Boyne Valley: Drogheda → Trim

The drive in numbers

How the narrator kept up

Where the place was while each narration played, how the narrations ended, how much of their text was spoken, and how quickly the words and the ranking arrived.

1. 0m 00s · 26 s public-domain book · town · salience 92 · about where the car was

   Cromwell's Sack of Drogheda: Massacre After Surrender

   What it said · 64 of 64 words

   As you pass through Drogheda, this is the town Cromwell took by storm in 1649. Once resistance ended and the garrison had surrendered on promises of quarter, Cromwell ordered that even these be put to the sword. He is said to have witnessed and enforced the command himself. The killing lasted five days, and only 30 men were spared, sent for transportation to Barbados.

   Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from The History of Drogheda, with its Environs (vol. 2) (1844), D'Alton, John, 1792-1867, Internet Archive historydrogheda01dalgoog, Chapter 125 · source

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2. 0m 26s · 55 s + 30 s filling the road public-domain book · town · salience 78 · about where the car was

   Great pestilence of 1348 devastates Drogheda and Dublin

   What it said · 213 of 213 words

   Coming up along Drogheda now, the town on the river Boyne. In 1348 a malignant pestilence destroyed vast numbers of people here and in other towns across Ireland. Friar Clyn, in his Annals, wrote a pathetic account of what happened. The plague first broke out near Dublin, at Howth and Dalkey, then almost laid waste the cities of Dublin and Drogheda. In Dublin alone, from the beginning of August to Christmas, 14,000 souls perished. Clyn wrote that in September and October great numbers of bishops and prelates, seculars and regulars, peers and others, people of both sexes, flocked together in pilgrimage to the water of Timolin. Some came from devotion, but the greater number came from fear of the pestilence that raged with exceeding violence, so many thousands of souls might be seen there together for many days. The malady was said to have originated in the East, passing through the Saracens and Infidels and destroying 8,000 of their legions. It next seized the city of Avignon, where the Roman Court then was, and there the churches and cemeteries proved so insufficient for the numbers of dead that the Pope ordered a new cemetery consecrated, where upwards of 50,000 bodies were deposited from May to the anniversary of the Translation of St Thomas.

   Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from The History of Drogheda, with its Environs (vol. 2) (1844), D'Alton, John, 1792-1867, Internet Archive historydrogheda01dalgoog, Chapter 39 · source

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3. · 1m 28s of road ·
4. 3m 19s · 16 s National Monuments Service · site · salience 15 · 244 m ahead at the start

   Ritual site - holy well, Mell

   What it said · 41 of 41 words

   St Patrick's Well is right here at Mell. The well was marked as St Patrick's Well on the 1835 and 1938 OS 6-inch maps. By the time it was inspected in 1966, it had been covered over with a public pump.

   Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from National Monuments Service, Sites and Monuments Record (CC-BY 4.0), LH024-010001- · source

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5. 3m 51s · 44 s National Monuments Service · site · salience 50 · 728 m ahead at the start

   Burial ground, Mell

   What it said · 111 of 111 words

   Right here, a burial ground was found before the M1 motorway was built in 2000. Excavation turned up nine graves, laid east to west, and two pits. Seven graves ran in a staggered row, with the other two off to the west. Only five held any skeletal remains, none complete, the bone brittle in every case. Most of the grave cuts were crudely stone lined. A small silver object with zoomorphic decoration came out of one grave, found just to the right of where the skull would have been. An early medieval date is suggested for these burials. The site sits immediately west of a ring-ditch and a Bronze Age enclosure.

   Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from National Monuments Service, Sites and Monuments Record (CC-BY 4.0), LH024-054---- · source

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6. 4m 35s · 54 s public-domain book · town · salience 65 · 1426 m ahead at the start

   William crosses the Boyne near Tullyallen valley

   What it said · 136 of 209 words

   As you come through Tullyallen, this is the ground above the Boyne where, in 1690, the left wing of William's cavalry, chiefly Danes and Dutch, crossed the river. A third crossing had been made by the Danes and Germans at a shallow between the two principal islands, where the water must have been up to their arm-pits. The cavalry passed or swam across opposite the eastern valley that intersects the hill of Tullyallen, landing at a very deep and dangerous part of the river, nearly opposite where an Irish battery had stood the day before, where the margin of the stream is wet and swampy. It was here that William himself plunged into the stream. His arm was in a sling from his wound. He was accompanied by the Prince of Denmark and Colonel Woolstey, and they passed with great difficulty. The source records that "his horse was bogg'd on the other side, and he was forced to alight, till a gentleman help'd him to get his horse out." Colonel Bellingham's Journal records that William sent another detachment of horse to the left to go over at the Mill-foord, but the tide came in and the ford was bad. The passage was very difficult, most of them forced to swim, so they could not come up in time to assist the foot who went over the ford at Oldbridge about 11 o'clock. The enemy had laid an ambush behind the ditches and houses on the other side, who fired incessantly at the men as they were passing the river.

   Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from The Beauties of the Boyne, and its Tributary, the Blackwater (1849), Wilde, William R. (William Robert), 1815-1876, Internet Archive beautiesofboynei00wild, Chapter 152 · source

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7. 5m 29s · 41 s Wikipedia · townland approx · salience 60 · 721 m ahead at the start

   Battle of the Boyne

   What it said · 102 of 102 words

   Somewhere around here, the Battle of the Boyne was fought in 1690. It was fought across the River Boyne close to Drogheda. The forces of the deposed King James the Second faced those of King William the Third, who with his wife Queen Mary the Second had taken the crowns of England, Scotland and Ireland in 1689. William's forces defeated James's army, which consisted mostly of raw recruits. The victory turned the tide in James's failed attempt to regain the crowns and ultimately aided in ensuring the continued Protestant ascendancy in Ireland. The battle took place on 1 July 1690 by the old calendar. James fled to France after the Boyne and never returned. The Williamite War in Ireland continued until the Treaty of Limerick was signed in October 1691, but for James, the fight was over.

   Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), en.wikipedia.org: Battle of the Boyne · source

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8. 6m 10s · 53 s National Monuments Service · site · salience 20 · 617 m ahead at the start

   Castle - unclassified, Proudfootstown

   What it said · 132 of 132 words

   Here at Proudfootstown in Meath, there was once a castle, though no visible trace survives now. Alan Prutfot was a tenant of Dowth manor here in 1253, and the townland boundaries were defined during a dispute between Richard Proudfoot and the abbot of Mellifont in 1461, around which time the castle may have been built. The Down Survey barony map depicts a castle here, and according to the Civil Survey, Sir John Netterville of Dowth and Lord Charles Moore of Mellifont jointly owned 130 acres in 1640, though "a castle, a stone house, an orchard and a corn mill" belonged to Lord Moore alone. By the 1836 OS map it was shown in a farm complex, and by 1908 only a small shell remained, described as the base of a circular tower.

   Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from National Monuments Service, Sites and Monuments Record (CC-BY 4.0), ME020-001---- · source

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9. 7m 03s · 49 s National Monuments Service · site · salience 25 · 792 m ahead at the start

   Megalithic tomb - passage tomb, Townleyhall

   What it said · 123 of 123 words

   Right here at Townleyhall is a passage tomb, a National Monument in state ownership. It was excavated in 1960 and turned out to be a round mound 13.5 metres across, covering the site of a destroyed passage-tomb aligned north-east to south-west with its entrance at the north-east end. Only two of the original sixteen upright stones survived, but the sockets of the rest were found, seven on each side and two at the rear. The passage ran 5.3 metres long, widening from about 1 metre at the entrance to 1.5 metres at the centre. Four concentric rings of stone setting enclosed the tomb, and thirteen kerb stones survived around the mound. No finds were recovered. Beneath it all lay an earlier settlement site.

   Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from National Monuments Service, Sites and Monuments Record (CC-BY 4.0), LH024-008002- · source

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10. 7m 55s · 58 s + 7 s filling the road National Monuments Service · site · salience 22 · 1026 m ahead at the start

    Ritual site - holy well, Monknewtown

    What it said · 162 of 162 words

    Right here beside the road is the site of a holy well, Tobar Sratha Báine, though its exact spot has never been confirmed. The well lay close to the medieval church of Monknewtown and near a 19th-century corn mill. A spring well shown on the 25-inch OS map, south of the church and south-south-west of the disused mill, may be the site. When O'Conor visited in 1836 the well was called Tobar Sratha Báine, and it had been frequented on the first Sunday of harvest until a mill was built convenient to it. After the mill went up, the people stopped performing stations at the well on that day. O'Conor said some derived the name from a dedication to Saint Banan, Naomh Bánan, but he doubted that on good grounds. He reported that the patron day of the parish was Ladyday, the 15th of August. Thunder in 1886-7 recorded that St. Barran or Barrind was the patron of the well at Monknewtown.

    Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from National Monuments Service, Sites and Monuments Record (CC-BY 4.0), ME019-019002- · source

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11. 9m 27s · 57 s Wikipedia · townland approx · salience 55 · 1002 m ahead at the start

    Knowth

    What it said · 142 of 142 words

    Somewhere near here is Knowth, a prehistoric tomb overlooking the River Boyne. It was built around 3200 BC, during the Neolithic era, and is the largest passage tomb ever built, surrounded by 17 smaller tombs. It holds the largest collection of megalithic art in Europe. Knowth is part of the Brú na Bóinne complex, a World Heritage Site that also includes Newgrange and Dowth. After its initial use, Knowth gradually became a ruin, though the area continued as a site of ritual activity through the Bronze Age and into the Iron Age. In the early Middle Ages, a royal residence was built on top of the great mound, and it became the seat of the Kings of Knowth, or Northern Brega. Archaeologist George Eogan led an extensive investigation of the site from 1962 to 2002, and parts of the monument were reconstructed.

    Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), en.wikipedia.org: Knowth · source

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12. 10m 24s · 52 s + 37 s filling the road National Monuments Service · site · salience 25 · about where the car was

    Burial ground, Knowth

    What it said · 222 of 244 words

    Right here at Knowth is a burial ground, designated Site M, sitting in a fold between a rise to the north and the Knowth ridge to the south. Excavation between 2002 and 2004 revealed a burial ground enclosed by ditches dating from the 6th to 10th century AD. The remains were poorly preserved, but 52 burials were exposed. 27 adults and 6 juveniles were recorded, though only 6 males and 3 females could be identified. All but 3 of the burials lay west to east with the head at the west end. One burial produced a radiocarbon date of 597 to 673 AD. Most graves were shallow and unprotected, but at the southeast edge there were 10 slab-lined graves. A bronze ring-pin turned up in the topsoil over one of those. The radiocarbon dates suggest the earthworks expanded outward, from about 600 AD for the innermost ditch to about 700 AD for the middle ditch. The outer banks may have been built between the 9th and 10th centuries. There was no burial in the middle enclosure, but evidence of metalworking came from a spread of charcoal-enriched soil with heat-shattered stones and burnt clay over a cobbled surface. The finds were exceptional for the period: a blue glass bead, a gilt bronze Anglo-Saxon mount, a sperm whale's tooth, and a Hiberno-Norse strap end. The combination of burial and metalworking in separate but related parts of the monument suggests it may have been a secular cemetery.

    Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from National Monuments Service, Sites and Monuments Record (CC-BY 4.0), ME019-028---- · source

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13. 11m 53s · 58 s public-domain book · townland · salience 78 · 897 m ahead at the start

    St. Patrick lights the paschal fire at Slane

    What it said · 146 of 259 words

    Somewhere around here at Slane, Patrick lit the paschal fire on Easter Eve, around 432 or 433. The place was then called Ferta-fer-feic. He had a tent pitched and kindled the fire at nightfall, in defiance of a standing law that no fire should be lit in the surrounding area before the great fire at the royal palace of Tara. His fire was seen from the heights of Tara, and it caused great astonishment. King Laoghaire was there with the assembled princes, holding a festival of fire-worship. When he asked who had broken the law, his Magi told him the fire must be extinguished at once, or it would overcome their fires and bring the downfall of his kingdom. Laoghaire, enraged and troubled, set out for Slane with a considerable number of followers and one or two of the principal Magi, intending to exterminate the violators. They sat down some distance from the tent and summoned Patrick to appear and account for himself. It was arranged that no one should rise or show him any mark of respect. But when he came before them, Erech, son of Dego, disobeyed the order and stood up to salute him. He received Patrick's blessing and became a believer, and was afterwards Bishop of Slane. The next day, Easter Sunday, Patrick was at the palace of Tara, preaching before the king and the assembly. The only person who rose to pay him respect was Dubtach, an eminent poet, who became the first convert that day and afterwards dedicated his poetry to Christian subjects.

    Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from On the History and Antiquities of Tara Hill (1839), Petrie, George, 1790-1866, Internet Archive jstor-30078991, Chapter 1 · source

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14. 12m 51s · 51 s public-domain book · hill or hills · salience 72 · 535 m ahead at the start

    St Patrick lights the Paschal fire on the Hill of Slane

    What it said · 127 of 151 words

    You are coming near the Hill of Slane in Meath. St. Patrick is believed to have begun his mission work here, and it was once a centre of learning in Ireland. On Easter Eve in 433, he arrived and, in disobedience to the pagan custom, lighted the Paschal fire. For this he was summoned to Tara to be punished. Ruins of an abbey and college stand on the top of the hill, crowned by a square tower. From that tower the Hill of Tara can be seen some ten miles away, once the capital of Ireland and the residence of the kings in ancient times. No traces of its past grandeur remain. Excavations were carried out there in the hope of discovering the Ark of the Covenant. Parallel mounds with depressions for entrances mark the boundaries of Tara's famous banqueting hall, and many raths remain on which the principal buildings stood.

    Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from A pictorial and descriptive guide to Dublin and the Wicklow tours .. (1919), Ward, Lock and Company, ltd, Internet Archive pictorialdescrip19ward, Chapter 52 · source

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15. 13m 42s · 28 s National Monuments Service · site · salience 40 · 156 m ahead at the start

    Ritual site - holy well, Slanecastle Demesne

    What it said · 69 of 69 words

    Right here in the woodland of Slane Castle demesne, on the north bank of the River Boyne, is a holy well known as Lady Well, or Tobar Muire. It is recorded from the 1830s and is often said to flood. The well is circular and lined with stones. A pattern is still held there on the 15th of August, the only day when it is generally open to visitors.

    Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from National Monuments Service, Sites and Monuments Record (CC-BY 4.0), ME019-061---- · source

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16. 14m 34s · 52 s + 83 s filling the road National Monuments Service · site · salience 35 · 905 m ahead at the start

    Castle - tower house, Slanecastle Demesne

    What it said · 343 of 377 words

    This tower house was probably built by a member of the D’Exeter family, of whom there is very little documentary evidence. Catherine D’ Exeter is commemorated on a cross at Nevinstown, but the D’Exeters had lost their land by the 17the century. A gabled house at Carrickdexter (13) in Slane parish and barony is depicted on the Down Survey (1656-8) barony map (http://downsurvey.tcd.ie/). According to the Civil Survey (1654-6) the Lord of Slane owned 185 acres at Carrick Desert and Piggshills in 1640 and the property included ‘a castle, a stone house with a stable, a weare and two mills’. It is situated on a bluff by a weir on the north bank of a south-west to north-east section of the River Boyne, which is about 130 metres to the south-east. This is a three-storey tower house with a stairs tower at the N angle and a garderobe tower at the S. It is entered through a pointed doorway towards the north end of the north-west side and a pointed doorway leads to the newel stairs. The ground floor has a north-east to south-west barrel vault and two double-splay loops in the south-east wall are its only original features. An inserted flat-arched doorway in the north-east wall leads to the house attached on this side. A pointed doorway leads from the newel stairs to the first floor that has a narrow window on each wall except the north-east and also has a fireplace on the south-east wall. A lintelled doorway leads to the garderobe tower at the S angle but there is no communication with the attached house. A lintelled doorway leads from the newel stairs to the second floor which has a narrow window on each wall except the north-east. There is a fireplace in the south-east wall, a lintelled doorway leads to the garderobe tower at S, and a flat-arched doorway in the north-east wall leads to the attached house. The first and second floors were supported on corbels in the south-east and north-west walls with beam-holes in the other walls. The parapet does not survive, but corner turrets, partly supported on piers on the inner edge of the wall-walks survive over each angle. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of revised upload: 22 June 2016

    Read from National Monuments Service, Sites and Monuments Record (CC-BY 4.0), ME019-033002- · source

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17. 16m 49s · 59 s National Monuments Service · site · salience 35 · 895 m ahead at the start

    Ritual site - holy well, Stackallan

    What it said · 147 of 147 words

    Right here at Stackallan in Meath is a holy well dedicated to St Patrick. It sits in a gully on the south bank of a stream, and the 1836 and 1908 maps both show Patrick named on the spot. A stone at the well is said to carry the mark of St Patrick's knees. By 1849 the place was already neglected and disused, and it stayed that way through the 1880s. It was still a rectangular masonry feature when recorded in 1969, but a pumphouse built about 2 metres south raised the ground level by 0.6 metres and damaged the original stonework. Testing by R. Tobin showed that part of the old structure survived, with a channel leading north to the stream. By 2019 the site had become obscured. Local information also places Tober Patrick about 200 metres further east, on the north side of the stream.

    Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from National Monuments Service, Sites and Monuments Record (CC-BY 4.0), ME018-032---- · source

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18. 17m 48s · 44 s National Monuments Service · site · salience 45 · 177 m ahead at the start

    Megalithic tomb - passage tomb, Ardmulchan

    What it said · 111 of 111 words

    Right here at Ardmulchan in Meath, there's a low mound at the crest of a steep slope facing down toward the River Boyne, and it may be all that remains of a passage tomb. In 1973, during construction work, two stones turned up bearing pocked incisions like passage tomb art. The first stone carries a serpent, two heart-shaped flourishes, and a cup-in-circle on one large face. The other face is blank, but the narrow sides have cup-marks and lines. The second stone is triangular. One face has one or possibly two snakes and at least one cup-mark. The other large face has pecked lines, and the long side has pocked lines. Where the decorated stones are now is not known. This place is a National Monument in state guardianship, number 546.

    Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from National Monuments Service, Sites and Monuments Record (CC-BY 4.0), ME025-006---- · source

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19. 18m 44s · 60 s + 28 s filling the road National Monuments Service · site · salience 55 · 1057 m ahead at the start

    Castle - unclassified, Dunmoe

    What it said · 220 of 220 words

    Right here beside you is the site of Dunmoe castle, on a bluff overlooking a weir on the River Boyne. Its history is obscure, but it may be an early castle. It withstood a siege by rebels in 1641 until Captain Power, its commander, was persuaded to surrender. The Civil Survey records that Thomas Darcy owned the entire parish of 395 acres in 1640, and on the premises there was "a Castle, a Church, a Mill, an Orchard and a fishing weare." The Darcy family kept the castle through the Cromwellian settlement and rebuilt it during the reign of James II. A drawing by Francis Grose in 1795 shows it as an occupied rectangular structure, but it was burned in the rising of 1798, when the north half collapsed. What remains is a large rectangular structure with circular towers at the angles, though only the south-east and south-west towers survive. The buried ground floor was vaulted, with a loft and two rows of long arrow-loops on the south wall that could point to a thirteenth-century date. A newel stair in the south-west tower has a key-hole gun-loop. The first floor has large windows that are robbed. A two-storey gabled building with an oven at ground floor is attached to the east, and a church stands immediately adjacent to the west.

    Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from National Monuments Service, Sites and Monuments Record (CC-BY 4.0), ME025-018002- · source

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20. 20m 24s · 22 s Wikipedia · townland approx · salience 15 · 377 m ahead at the start

    Babe's Bridge

    What it said · 56 of 56 words

    Somewhere around here are the remains of Babe's Bridge, a 13th-century bridge over the River Boyne near Navan, County Meath. Only the southeast span survives, along with some of the abutments still standing in the river. The remaining arch is owned by An Taisce, the National Trust for Ireland, as part of the Boyne Navigation property.

    Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), en.wikipedia.org: Babe's Bridge · source

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21. · 0m 34s of road ·
22. 21m 20s · 59 s + 8 s filling the road public-domain book · townland · salience 58 · 1042 m ahead at the start

    Secret Masses on the Rocks Below Blackcastle During Penal Times

    What it said · 168 of 168 words

    Near here, the rocks along the Boyne were where the Catholics of Navan came to worship when their chapel was shut. For seventy years they had their little chapel, but again and again it was closed against them, owing to a more rigorous enforcement of the penal laws. And then, in the words of the record, "Mass would be celebrated by stealth, while the stars were twinkling, on the lonely rocks which line the Boyne below Blackcastle." The statute against Catholic education was never relaxed during this same period. No school was tolerated up to 1782 inside the corporate boundaries. The youth of Navan who wished to acquire knowledge were obliged to steal out to the parish of Donaghmore, and there graduate under the hedge schoolmaster. How long Reverend Garret Darcy lived after 1704 is now unknown. He was succeeded by Doctor Luke Fagan, bishop of Meath, whose secretary and administrator was Reverend Nicholas Dempsey. Doctor Fagan was transferred to the archiepiscopal see of Dublin in September 1729, and was succeeded in the diocese of Meath by Doctor Stephen MacEgan. The Holy See granted him the parish of Navan in commendam. He died in Dublin on the 30th of May 1756, in the seventy-fifth year of his age, and was interred in Saint James's churchyard. He was a zealous and untiring labourer, and as a preacher was second to none in the Irish Church.

    Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from The Diocese of Meath: Ancient and Modern (vol. 1) (1862), Cogan, Anthony, 1826-1872, Internet Archive dioceseofmeathan01cogaiala, Chapter 156 · source

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23. 22m 27s · 20 s public-domain book · town · salience 70 · about where the car was

    Massacre of eighty men, women and children at Navan

    What it said · 51 of 51 words

    As you pass through Navan, you are passing through the site of a massacre from April 1642. Soldiers under Grenville's command killed about 80 men, women, and children in and around the town. All of those killed had been living under protection at the time — granted safety, and nevertheless slain.

    Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from The Diocese of Meath: Ancient and Modern (vol. 1) (1862), Cogan, Anthony, 1826-1872, Internet Archive dioceseofmeathan01cogaiala, Chapter 198 · source

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    Father Barnwall's disguises and arrest near Ardbraccan

    What it said · 133 of 203 words

    Up ahead is Navan, and in 1737 it was where an old priest's long road ended. Father Barnwall had spent years evading priest-hunters around Ardbraccan, celebrating Mass at ditches, hiding in barns and stables, sometimes roaming the lonely fields in a woman's cloak with the hood over his head to escape watchful eyes. He was over eighty years of age, still erect and on the roll of active service. When they arrested him he pleaded guilty to the charge of having celebrated Mass, and there was a yell of joy at his capture. He was clad in a long frieze coat, wore an old hat, had his breviary in one hand and a staff in the other, and in that plight he was marched in triumph to Navan and lodged in the bridewell. After a fortnight's confinement he was sent a prisoner to Dublin Castle, whence he never returned to his faithful sorrowing people. The traditions of the parish say he was put to death for the faith, though whether in England or in Dublin there is no authentic account. Whether he died violently or by slow imprisonment, he earned the distinction of having been one of the martyrs of those dismal times.

    Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from The Diocese of Meath: Ancient and Modern (vol. 2) (1867), Cogan, Anthony, 1826-1872, Internet Archive dioceseofmeathan02cogaiala, Chapter 20 · source

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26. 24m 22s · 28 s public-domain book · street approx · salience 48 · 99 m ahead at the start

    Collapse of the Mudwall Chapel at Leighsbrook, Navan

    What it said · 71 of 71 words

    Somewhere about Leighsbrook stood the mudwall thatched Catholic chapel that collapsed on Christmas night, around 1772. The parishioners arrived the next morning to find they had no place to worship. The priest, Reverend Christopher Fleming, then said Mass for many months in a sentry box borrowed from the cavalry barracks, set up in a yard off Trimgate Street. The people knelt on the bare ground, with no roof but the sky.

    Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from The Diocese of Meath: Ancient and Modern (vol. 1) (1862), Cogan, Anthony, 1826-1872, Internet Archive dioceseofmeathan01cogaiala · source

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27. 24m 50s · 21 s public-domain book · bridge · salience 55 · 163 m ahead at the start

    Franciscan Church monuments near New Bridge

    What it said · 52 of 52 words

    The Franciscan Church is right beside the road here at New Bridge. It was built in the 18th century on the site of the old monastic church. Inside are curious monuments. Notice especially that of Sir P. French, and another figured with many saints. There are some remnants of elaborate carving. Near this church there once stood a Dominican Friary. From the New Bridge itself you obtain the pleasantest view in the town.

    Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from Guide to Galway, Connemara and the West of Ireland (1912), Lang, Robert Turnbull, 1870-, Internet Archive guidetogalwaycon00lang, Chapter 24 · source

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    Castle - tower house, Athlumney

    What it said · 138 of 157 words

    Right beside the road here at Athlumney is a National Monument, a tower house with a later stone house attached, now within Navan town. In 1640 Lawrence Dowdall owned 200 acres here, and the property included a castle, a large stone house, a water mill, a tuck mill, two fishing weirs, a church, and two open quarries. The last occupant was traditionally Sir Launcelot Dowdall, who burnt the place in despair when he heard the outcome of the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. But Isaac Butler, writing in the 1740s, said the burning was done by one of the Maguire family to stop Cromwell using it. The tower house itself has three storeys and an attic, with projecting corner towers, a barrel-vaulted ground floor, a murder-hole over the entrance, and a newel stair rising to a wall-walk. A parish church stands about 80 metres to the west and a motte about 140 metres to the south-west.

    Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from National Monuments Service, Sites and Monuments Record (CC-BY 4.0), ME025-032001- · source

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29. 26m 09s · 54 s + 14 s filling the road public-domain book · town · salience 68 · 354 m ahead at the start

    Excommunication and mutilation of Master John Stackbolle at Navan

    What it said · 170 of 170 words

    Coming up through Navan, in County Meath. In 1460, Bishop Edmond Ouldhal of Meath came here on a market day and, in solemn procession through the market, excommunicated Thomas Bathe, a knight who called himself lord of Louth, for refusing to return goods he had robbed from Master John Stackbolle, a doctor of each degree. The bishop pronounced the psalm Deus laudem against him openly, and decreed that wherever Thomas afterwards went, no baptism, burial, or mass could be held for three days. Thomas remained obstinate, and then sent his servants to the abbey here in Navan, where Stackbolle had taken refuge. They dragged him from the Church of Our Blessed Lady, carried him off to Wilkinston, and held him prisoner. There they cut out his tongue and, as they intended, put out his eyes. They then brought him back to the same church and cast him before the image of Our Lady, and by her miraculous power, the story goes, his sight and his tongue were restored to him.

    Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from Some Notices of the Castle and of the Ecclesiastical Buildings of Trim (1861), Butler, Richard, 1794-1862, Internet Archive somenoticesofcas00butl, Chapter 129 · source

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    Burning of Peter Brady's house at Macetown

    What it said · 41 of 41 words

    Somewhere close to Macetown, a body of Defenders burned the house and furniture of Mr. Peter Brady to ashes. That is all the record gives. Brady's home and everything in it were destroyed in the trouble that swept through County Meath.

    Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from Memoirs of the different rebellions in Ireland, from the arrival of the English : also, a particular detail of that which broke out the XXIIId of May, MDCCXCVIII : with the history of the conspiracy which preceded it (vol. 2) (1802), Musgrave, Richard, 1745 or 1746-1818, Internet Archive memoirsofdiffere02musg, Chapter 137 · source

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    Balsoon, once residence of Archbishop Ussher

    What it said · 67 of 67 words

    Somewhere close to Balsoon, Archbishop Ussher once had his residence. The ruined church and ancient graveyard here are, in the words of the old guide, "still worthy of a visit." The site sits on a hill opposite high banks above the river, near Bective House. What remains is quiet now, but the stones and the graves carry a long history back into the days of the Pale.

    Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from The Beauties of the Boyne, and its Tributary, the Blackwater (1849), Wilde, William R. (William Robert), 1815-1876, Internet Archive beautiesofboynei00wild, Chapter 74 · source

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    Abbot Sebastian Shortal of Bective enslaved by Moors

    What it said · 115 of 115 words

    Somewhere close to Bective, Sebastian Shortal once held the title of abbot. Born in Kilkenny, he became a Cistercian monk at the monastery of Nucuale in Galicia, Spain, where he was held in great reputation. A writer of that order described him as a man of sharp wit, a good disputant, and one of the best poets their society ever had, whose writings had obtained a high character. He was sent as a missionary to Ireland, but on the passage was taken by the Moors and made a slave. After being redeemed, he returned to his native country and was made Titular Abbot of Bective in Meath. He died on the 3rd of December 1639.

    Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from The Diocese of Meath: Ancient and Modern (vol. 1) (1862), Cogan, Anthony, 1826-1872, Internet Archive dioceseofmeathan01cogaiala, Chapter 91 · source

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    Burial of Hugh de Lacy's body at Bective Abbey

    What it said · 141 of 176 words

    Right here at Bective Abbey in Meath, Hugh de Lacy was buried in 1195, nine years after he was murdered at Durrow. He had conquered Meath, and his body was not recovered until the Archbishop of Cashel, Legate of Ireland, and John, Archbishop of Dublin, brought it from the Irish country and buried it here in the Abbey of Bective. His head they buried in the church of St Thomas in Dublin. That church had been founded by the Anglo-Norman baron William Fitz-Adelm, a companion of the great Palatine, and he had endowed it largely. So the brotherhood of St Thomas claimed the rest of the remains from the monks at Bective. A fierce controversy ensued among the rival churchmen over which abbey should possess both relics, and the Pope was appealed to for his decision. Innocent the Third appointed Simon Kochfort, then Bishop of Meath, and his archdeacon, together with Gilebert, the prior of Duleek, to arbitrate between the two sides. They awarded the corpse to the monks of St Thomas, and to that place it was accordingly removed. Such was the estimation in which the remains of a viceroy were held in Ireland in the twelfth century. Beneath one of the pointed arches of the cloister arcade, tradition says the great Lord Palatine was buried. The carving, built from the hard Ardbraccan stone, is in fine preservation.

    Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from The Beauties of the Boyne, and its Tributary, the Blackwater (1849), Wilde, William R. (William Robert), 1815-1876, Internet Archive beautiesofboynei00wild, Chapter 70 · source

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    Castle - tower house, Trubley

    What it said · 99 of 99 words

    You're right at Trubley here in Meath, where a tower house once stood on the bank of the River Boyne. In 1640 Bartholomew Cusack owned 228 acres here, and the Civil Survey of 1654 to 1656 recorded that the property included a castle and two corn mills. The Down Survey a few years later showed a small gabled house, and later accounts described a square tower with circular corner towers. The last remains were blown down in a storm in the 1970s and have since been removed without trace in a farmyard, so there is nothing left to see.

    Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from National Monuments Service, Sites and Monuments Record (CC-BY 4.0), ME031-024---- · source

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    Burning of the Statue of Our Lady of Trim

    What it said · 140 of 218 words

    Coming up through Trim, in County Meath. Around 1538, during the Reformation, the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary kept here in the abbey of the canons regular was burnt, and the pilgrims' votive gifts were seized. The reforming Archbishop of Dublin had some scruple about what the source calls "plucking down the idol of Trim," but none at all about carrying off the gifts of the pilgrims. The act shocked the faithful and stirred Catholic feeling in people who had been lukewarm before. Devotion to her was inflamed rather than extinguished. The next year, on the 15th of May 1539, commissioners of Henry the Eighth summoned the community to surrender. Geoffry Dardice, the last abbot of the monastery of the Blessed Virgin of Trim, was forced to sign his own expulsion and acquiesce in the suppression of the place. The abbey was then stripped of everything: vases, jewels, gold and silver ornaments, chalices, crucifixes, altar plate, and altar linen, all carried off to enrich the king and what the source calls the cormorants of the Reformation. The property was valued at 1,801 pounds, 15 shillings, and 2 pence, besides 20 pounds already accounted for. When you consider the value of money at that period, it gives a sense of the wealth and splendour of these monastic institutions.

    Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from The Diocese of Meath: Ancient and Modern (vol. 1) (1862), Cogan, Anthony, 1826-1872, Internet Archive dioceseofmeathan01cogaiala, Chapter 186 · source

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    John Keating struck mad while plundering Trim church altar

    What it said · 144 of 178 words

    As you pass through Trim in Meath, there's a story from Christmas night in 1689. A soldier named John Keating, what the vicar called a church rapparee, served in the Lord of Kinmare's regiment. He and his companions had been plundering the church in this town, and on Christmas night, about midnight, he and two others broke in to strip the altar, where communion had been celebrated that day. Keating tried to force open the folding doors to the communion table, and as he wrenched at the hinges, he saw what he took to be several glorious and amazing sights — but then, as he called it, 'one ugly black thing' gave him a great blow on the head. He lost his mind on the spot, tore all the clothes off his back, and ran naked through the streets, acting out every Bedlam prank. He was locked in the dungeon for 14 days without food, drink, or clothing, and died three weeks after he was struck, in what the vicar recorded as an eminent instance of God's vengeance.

    Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from History of the Diocese of Meath (vol. 1) (1908), Healy, John, 1841-1918, Internet Archive historyofdiocese01healiala, Chapter 153 · source

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    Hugo de Lacy builds Trim Castle before his death in 1186

    What it said · 52 of 202 words

    Right here beside you is Trim Castle, the finest structure Hugo de Lacy ever raised. He was the greatest castle builder the Anglo-French produced, and he built this towards the close of the twelfth century. He also built the great castle at Clonmacnois and another fine one in Carlow. But he never finished his work across Ireland, because while he was building the castle of Durrow, a young Irishman who had come prepared to kill him struck off his head with a blow of an axe as he was stooping down to examine the work. That was in 1186, so Trim Castle must have been built before then. Lewis' Irish Topography says the Castle of Trim was built in 1220, which the author calls just such a mistake as one would expect from books written by persons almost wholly unacquainted with the country's history and entirely unacquainted with its language and native literature. The same publication says Trim was burned by Connor O'Melaghlin in 1108, and that over 200 people were burned in the monastery. The annals of the Four Masters, the annals of Clonmacnois, the annals of Inisfallan, the annals of Ulster, and the Chronicon Scottorum are all silent about it.

    Told by the narrator (z-ai/glm-5.2) from Beauties and Antiquities of Ireland (1897), Thomas O'Neill Russell, Project Gutenberg #39500, Chapter 12 · source

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