TRIM
CASTLE – COUNTY
MEATH
Ireland's Largest Anglo-Norman Castle
The
first Plantagenet king, Henry II was a shrewd fellow, in a constant
chess-game
of consolidating
his power over the Anglo-Norman empire from
the French Aquitaine, Anjou, and Normandy to the Scottish border, and
in 1172, Ireland. Shortly after his arrival in Dublin, and declaring
himself
Lord
of Ireland, King Henry granted Hugh De Lacy the lordship of the kingdom
of Meath (now just County
Meath),
covering
the land
to
the
northwest
of Dublin.
King
Henry feared a challenge from Richard de Clare, the famous "Strongbow" (see Dublin
Christchurch),
the 2nd Earl of Pembroke, who had come from Wales two years before,
supporting the dispossessed King of Leinster in the southeast
of the island. Hugh De Lacy selected the village of Trim to build a
castle on the site of an earlier wooden ring fort, along the meandering
Boyne
River. King Henry later undercut Strongbow’s potential to challenge
him by encouraging the marriage of the very loyal knight William Marshal
to de Clare’s daughter, and installing him as the Earl of Pembroke,
over de Clare (see Pembroke
Castle Wales). Trim Castle and the lands of Meath were held for a time by Roger Mortimer, the paramour of Queen Isabella, arrested by Edward III in 1330.
Trim Castle
remains as the largest and one of the best preserved of the Norman
age castles
in Ireland - though preserved is a relative term.
The first wooden fort was fortified as a stone fortress after being attacked
by the last Gaelic High King of Ireland, Rory O’Connor. The current
castle of high stone curtain walls surrounding a single inner stone keep
was formed over a period of 30 years, begun under Hugh de Lacy and continued
by his son Walter who succeeded him in 1186, buried in Gloucester (see (see Gloucester Cathedral).
The most distinctive feature
of Trim Castle is its unique twenty-sided high keep, laid out in a cross
shape. As an early castle of its kind, there is no inner bailey wall,
but the keep stands on its own, protected by a complex gate and bridge
tower, similar to Bunratty in the west (see Bunratty Castle), the foundations
of which remain. The much of outer curtain walls are intact, once surrounded
by a moat, now a mostly dry gassy flatland floodplain bristling with
gorse.
Of
the castle's Great Hall other residential buildings of the medieval
age, built not
in the keep but against the walls, only the foundations
are left, next to the distinctive below ground stone tunnel to the
River Gate, where goods could be delivered to the fortress by a canal.
Trim
Castle was not a residence castle in later ages like others (see Malahide
Castle), disused mostly after 1500 , so remains laid out mostly
as it
was in
the era of the de Lacys, and much representative of the period, that
it
served
as
the
movie
location stand-in for York Castle in the Mel Gibson movie “Braveheart”.
A film about the history of the castle and its preservation reconstruction
is presented in the visitor center along with artifacts and exhibits
of the past of the region and a souvenir shop.
Visiting Trim Castle
The medieval
town of Trim is about 40 minutes drive from Dublin Airport. The castle
stands
right at the edge of town, flanked by the main road
with a city parking lot facing the main entrance gate. Trim Castle is
open daily from April through October, and weekends only from November
to Easter. Admission to Trim Castle including a guided tour of the castle
keep is €4 for adults (€3 without the tour), €3 for seniors
and €2 for students and children. From the castle, stroll the paths
of the Boyne River flood plain or venture to the medieval town, across
the “Millennium Bridge”, a wooden foot bridge across the
river which gets its name from when they built it during the castle's
restoration in 2000. There is a Failte Ireland tourist office around
the corner from the castle entrance with a café. Trim Castle is
one of the most visited of its kind in Ireland and can get very busy
in summer months.
The
village of Trim itself, a designated heritage town which gets its name
from
the Gaelic
for “Ford of the Elder Trees” is surrounded
by the most medieval buildings and ancient sites in Ireland. Within 15
to 30 minutes by car are the abbey ruins of the Priory of St John the
Baptist and the Bective Abbey, the Celtic fort site of The Hill of Tara
(see Hill
of Tara),
the Battle of the Boyne museum (see Battle
of the Boyne Battlefield)
and the prehistoric megalithic site of
Newgrange and Bru Na Boinne (see Bru
Na Boinne -Newgrange). There are a number of hotels,
guest houses around Trim, with the elegant modern Trim Castle Hotel
directly
across
the street, cozy historic Highfield House guest house with a view
of the castle, or for the more luxury minded the new Knightsbrook Hotel & Golf
Resort is 5 minutes away. © Bargain
Travel Europe
Book Trim Castle Hotel or Knightsbrook Golf Resort
Find best travel deals in County Meath on TripAdvisor
Web
Info
Trim Tourism
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SEE ALSO:
DUNGUAIRE CASTLE - MEDIEVAL BANQUETS
ST
AUDOEN’S NORMAN CHURCH - DUBLIN
DRIVING
IRELAND'S SCENIC COUNTRYSIDE
