Loughcrew is a Stone Age cemetery (c. 3200 BC) comprising some 30 passage tombs (like Newgrange) situated on a hill (Sliabh na Caillí - the Hill of the Hag) in northwest County Meath. Many of the tombs are in ruins, but we can enter one of the best-preserved ones, the tomb of Ollamh Fodhla, the poet-king who instituted the triennial feis at Tara in 1335 BC.

The mound is known locally as "the witch's cave". I was told by a teenager -- who wouldn't go near the place -- that the witch will put a curse on you if you go inside. That doesn't stop people from gathering to celebrate sunrises, weddings, and whatever you're having yourself.

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The tomb, labelled "Cairn T" by archaeologists, faces east, so that the rising sun at the Spring and Autumnal Equinoxes shines through the passage to illuminate sun symbols on a stone at the back of the chamber.

The beam of sunlight is shaped by the upright and the sill stones in the passageway so that a bright rectangle moves diagonally across the stone as the sun rises, illuminating each of a series of sun symbols in turn.

Video of sunbeam movement across the stone

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As reported by Martin Brennan,* Cairn U, NE of Cairn T, has a stone bisected by a shadow at Summer Solstice, and its passage is aligned to 4 Feb and 8 Nov cross-quarter days, like the passage tomb at Tara. Cairn V, SE of Cairn T, marks the Winter Solstice. Y-shaped Cairn S, NW of Cairn T, marks sunsets on 6 May and 8 Aug cross-quarter days. A stone at Cairn N, SW of Cairn T, aligns on the Hill of Fore to mark the Winter Solstice sunset.

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*The Stars and the Stones - Ancient Art and Astronomy in Ireland; Thames and Hudson, 1983; ISBN: 0-500-27283-2