About the model
Dowth, one of the three great mounds of Brú na Bóinne (c. 3200 BC, not independently dated), is a kerbed mound about 85 m across and 15 m high with an estimated 115 kerbstones (about half visible), covering two passage tombs that open on its west side within 25 m of each other, and an early medieval souterrain. Dowth North: a passage now about 8 m long with three sills to a cruciform chamber (a large basin in the centre, pieced together in 1847) and an annex off the right recess. Dowth South: a short passage (3.3-4 m) to a circular chamber about 5 m across with one large right-hand recess; its roof is a concrete one of c. 1885-86. The 1847 excavation left a crater in the top that was never repaired. Dowth South is lit by the setting sun in the winter months, most fully around the winter solstice; Dowth North's entrance was remodelled and blocked.