Free Guide Discover Ireland’s rich heritage! FOR MORE INFORMATION GO TO WWW.DISCOVERIRELAND.IE/BOYNEVALLEY 1 To Belfast (120km from Drogheda) Discover Ireland’s Ardee rich heritage! N2 M1 Oldcastle 6 12 14 13 Slane 7 4 KELLS 8 M3 Brú na Bóinne 15 Newgrange NAVAN Athboy N2 9 11 10 TRIM M3 2 FOR MORE INFORMATION GO TO WWW.DISCOVERIRELAND.IE/BOYNEVALLEY KEY 01 Millmount Museum Royal Site 02 St Peter’s Church, Drogheda To Belfast (120km from Drogheda) Monastery 03 Beaulieu House Megalithic Tomb 04 Battle of the Boyne Church 05 Mellifont Abbey Battle Site 06 Monasterboice Castle Dunleer Slane Castle Tower 07 Period House 08 Brú na Bóinne (Newgrange) M1 09 Hill of Tara 10 Trim Castle 6 11 Trim Heritage Town 3 12 Kells Heritage Town Round Tower 5 2 DROGHEDA & High Crosses 16 13 Loughcrew Gardens 4 1 14 Loughcrew Cairns 15 Navan County Town Brú na Bóinne 16 Drogheda Walled Town Newgrange M1 Belfast N2 M1 The Boyne Area Dublin To Dublin (50km from Drogheda) 2 FOR MORE INFORMATION GO TO WWW.DISCOVERIRELAND.IE/BOYNEVALLEY Discover Ireland’s rich heritage! Map No. Page No. Introduction 04 Archaeological & Historical Timeline 06 01 Millmount Museum & Martello Tower 08 02 St. Peter’s Church (Shrine of St. Oliver Plunkett) 10 03 Beaulieu House 12 04 Battle of the Boyne Site 14 05 Old Mellifont Abbey 16 06 Monasterboice Round Tower & High Crosses 18 07 Slane Castle 22 08 Brú na Bóinne (Newgrange & Knowth) 24 09 Hill of Tara 26 10 Trim Castle 28 11 Trim (Heritage Town) 30 12 Kells Round Tower & High Crosses 32 13 14 Loughcrew Cairns & Garden 34 15 Navan (County Town) 36 16 Drogheda (Walled Town) 38 Myths & Legends 40 Suggested Itinerary 1,2 & 3 46 Your Road map 50 Every care has been taken to ensure accuracy in the completion of this brochure. Fáilte Ireland cannot however, accept responsibility for errors or omissions but where such are brought to our attention, future publications will be amended accordingly. It is recommended that you pre-check the details of events/attractions listed before travelling.© Copyright Fáilte Ireland PRINTED IN IRELAND FOR MORE INFORMATION GO TO WWW.DISCOVERIRELAND.IE/BOYNEVALLEY 3 The Boyne Valley The Boyne Valley is situated in the east You can stand in awe at the gates of of Ireland. It is at once Ireland’s ancient Trim Castle, the largest Anglo-Norman capital and its most sacred and mythical castle in Europe, or pay your respects at landscape. In 1849 William Wilde, father the shrine of St. Oliver Plunkett. of Oscar, wrote of the Boyne that the history of Ireland may be traced through Boyne: River & Valley its monuments. This remains true today. The River Boyne is the principal Moreover, its sites and monuments are waterway in Leinster, the most easterly amongst the best examples of their of the Irish provinces. The river rises at kind in Europe and are all within a short Trinity Well, near Cadbury, Co. Kildare distance of each other. In one day you and meanders slowly north-eastwards can visit the great prehistoric tombs at through the gentle and fertile plains Brú na Bóinne (Newgrange) and the site of Co. Meath before entering the Irish of the infamous Battle of the Boyne. Sea at Drogheda, Co. Louth. The valley You can look out from the Hill of Tara, through which it flows is a landscape sharing the view with the ancient High of large farms, celebrated for their Kings of Ireland, or be mesmerised by fine pastures, picturesque villages and the detail of the Celtic Crosses at Kells. thriving towns. There is a long history 4 FOR MORE INFORMATION GO TO WWW.DISCOVERIRELAND.IE/BOYNEVALLEY “So memorable in ancient history, and so rich in monuments of the past is it … that the history of Ireland might be written in tracing its banks.” William Wilde, The Beauties of the Boyne (1849) of continuous human settlement along vital for travel and trade. The River the banks of the Boyne – stretching Boyne, which derives its name from the back over five millennia. So why did legendary Celtic goddess Bóann (see prehistoric people settle and thrive Myths & Legends, p. 38), has long been along the banks of this river? The recognised as one of Ireland’s most answer lies in the landscape and climate important waterways. of the region. In the 2nd century AD the Greek The richness of the soil in the lands geographer, Claudius Ptolemy recorded bordering and drained by the Boyne the outline of the island of Ireland in the was ideal for Neolithic farmers (who form of a set of coordinates showing began to arrive in Ireland around different geographical features such 4,000 BC). Moreover, the east coast of as headlands and rivers. He included Ireland, between Dublin and Drogheda, on this map, in his own language, the is the driest part of the country and names of several Irish tribes, cities and ideally suited to growing crops. The rivers, including ‘Bouvinda’ – the Boyne. river was valuable as a source of food and, long before roads, its waters were FOR MORE INFORMATION GO TO WWW.DISCOVERIRELAND.IE/BOYNEVALLEY 5 Boyne Valley Archaeological & Historical Timeline Mesolithic Period Neolithic Period 7000 – 4000 BC 4000 – 2200 BC c. 7000 BC c. 4000 BC Our journey begins 9,000 First Mesolithic First wave of Neolithic years ago after the great ice hunter gatherers farmers arrive in Ireland arrive in Ireland sheets that covered Ireland c. 3200 BC during the last Ice Age had Newgrange, retreated. The island was Dowth & Knowth wild, uninhabited and c. 3000 BC Loughcrew heavily wooded. The first people – Stone Age hunters – were drawn to Irish shores in search of food. Viking Age Medieval Period Post-Medieval Period 790 – 1169 AD 1169 – 1550 AD 1550 – 1800 AD 804 AD 1169 AD 1641 AD Kells monastery founded by Anglo-Normans arrive Rebellion monks from St. Columba’s in Ireland foundation, Iona 1649 AD 1172 AD Cromwell’s Siege of Drogheda 980 AD Henry II grants Meath to Battle of Tara Hugh de Lacy 1681 AD St. Oliver Plunkett martyred 1007 AD 1173 AD Book of Kells stolen Trim Castle built by 1690 AD Hugh de Lacy Battle of the Boyne 1022 AD 1699 AD Tara abandoned as 1194 AD Newgrange is ‘discovered’ seat of the High Kings Drogheda-in-Meath of Ireland granted charter and 1785 AD ‘officially’ founded 1142 AD Slane Castle is reconstructed Mellifont Abbey is 1494 AD founded by St. Malachy 1798 AD of Armagh Poyning’s Law passed in Rising Drogheda 1152 AD Synod of Kells 1512 AD Slane Abbey is constructed 6 FOR MORE INFORMATION GO TO WWW.DISCOVERIRELAND.IE/BOYNEVALLEY Bronze Age Iron Age Early Christian Period 2200 – 600 BC 600 BC – 400 AD 400 – 790 AD Early activity at Tara 227 - 266 AD 433 AD Legendary King of Ireland St. Patrick returns to Cormac Mac Airt reigns Ireland & lights Paschal from Tara fire at Hill of Slane 521 AD St. Buite, founder of Monasterboice, dies Industrial Age Modern Age 1800 – 1900 AD 1900 – present 1808 AD 1953 AD Millmount Mortello Tower is Pierce Brosnan, former constructed James Bond, & honorary OBE, is born in Navan 1843 AD One million people attend 1986 AD Daniel O’Connell’s ‘monster Freddy Mercury & Queen meeting’ at Tara play Slane Castle 1847 AD 1993 AD Worst year of the Great Newgrange, Knowth & Famine, known as ‘Black ‘47’ Dowth become UNESCO World Heritage sites 1855 AD Boyne Viaduct railway bridge May 2008 completed Visitor Centre at the Battle of the Boyne 1887 AD site officially opened Francis Ledwidge, poet, born by Taoiseach Bertie outside Slane, Co. Meath Ahern and First Minister of Northern Ireland, Dr. Ian Paisley FOR MORE INFORMATION GO TO WWW.DISCOVERIRELAND.IE/BOYNEVALLEY 7 Millmount Museum Millmount Museum and Martello Tower are situated on high ground in the heart of Drogheda near to where the river Boyne finally meets the sea Shortly after the Anglo-Norman King Henry II granted him the Kingdom of Meath in 1172, Hugh de Lacy constructed a motte and bailey on a huge mound overlooking the River Boyne. A more substantial stone fort replaced the earlier structure. According to Irish mythology, the mound 11th, 1649. In the early 1800s the earlier was the burial place of Amergin mac Míled, fortifications were demolished and druid, bard and judge of the Milesians. replaced by a Martello Tower as part of a Amergin was the son of Míl Espáine and series of defences erected along the Irish brother of Éremón (see Myths & Legends, coast by the British in expectation of an p. 38). The true origin of the mound is invasion by Napoleon Bonaparte. unclear, however, it is thought that it may Millmount Museum houses various be a large passage tomb, similar to those exhibitions dealing with archaeology, at nearby Brú na Bóinne. folklife, local history, geology, industry and military history. The museum also contains This castle formed part of the defences one of the four surviving examples of an of the town during Cromwell’s siege of ancient type of fishing vessel, called a Drogheda in 1649. The garrison were coracle, that were once a common sight massacred when they surrendered to on the Boyne. Coracles were made of Parliamentarian troops on September wicker and covered with animal hide, or 8 FOR MORE INFORMATION GO TO WWW.DISCOVERIRELAND.IE/BOYNEVALLEY Millmount Museum more recently with canvas. It was almost Contact Details: square but with rounded corners and was Millmount Museum, operated by two people – one paddling at Millmount Complex, the bow, the other manning the nets.