, Knowth's great mound, timber circle, eastern passage, carved kerbstones, souterrains and satellite tombs, and Dowth
Verified Sources

Where the facts come from

Every claim in this tour traces back to a named source — excavation records, the heritage authority for the site, and the primary texts themselves. Nothing is copied from other guidebooks, and anything we can't source doesn't make the recording.

  1. 1

    Built from the record

    Each stop is built from OpenStreetMap · 18 features in this old town (the field-surveyed mapping database behind Apple Maps), Wikidata · 7 cross-referenced entries (peer-reviewed structured records), the heritage authority below, and the primary historical texts where they exist.

  2. 2

    Checked against the authority

    Cross-referenced against Modern excavation publications · academic peer-review.

  3. 3

    Anything unsupported is cut

    Every sentence is checked against those sources before it is recorded. If a claim can't be traced, it doesn't make the audio.

  4. 4

    A person signs it off

    Every tour is reviewed by a person before it goes on sale. Stop selection, the route and anything ambiguous come back to the editor for a decision, and those questions routinely send a stop back for another accuracy pass. Nothing publishes on a machine’s say-so.

Spot anything inaccurate? Email [email protected] — fixed in the next pass.

The Tour

Explore Brú na Bóinne — Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth

📍
The visitor centre and the Boyne

Brú na Bóinne Visitor Centre, The Boyne footbridge.

2 narration points
🏛️
Newgrange

Newgrange, The Great Circle, The quartz façade, Kerbstone 1 and the roof-box, The passage and chamber, The Newgrange kerb, Kerbstone 52.

7 narration points
🏘️
Knowth and Dowth

Knowth main mound, Knowth Timber Circle, Knowth eastern passage, Knowth kerbstones, Knowth souterrains and early medieval settlement, Knowth satellite tombs, Dowth.

7 narration points
Highlights

Sites that define Brú na Bóinne — Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth

Newgrange

The great passage tomb built around 3200 BC on a rise above the Boyne, aligned on the midwinter sunrise.

The quartz façade

Michael O'Kelly's reconstruction of the white quartz front, built from the stones found at the entrance and still debated.

Kerbstone 1 and the roof-box

The carved entrance stone with its triple spiral, and above it the opening that lets the solstice sunrise into the chamber.

Knowth kerbstones

A ring of 124 surviving kerbstones, many carved with spirals, lozenges and concentric circles.

Knowth souterrains and early medieval settlement

Underground chambers dug into the mound when it became a defended farmstead from the seventh century AD.

Dowth

The third great mound, dug into in 1847, with the Stone of the Seven Suns in its kerb.

How It Works

Walk. Listen. See what they saw.

1
Open the tour

Tap "Start Walking Tour" and allow location access. The map shows all 16 narration points.

2
Walk at your pace

Follow the suggested route or explore freely. GPS tracks your position. Reach a site and the narration plays automatically.

3
Hear the stories

Each site has its own narration. 16 narration points.

What You Get

A companion through Brú na Bóinne — Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth

📍
GPS-Triggered

Narrations play when you reach each site. No buttons, no track numbers. Walk naturally — the stories find you.

🎤
Studio-Quality Voice

Premium narration that sounds like a documentary. Warm and knowledgeable, not a textbook reading.

📚
Fact-Checked Twice

Every narration is drafted, cross-checked against primary sources, then passed through a second editorial pass that strips unsupported claims. Dates, names, and citations verified.

🗺
Interactive Map

See all narration points on the map. Tap any point to hear it early or replay it later.

🏛
16 Sites

Every narrated point in Brú na Bóinne — Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth, each with its own narration.

⏱
Your Own Pace

Spend an hour or a full day. Skip sites, revisit favourites, take breaks. The tour adapts to you.

Common Questions

How it works

What does the Brú na Bóinne — Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth audio tour cover?

16 narration points, including Newgrange, The Great Circle, The quartz façade, Kerbstone 1 and the roof-box and The passage and chamber. That is about 38 minutes of narration in all, and you walk between the stops at your own pace.

Is the Brú na Bóinne — Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth tour self-guided?

Yes. It plays in your phone’s browser as you walk: no guide, no group, no app to install and no fixed start time.

It’s not just GPS — what are the ways to trigger a narration?

Three ways, all built in:

  • GPS-triggered (default): walk near a site, the narration starts automatically.
  • Tap any marker on the map: open the map view, tap any of the 16 markers to play that narration on demand — no walking required.
  • Queue controls: pause, skip, replay any narration; the queue auto-advances as you walk.

The map-tap option means you can stand anywhere — even at home before you travel — and play any narration. GPS just makes it hands-free while you’re actually walking the site.

Do I need cell service or data while I’m there?

No. Use the “Download for offline” button before you go, and the entire tour — audio, maps, narration text — works without any data connection. Tap-to-play and the map both work fully offline. GPS itself doesn’t need data; only the download does.

How do I make it work with no signal — and open it again later?

Add the icon first, then download from the icon. On iPhone a guide downloaded in Safari cannot be seen by the home screen icon, so downloading first means downloading the whole thing twice.

  1. Tap Download for offline above. It opens the guide.
  2. Put that page on your home screen — steps below.
  3. Open the guide from the new icon and download it there, on wi-fi. Keep the screen open until it finishes.

Putting it on your home screen — iPhone or iPad (Safari):

  1. Tap the three dots at the bottom of the screen.
  2. Tap Share.
  3. Scroll down the list and tap Add to Home Screen, then Add.

On Android (Chrome): tap the three-dot menu at the top right, tap Add to Home screen (some phones say Install app), then confirm. On Android either order works.

If you opened this link from inside Instagram, Facebook or Gmail, you are in that app’s built-in browser. It cannot add anything to your home screen, and a guide downloaded there is thrown away when the app closes. Open the link in Safari or Chrome first.

What if my phone’s GPS is unreliable?

Two backstops. First, the map shows every site — just tap the marker for the place in front of you. Second, you can manually queue any narration even when GPS is off. The platform never assumes GPS works; it’s the convenience layer, not the gate.

How long is the tour and how much time do I need?

The audio runs ~3 hours with the shuttle total, but you walk at your own pace. 16 narration points across the site. Most visitors take 2–4 hours; some spread it over multiple visits. Once you buy it, it’s yours — there’s no expiry and no subscription. Come back next year if you like; the link in your receipt always works.

Can I share with my partner or family?

One purchase covers one device session. Most couples share earbuds and use a single phone — the audio is paced for that. If you want everyone listening on their own device, each person needs their own purchase. We do not gate sharing aggressively; we trust visitors to do the right thing.

What if I never use the tour, or never make it to the site?

Full refund if you never trigger a single narration on-site. Partial refund based on how far you got. See the refund policy for specifics.

Walk Brú na Bóinne — Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth
16 narration points.
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