Trim Castle (Irish: Caislean Bhaile Atha Troim), Trim, County Meath, Ireland, on the shores of the Boyne has an area of 30,000 sq m.  It is the remains of Ireland's largest castle.  It was built primarily by Hugh de Lacy and his son Walter.
  The Castle was used as a centre of Norman administration for the Liberty of Meath, one of the new administrative areas of Ireland created by Henry II of England and granted to Hugh de Lacy.  De Lacy took possession of it in 1172.  De Lacy built a huge ringwork castle defended by a stout double palisade and external ditch on top of the hill.  There may also have been further defenses around the cliffs fringing the high ground.  Part of a stone footed timber gatehouse lies beneath the present stone gate at the west side of the castle.  The ringwork was attacked and burnt by the Irish but De Lacy immediately rebuilt it in 1173.  His son Walter continued rebuilding and the castle was completed c 1204.  The next phase of the castle's construction took place at the end of the thirteenth century, and the beginning of the fourteenth century.  A new Great Hall with undercroft beneath it and with attached solar in a radically altered curtain tower, and a new forework forebuilding, and stables were added to the keep.  After de genneville's death his widow Joan married Roger Mortimer and the castle passed to the Mortimer family who held it until the lord of Trim became Edward IV king of England in 1461.
  The castle site was chosen because it is on raised ground, overlooking a fording point over the River Boyne.  The castle was an important early medieval ecclesiastical and royal site, and although the site is about 25 miles from the Irish Sea, it was accessible in medieval times by boat up the River Boyne.  Trim Castle is referred to in the Norman poem "The Song of Dermot and the Earl."  During the late Middle Ages, Trim Castle was the centre of administration for Meath and marked the outer northern boundary of The Pale.  In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries it had declined in importance, except as a potentially important military site, and the castle was allowed to deteriorate.  During the fifteenth century the Irish Parliament met in Trim Castle seven times and a mint operated in the castle.  It fell into decline in the sixteenth century but was refortified during the Cromwellian wars in the 1640s.
  After the wars of the 1680s, the castle was granted to the Wellesle family who held it until Arthur Wellesley (the Duke of Wellington), sold it to the Leslies.  In following years it passed via the Encumbered Estates Court into the hands of the Dunsany Plunketts.  They left the lands open and from time to time allowed various uses, with part of the Castle Field rented by the Town Council as a municipal dump for some years, and a small meeting hall for the Royal British Legion erected.  The Dunsanys held the Castle and surrounds until 1993, when after years of discussion, Lord Dunsany sold the land and buildings to the State, retaining only river access and fishing rights.  (Referred to the site of "Wikipedia")

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Trim

Trim (from Irish: Baile Atha Troim meaning "town at the ford of elderflowers") is the traditional county town of County Meath in Ireland, although the county town is now Navan. The town was recorded in the 2006 census to have a population of 6,870. The development of a new town centre expansion zone immediately to the west of the existing town centre (at Townparks, Market Street and Emmet Street) is due to begin early in 2007. This will comprise open civic spaces, retail and office space, residential developments and a new headquarters for the Office of Public Works, which is due to decentralize to the town by 2009. Trim won the Irish Tidy Towns Competition in 1972, 1984 and was joint winners with Ballyconnell, County Cavan in 1974. (Referred to the site of "Wikipedia")

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(Tuesday 22 June) Tourist Information Board of Trim

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(Tuesday 22 June) Trim Town

Trim Castle

Trim Castle (Irish: Caislean Bhaile Atha Troim), Trim, County Meath, Ireland, on the shores of the Boyne has an area of 30,000 sq m. It is the remains of Ireland's largest castle. It was built primarily by Hugh de Lacy and his son Walter. See above.

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(Tuesday 22 June) Signboard of Trim Castle

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(Tuesday 22 June) Trim Castle

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(Tuesday 22 June) Trim Castle

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(Tuesday 22 June) Trim Castle

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(Tuesday 22 June) The Keep of Trim Castle

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(Tuesday 22 June) Trim Castle

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(Tuesday 22 June) Trim Castle

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(Tuesday 22 June) Trim Castle

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(Tuesday 22 June) Trim Castle

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(Tuesday 22 June) Trim Castle

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(Tuesday 22 June) Trim Castle

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(Tuesday 22 June) Trim Castle

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(Tuesday 22 June) The Trim Gate or the access to the area inside the walls of Trim Castle

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(Tuesday 22 June) Children climbing on the Trim Castle walls

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(Tuesday 22 June) Children climbing on the Trim Castle walls

River Boyne

River Boyne on the bank of Trim Castle. The River Boyne (Irish: An Bhoinn or Abhainn na Boinne) is a river in Leinster, Ireland, the course of which is about 112 kilometres (70 miles) long. It rises at Trinity Well, Newbury Hall, near Carbury, County Kildare, and flows towards the Northeast through County Meath to reach the Irish Sea between Mornington, County Meath and Baltray, County Louth. Salmon and trout can be caught in the river, which is surrounded by the Boyne Valley. It is crossed just west of Drogheda by the Boyne River Bridge that carries the M1 motorway and by the Boyne Viaduct that carries the Dublin-Belfast railway line to the east. Despite its short course, the Boyne has historical, archaeological and mythical connotations. It passes near the ancient city of Trim, Trim Castle, the Hill of Tara (the ancient capital of the High King of Ireland), Navan, the Hill of Slane, Bru na Boinne (an archaeological site), Mellifont Abbey, and the medieval city of Drogheda. In the Boyne Valley can also be found other historical and archaeological monuments, like Loughcrew, Kells, Celtic crosses, castles, and more. The Battle of the Boyne, a major battle in Irish history, took place along the Boyne near Drogheda in 1690 during the Williamite war in Ireland. This river has been known since ancient times. The Greek geographer Ptolemy drew a map of Ireland in the second century which included the Boyne, which he called Bououinda, and somewhat later Giraldus Cambrensis called it Boandus. In Irish mythology it is said that the river was created by the goddess Boann ('queen' or 'goddess'), according to F. Dinneen, lexicographer of the Irish Gaelic language, and Boyne is an anglicized form of the name. In other legends, it was in this river where Fionn mac Cumhail captured Fiontan, the Salmon of Knowledge. The Boyne Navigation is a series of canals running roughly parallel to the main river from near Oldbridge to Navan. Owned by An Taisce and currently derelict, the Inland Waterways Association of Ireland are restoring the navigation to navigable status. There are a number of railway bridges and viaducts crossing the Boyne which are well known. (Referred to the site of "Wikipedia")

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(Tuesday 22 June) River Boyne on the side of Trim Castle

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(Tuesday 22 June) River Boyne on the side of Trim Castle

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(Tuesday 22 June) River Boyne on the side of Trim Castle

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(Tuesday 22 June) River Boyne on the side of Trim Castle

The Yellow Steeple

The Yellow Steeple is 125-feet high. This was the bell tower of St Mary's Priory, which was founded by Augustinian monks in the thirteenth century, on the site of an earlier structure thought to have been founded by St Patrick. It was destroyed in the seventeenth century by the guns of Cromwell's army. The steeple shares the hilltop with a section of the old town wall.

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(Tuesday 22 June) The Yellow Steeple

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(Tuesday 22 June) The Yellow Steeple

The Sheep Gate

The Sheep Gate stands near the Yellow Steeple and the castle. The wall in this area is in ruins but it marks the original town boundaries. It is the only remaining town gate outside the castle.

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(Tuesday 22 June) The Sheep Gate

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(Tuesday 22 June) The Sheep Gate

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(Tuesday 22 June) The Sheep Gate

Donkeys

Donkeys near Trim Castle

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(Tuesday 22 June) Donkeys near Trim Castle

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(Tuesday 22 June) A donkey near Trim Castle

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(Tuesday 22 June) Donkeys near Trim Castle

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(Tuesday 22 June) A donkey near Trim Castle