AUTHOR ANTHONY MURPHY ON HIS UNIQUE HENGE DISCOVERY
AFTER 20 YEARS OF VISITING, WRITING ABOUT AND PHOTOGRAPHING NEWGRANGE AND THE BOYNE VALLEY, ANTHONY MURPHY TELLS ALISON COMYN HIS NEW HENGE DISCOVERY IS JUST THE BEGINNING
IT could be my imagination but watching Anthony Murphy walk into the offices of the Drogheda Independent to talk about his remarkable discovery, he appears to be a good six inches taller than normal! It is barely three days since his drone footage showing what appears to be a new henge near Newgrange went viral – it had just been picked up by CNN and the New York Times – and the Drogheda man is walking on air.
‘I’m actually finding it difficult to believe the enormity of it, and that something so big could have been hidden from view and missed by the archeologists for so long,’ says the local writer and photographer.
‘My reaction to this discovery is obviously one of great joy, satisfaction and gratitude, having been passionate about the Boyne Valley for almost 20 years, and never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be involved in a revelation of this magnitude, right there in the UNESCO world heritage site that has been under so much scrutiny from archaeologists for decades. Never in a million years would I have even thought it possible.’
Anthony’s adventure began last Tuesday evening, when new finds in the UK because of the dry weather prompted him to take out his drone.
‘I had seen sites in Britain being discovered because of the drought, so I thought I would take the drone out over the valley and see what I could find,’ he explains.
‘My friend and colleague Ken Williams turned up and it was lovely he was there too when something extraordinary happened, as he has an equal passion and has been researching for years.’
On a second sweep of the valley, something caught Anthony’s eye on the screen, and within seconds he knew he was looking at something out of the ordinary!
‘What I actually said is what would be more commonly known by the acronym WTF!,’ he says with a cheeky laugh.
‘I let this shout out, and Ken ran over and we both just looked at this huge circle in the field, and he said, ‘ Mother of God, what is that’?’
What they were looking at was a giant circle, made from a series of pits and potholes dug out of the ground where timber was then inserted.
‘Basically, what happens is the timbers rot away, and the postholes fill up with organic material, and because the soil density is different, you’re left with a scar that doesn’t heal, and the dry conditions reveal what was there,’ explains the father of five, who works in the Farmer’s Journal.
‘I knew immediately it was important but didn’t realise how much until I posted the footage and photos to social media, and within hours, a storm had erupted!’
On Wednesday, the phone started ringing. By Wednesday afternoon, the pair were in UCD with Steve Davis being interviewed by RTE for the Six One News.
‘With stories like this, you’d normally expect things to die down after a day or two, but by Thursday and Friday the international media were taking interest,’ says Anthony, who is also a journalist.
‘First BBC, then the New York Times, the Washington Post, El Pais in Madrid. The TV networks in the US got hold of it and soon it was on CNN, ABC News and NBC. Since then, we’ve been on Al Jazeera and in Scandinavian media.’
Heritage Minister Josepha Madigan also tweeted about the discovery and passed on her congratulations.
‘ This is a huge deal, and it’s amazing that it has evaded notice until now, and it shows we do indeed have the largest concentration of this type of monument in the world,’ he adds.
‘It’s not a ringfort – there are 40,000 to 50,000 in the country and would have been chuffed to find one of those – it could be a unique feature, the first new henge in years.’
Anthony’s passion – or perhaps obsession – with Newgrange and the Boyne Valleys started over two decades ago.
‘Yes, I think obsession is a fair word to use,’ he laughs.
‘It is for romantic and mystical reasons as much as archeological and scientific reasons. It is the most special archeological landscape in Ireland, and really in the world, and has certainly become the centre of my universe.’
He admits he has some sort of connection to the place, which goes beyond anything he can explain with ease.
‘It gets into my blood, under my skin and is in my sleeping and waking consciousness. I’m enthralled and amazed by it; what ancient people could achieve with very limited access to technology, and healthcare. They lived their short lives and did extraordinary things.
‘Like the monument I found this week – it took a huge amount of manpower, time and labour – and there are five of them there, and passage tombs with 250,000 tonnes of stone, and kerb stones which had to come up the river from Clogherhead.
‘It’s mind-blowing.’
For someone with such a huge appreciation for the Boyne Valley and all its secrets, he has mixed feelings about Newgrange being so popular with international tourists!
‘I like to spend time in the valley by myself, especially at twilight, when there is no one else around, which is almost a selfish devotion,’ he admits.
‘So yes, it is gratifying to see it appreciated by people all over the world, and seeing them enjoying it, but it is equally gratifying to be local and it being part of your fabric.’
Naturally, Anthony has been present on that
most special of occasions on the Newgrange calendar; the Winter Solstice.
‘It was very special to witness that first hand in 2010, but you can also visit Dowth that same afternoon, and it is just as beautiful,’ says Anthony.
‘ The biggest thing is making that very direct connection with your ancient ancestors, the people who lived and left such an indelible mark on our landscape.’
You have to wonder how Anthony has time for much else in his life, yet he has room for several other obsessions too, including authoring five books, photography, amateur radio, Drogheda Brass Band, and most of all his family!
‘Yes, I am married with five children, one per book,’ he says with a laugh.
‘I’ve been married to Ann Brennan from Ballsgrove since 1998, and we have Amy (17), twins Josh and Luke (16), Tara (12) and Finn (9). Ann is the whole reason I can do any of this. She is brilliant; she is the figurehead of the household and she can make anything happen.’
Walking into the Drogheda Independent today is nothing new for Anthony, but it has been a few years!
He has worked in the newspaper industry for his entire career, beginning as a reporter and later Design Editor with the DI, where he spent ten years. He later became Editor of the Drogheda Leader newspaper, and went on to become Editor of the Dundalk Democrat. He is now a sub editor and graphic designer with the Irish Farmers Journal.
‘Dad (Paul Murphy) was editor of the DI, and when I was at a loss about what to do when leaving school he suggested I come and work with him,’ recalls Anthony, who is now a sub editor and graphic designer with the Irish Farmers Journal.
‘I told him I wanted to write books, and being the pragmatist, he said I probably wouldn’t write a bestseller immediately, so he gave me a start here.’
He made his mark over the years in journalism, the world of literature and photography but does Anthony have a say in what the new discovery is called?
‘Most of the monuments in the valley have very arbitrary names like Site Q or LP2, and at the moment it is being called P1!’, he laughs.
‘I have suggested the Murphy Williams Henge, which might be a bit egotistical, but if not named after us, I think it should New Henge.’
Whatever it gets called, you know that after years of being enveloped in the mysticism of this remarkable valley, Anthony Murphy has finally left his own indelible mark.
I’M OBSESSED WITH NEWGRANGE FOR ROMANTIC AND MYSTICAL REASONS AS MUCH AS ARCHEOLOGICAL AND SCIENTIFIC REASONS. IT IS THE MOST SPECIAL ARCHEOLOGICAL LANDSCAPE IN IRELAND, AND THE WORLD, AND HAS CERTAINLY BECOME THE CENTRE OF MY UNIVERSE.