| NAVAN Situated at the confluence of the rivers Boyne and Blackwater, Navan is the prosperous administrative capital of Meath. The ancient Hill og Tara, just a short distance from Navan, has been an important site since the Stone Age. Tara imbues the area with a mythical, magical atmosphere. It is the former 'Seat of the High Kings og Ireland', a place where popular beliefs marry with Celtic myth and legend. Tara is the home of gods and heroes, not of ordinary humans. Abandoned in 1022, Tara is now a national monument open all year to the public. | |
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| ATHLUMNEY CASTLE, ATHLUMNEY, This is a settlement complex where one can trace the changing forms of manorial building in Mealh since the Norman conquest; there is the motte or artificial hill of the first settlement in the late 12th century. |
| ARDMULCHAN CHURCH, ARDMULCHAN, Situated on the bank of the Boyne, all that remains of the medieval church are a bell tower and shell of the church. BECTIVE ABBEY, Bective Abbey is today a substantial medieval remains of the second Cistercian monastery founded in Ireland in 1147. The remains are chiefly of a smaller 15th century abbey built on the site of the 12th and l3th century early Gothic complex. | DALGAN PARK - MISSION AWARENESS CENTRE, DUBLIN ROAD, This is the college of missionary priests, originally bound for a life in China. Built in 1939 it is an adaptation of the Hi bemo-Romanesque style. It contains a collection of Chinese art and artifacts with a folk collection from Burma and the Philippines, all areas where Dalgan missionaries have worked. The college can be seen from the Hill of Tara. |
| DONAGHMORE ROUND TOWER & CHURCH This was a massive 15lh century keep, overlooking the River Boyne. It was the house of the D'arcy family, one of whose members save the immortal answer to the acquisition of treachery for having enlerEained the 2 kings, James and William of the Battle of the Boyne fame. "Who'll be king, I don't know, but I'll be Darcy of Dunmore". | |
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| DINING OUT There are many places to eath great food around the house area. China Gardens 58 Brews Hill Leighsbrook Steakhouse 23 Railway Street The loft 26 Trimgate Street Mimo Valdi's 15 Ludlow Street The Ardboyne Hotel Dublin Road The Beechmount Hotel Trim Road. |
| HILL OF SKRYNE (OPPOSITE TARA) (1.6km north of Navan/DuhIin Road) Skryne, called after the Shrine of St. Colmcilles relics, was an early Christian Monastery. The 15th century hoty well there is dedicated to St. Colmcille. From the hills one can see the molle ofDe Phirpo. fu-sl baron of Skryne and the castle which replaced it. | |
 | Neolithic Vision Little is truly known about the thoughts and, feelings of Ireland's Neolithic cultures. There are plenty of scientific descriptions of the passage tombs at Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth; descriptions of material, height, width, components. What about the vision behind the material? The mathematical genius behind the architecture? The way the sun illuminates Newgrange's central chamber on the moring of the winter solstice? This is best experienced, notdescrib. |
| Ancient Astronomers, Modern Artists The visual artistry of Ireland's ancient civilisations remains to this day strikingly fresh and modern. Knowth's two burial chambers boast the richest and largest collection of megalithic art in Europe. Whorls and diamonds, lines and dots are gathered together into compositions of startling sophistication. Looking at these images wfth modern eyes one is struck by their surprisingly abstract decorative beauty. And when seen with the eyes of the ancients in the world of the passage tomb? Are they maps of the heavens, tracking the soul's lost loved ones? Quite possibly. | |
