Ireland (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Fionn Davenport [474]
Tours
The Mary Gibbons Tour ( 01-283 9973; www.newgrangetours.com; tour €35) to Brú na Bóinne takes in the whole of the Boyne Valley, including the Hill of Tara.
Bus Éireann ( 01-836 6111; www.buseireann.ie; adult/child €30/25; Mon-Thu, Sat & Sun mid-Mar–Sep) tours to Newgrange and the Boyne Valley include a visit to Tara on certain days.
Drinking
If a walk on the hill has worked up a thirst, head for the nearby village of Skyrne, where O’Connell’s ( 046-902 5122) is a wonderfully unspoilt and atmospheric country pub.
Getting There & Away
Tara is 10km southeast of Navan, just off the Dublin–Cavan road (N3). Bus Éireann ( 01-836 6111) services linking Dublin and Navan pass within 1km of the site (€8.20, 40 minutes, hourly Monday to Saturday and four times on Sunday). Ask the driver to drop you off at the Tara Cross, where you take a left turn off the main road and follow the signs.
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DUNSANY CASTLE
See how the other 1% lives at Dunsany Castle ( 046-902 5198; www.dunsany.com; Dunsany; adult/child €20/free; May-Jul, Aug by appointment), the residence of the lords of Dunsany, and one of the oldest continually inhabited buildings in Ireland. Construction started on the castle in the 12th century with major alterations taking place in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Today the castle houses an impressive private art collection and many other treasures related to important figures in Irish history, such as Oliver Plunkett and Patrick Sarsfield, leader of the Irish Jacobite forces at the siege of Limerick in 1691. A guided tour takes almost two hours and offers a fascinating insight into the family history as well as that of the castle. It remains a family home and maintenance and restoration are ongoing so opening hours vary and different rooms are open to visitors at different times. Call for details.
Housed in the old kitchen and in part of the old domestic quarters is a boutique ( 046-902 6202; www.dunsany.com; 10am-5pm) that proudly sells the Dunsany Home Collection, which features locally made table linen and accessories, as well as various articles designed by Lord Dunsany himself.
The castle is about 5km south of Tara on the Dunshaughlin–Kilmessan road.
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TRIM
pop 1375
Dominated by its mighty castle and littered with atmospheric ruins, the quiet town of Trim was an important settlement in medieval times. Five city gates surrounded a busy jumble of streets, and as many as seven monasteries were established in the immediate area.
It’s hard to imagine nowadays, but a measure of Trim’s importance was that Elizabeth I genuinely considered building Trinity College here. One student who did go to school here – at least for a short time – was Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, who studied in Talbot Castle and St Mary’s Abbey. Local legend has it that the duke was born in a stable round these parts, which would explain the duke’s famous exclamation that simply being born in a stable doesn’t make one a horse. Sadly for the legend, if he did say it – which is hardly definite – he didn’t mean it literally: for ‘stable’ and ‘horse’ read ‘Ireland’ and ‘Irish’, for he was in fact born in Dublin.
The local burghers dedicated the Wellington column, at the junction of Summerhill Rd and Wellington Pl, to the duke in recognition of his impressive career. After defeating Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo, the Iron Duke went on to become prime minister of Great Britain and in 1829 passed the Catholic Emancipation Act, repealing the last of the repressive penal laws.
Today, Trim’s history is everywhere, with ruins scattered about the town. The streets, still lined with tiny old workers cottages, are seeing a few new developments aimed at realising the area’s huge tourism potential.
Orientation & Information
Almost everything commercial in Trim is on or near Market St. That huge steeple