Geophysical Survey at Millmount

Well the hard work has all been done, the mound complex has been scanned inside and out (literally), and now comes the hard work of a different nature; correlating all the data to see what exactly is there. The site could possibly stretch as far back as the neolithic era, which would place it within the same category as Newgrange, Knowth & Dowth, and hopefully solve the mystery of whether legendary Celtic bard Amergin (or someone else) was buried here!

The preliminary results should be made available in the new year so we won't have too long to wait to uncover Millmounts' secrets!

Beginning scanning the Mound

Dr. Conor Brady gets ready for his interview with RTE's Philip Bromwell

Kevin Barton of lgs.ie points out something? on the radar

The Civil Defence lend a hand with the heavy equipment

What lies beneath?

All smiles because they're at the bottom of the hill!

Scanning in the tower basement

Is he small or far away?

Even the road around the mound wasn't forgotten 

Brendan Matthews & Sean Corcoran with the members of the Civil Defence & the geophys team

images (c.) Drogheda Museum Millmount

Today - Looking Deep into the Millmount Mound

Millmount Geophys Survey - Open to Public today Sat 23 Nov 3pm-4pm.


MARS (Millmount Archaeological Remote Sensing project) - the geophys survey to look deep into the mound at Millmount - is under way! This is the first survey of it's kind in either Ireland or Britain and (apart from one local generous benefactor) is entirely funded by the Old Drogheda Society.

MARS with RTE cameraman

The survey is open to the press and public today Sat 23 Nov from 3pm to 4pm and the team will demonstrate their techniques and show initial discoveries.

MARS Director, Kevin Barton of www.lgs.ie

Legend has it that Millmount is the burial place of the mythical Celtic bard Amhairgin (or Amergin in English), who in Early Irish Cosmology was the inventor of song and poetry.  We may not find Amhairgin but archaeologist Conor Brady (who along with scientist Kevin Barton of www.lgs.ie is conducting the survey) thinks that there is a strong possibility that a passage grave like that at Newgrange is lurking under the mound. An RTÉ camera crew filmed the survey on Fri and it will be features on RTÉ 6.1 News on Mon 25th Nov.

•  Old Drogheda Society - History, Archaeology & Heritage - Millmount, Drogheda, Co. Louth, Ireland. Tel. 041-9833097 & 041-9833097

Special Heritage Week Lecture

                               

& Old Drogheda Society

Special HERITAGE WEEK lecture

 

THE SEARCH FOR AMHAIRGIN

 

Looking deep into Millmount’s past …

 

by

Kevin Barton & Conor Brady

Thursday 22^nd August 2013 @ 8pm

Governor’s House, Millmount Cultural Quarter

Using the latest geophys technology Drogheda Museum begin a year-long project to look deep into the ancient mound at Millmount in a search for Drogheda’s Stone Age …

It is thought that the mound at Millmount in Drogheda was originally part of the great Megalithic (“large stone”) Culture which flourished in the Boyne Valley from 5,000BCE to 2,000BCE and includes the internationally-famous tombs of Newgrange and Knowth. Its importance in our collective folk memory is underlined by the legend that the mythological figure Amhairgin (pronounced “Aver-gin”) the originator of song and poetry is buried there.

Because of the huge amount of structural changes on the mound over the millennia normal archaeological excavation is impossible but now through the wonders of modern electronic remote sensing (“geophys”) we can scan deep into Millmount and begin to unlock its secrets.

Leaders of the Project Team,

Kevin Barton of Landscape & Geophysical Services

and

Conor Brady, Lecturer in Archaeology at DKIT

will launch the research programme with a special lecture in

The Governor’s House Millmount
 .
Bookstall on night.