Trim Castle (Irish: Caislean Bhaile Atha Troim ) is a Norman castle on the south bank of the River Boyne in Trim, County Meath, Ireland. With an area of 30,000 m², it is the largest Norman castle in Ireland. [1] [2] For a period of 30 years, was built by Hugh de Lacy and his son Walter caput of the lordship Meath.

History

The castle was used as a center for Norman Administration supremacy Meath, one of the new administrative areas in Ireland, created by King Henry II of England. Hugh de Lacy took it in 1172. De Lacy built a huge ring teamwork castle defended by a strong double palisade and outer ditch on top of the hill. It may also have been another defense around the rocks fringing the high ground. Part of a stone footed timber Gatehouse is below the current stone gate on the west side of the castle. De Lacy left Ireland entrust castle Hugh Tyrrel, Baron Castle, one of his chief lieutenants. The ring work was attacked and burned by the forces of Gaelic högkung, Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair; Tyrrel appealing in vain for help, had to flee. Ua Conchobair back soon and De Lacy immediately rebuilt the castle in 1173. His son Walter continued reconstruction and the castle was completed c.1224. The next phase of the castle’s development took place in the late 13th century and early 14th century; a new large hall (with croft and attach sun in a radically changed curtain tower), a new fore building and stables were added to keep.At Walter’s death in 1241 his granddaughter Matilda (Maud) inherited the castle. Her second husband varGeoffrey the Gene Ville, Lord Vaucouleurs in France. Matilda died in 1304, and Geoffrey into the Priory of St Mary in Trim.His son had died in 1292 and the estate passed to his eldest daughter, Joan. In 1301, Joan married Roger Mortimer and the castle passed to the Mortimer family who kept it until 1425, when the line died out. [3] The goods on to the next heir in the female line, Richard of York, who was killed at the Battle of Wakefield in 1460 . in 1461, Richard’s son, Edward IV appointed Germyn Lynch in London to be his representative at Trim.

 

The castle site was chosen because it is on raised ground, overlooking a fording point on the River Boyne. The area was an important early medieval ecclesiastical and royal place that was navigable in medieval times by boat up the river Boyne, about 25 miles from the Irish Sea. Trim Castle is called in Norman poem “The Song of Dermot and the Earl.”

During the late Middle Ages, Trim Castle was the center of administration for Meath and marked the outer northern boundary of The Pale. In the 16th and 17th centuries had declined in importance, except as a potentially important military site, and the castle had deteriorated. During the 15th century Irish Parliament met in Trim Castle seven times, and a coin operated in the castle.

The castle fell into decline in the 16th century but refortified the Irish League of wars in the 1640s. 1649 after the sack of Drogheda, the garrison of Trim fled to connect andrairländska forces and the place was occupied by the army of Oliver Cromwell.

After the war, the 1680s, the castle was granted Wellesley family who kept it until Arthur Wellesley (the Duke of Wellington), sold it to Leslie. In the following years, passed through the congested Estates Court in the hands of Dunsany Plunketts. They left the country open and from time to time allowed different applications, with a part of Castle Field rented for a few years by the City Council as a municipal dump, and a small meeting hall for the Royal British Legion built. The Dunsanys kept castle and surrounding until 1993, when after years of discussion, Lord Dunsany sold the land and buildings to the state, so that only river access and fishing rights.

Office of Public Works began an extensive program of investigative works and conservation, costing over € 6,000,000, including partial restoration of the moat and the installation of a protective roof. The castle was re-opened to the public in 2000.

Structure

With an area of 30,000 m², is Trim Castle, the largest Cambro-Norman castle in Ireland. The design of the central three-story keep (also known as a tower or large tower) is unique to a Norman keep be of cruciform, with twenty corner. It was built on the site of the former big ring fortification work in at least three stages, first by Hugh de Lacy (c. 1174) and then in 1196 and 1201-5 by Walter de Lacy. The castle interior was partially subject to an archaeological excavation by David Sweetman of OPW in the 1970s and to a greater extent by Alan Hayden in the 1990s.

The survivors curtain walls are mainly of three phases. West and north sides of the enceinte is defended by rectangular towers (including Trim Gate) dating to the 1170s; Dublin port was built in the 1190’s or early 13’s; and the remaining wall of the south with its round tower dates to the first two decades of the 13th century. The castle has two main gates. On the west side dates to the 1170s and sits on top of a demolished wooden gateway. The upper floors of the stone tower was changed to a half-octagonal shape, c. 1200. Dublin Gate in the southern wall is a single round-towered gate with an external Barbican towers. It dates from the 1190’s or early 13’s and was the first example of its kind to be built in Ireland.

Apart from Keep the most important surviving structures include the following: an early 14th-century three-towered bow work defends keeping the entrance and stables within the (accessed by a stone causeway crossing the partially completed trench of the previous call work); a large end of the 13th century three aisles great hall (with an under croft during its eastern end opening via a water gate to the river); a stout defense tower (turned into a sun in the late 13th century in northern angle of the castle); a smaller aisled hall (added to the east end of the great hall of the 14th or 15th century); a building (possibly mint) to the east end of the hall later; two 15th- or 16th-century stone buildings added in the city gatehouse buildings 17’s (added to the end of the hall range and the northern side of the Keep), and a number of lime kilns (one dating from the late 12th century, the rest of the 18: and 19th centuries).

access

Trim Castle is open, on payment of an entry fee, to the public every day from Easter Saturday to Halloween (31 October) from 10:00. The area inside the castle walls is freely available to an access fee, while access to the castle keep is via a 45-minute guided tour. In winter, the complex is only open on weekends and holidays.

Points to note

Trim and Talbot Castle. Visible also ärkungliga mint, sun and Trim Cathedral

The castle is famous for the part it played in the filming of Mel Gibson directed the film Braveheart .

In 2003 there was a controversy surrounding the decision of the Minister of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government Martin Cullen not to oppose the construction of a five-story hotel across the street from the castle. The development had been sentenced by a local politician, a Senior Officer of An Bord Pleanála (acting in a private capacity, and later decide to withdraw their appeal, so that it is considered a conflict of interest) and heritage bodies, many of which had been critical of the government’s treatment of other historic sites such as the Carrickmines Castle (ruins unearthed in part to allow for the completion of a road). The hotel opened in August 2006. The recent addition of buildings (including offices OPW) off the western side of the city has been even more visibly intrusive to the castle remains.

See also

  • Castles in the UK and Ireland
  • List of castles in Ireland

References

  • Reeves-Smith, Terrence. 1995. Irish Castle’s . Belfast: The Apple Press Ltd.
  • The Breffny, Brian. 1977. Castles of Ireland . London: Thames and Hudson.
  • Salter, Mike. 1993. Castles and Strong Houses in Ireland . Worc.: Folly Publications.
  • Sweetman, David. 1999. The medieval castle Ireland . Cork: Collins Press.
  • McNeill, Tom. 1997. Castles in Ireland . London: Routledge.
  1. Jump up ^ Trim Castle, County Meath Tourism Ireland.Http://www.meath.ie/Tourism/Heritage/HeritageSites/TrimCastle/
  2. Jump up ^ Heritage Ireland. Trim Castle http://www.heritageireland.ie/en/midlandseastcoast/TrimCastle/
  3. Jump up ^ Duchas Heritage Service (ed) (2002). Trim Castle Co. Meath.pp. 20-26. ISSN 07-557-128-2X.