Must-see attractions in County Meath

  • Newgrange Megalithic Passage Tomb

    Newgrange

    County Meath

    Newgrange is one of the most remarkable prehistoric sites in Europe, famous for the illumination of its passage and tomb during the winter solstice sun…

  • People at Slane Castle, Slane, Ireland

    Slane Castle

    County Meath

    Slane Castle is a 300-year-old sprawling estate on the banks of the River Boyne in County Meath.  The neo-gothic castle and grounds  are open to visitors…

  • Tayto Park

    County Meath

    At Ireland’s only permanent theme park you can ride Europe's largest wooden inverted roller coaster, Cú Chulainn. Just 45 minutes from Dublin city center,…

  • Trim Castle

    County Meath

    Proof of Trim's medieval importance, this remarkably preserved edifice was Ireland's largest Anglo-Norman fortification. Hugh de Lacy founded Trim Castle…

  • Knowth

    County Meath

    Northwest of Newgrange, the burial mound of Knowth was built around the same time. It has the greatest collection of passage-grave art ever uncovered in…

  • Cairn T

    County Meath

    At Carnbane East, Cairn T is 35m in diameter, with numerous carved stones. One of its outlying kerbstones, the Hag’s Chair, is covered in gouged holes,…

  • Brú na Bóinne Visitor Centre

    County Meath

    Built in a spiral design echoing Newgrange, this superb interpretive centre houses interactive exhibits on prehistoric Ireland and its passage tombs. It…

  • IRELAND-ENVIRONMENT-CLIMATE-NATURE
A picture shows Dunsany Castle, the seat of Randal Plunkett, Baron of Dunsany, in Dunsany, northwest of Dublin, Ireland, on October 13, 2021. - Randal Plunkett, the 21st Baron of Dunsany, strides out of his Irish castle in a t-shirt bearing the name of the US death metal band "Cannibal Corpse" in bloody lettering. In the distance, a russet-coloured stag appears for a moment, bracketed by impossibly green trees, before dissolving into the 750 acres (300 hectares) of ancestral estate Plunkett has surrendered to the wilderness. - TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY JOE STENSON (Photo by Paul Faith / AFP) / TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY JOE STENSON (Photo by PAUL FAITH/AFP via Getty Images)

    Dunsany Castle

    County Meath

    You can see how the other 1% lives at Dunsany Castle, 5km south of Tara on the Dunshaughlin–Kilmessan road. The residence of the lords of Dunsany, it's…

  • St Mary's Abbey & Talbot Castle

    County Meath

    Across the River Boyne from Trim Castle are the ruins of the 12th-century Augustinian St Mary's Abbey, rebuilt after a fire in 1368 and once home to a…

  • Hill of Slane

    County Meath

    About 1km north of Slane village is the Hill of Slane, a fairly plain-looking mound that stands out only for its association with a thick slice of Celto…

  • Royal Enclosure

    County Meath

    South of Tara's church, the Royal Enclosure is a large oval Iron Age hill fort, 315m in diameter and surrounded by a bank and ditch cut through solid rock…

  • Dowth

    County Meath

    The circular mound at Dowth is similar in size to Newgrange – about 63m in diameter – but is slightly taller at 14m high. Due to safety issues, Dowth's…

  • St Columba

    County Meath

    The Protestant church of St Columba has a 30m-high 10th-century round tower on the southern side (today without its conical roof). In 1076 the high king…

  • Battle of the Boyne Site

    County Meath

    More than 60,000 soldiers of the armies of King James II and King William III fought in 1690 on this patch of farmland on the border of Counties Meath and…

  • Loughcrew Megalithic Centre

    County Meath

    Centred on a collection of thatched cottages, the Loughcrew Megalithic Centre encompasses a museum detailing the megalithic wonders hereabouts, as well as…

  • Loughcrew Gardens

    County Meath

    Loughcrew Gardens incorporates 2.5 hectares of lawns, terraces and herbaceous borders along with a lime avenue, yew walk, canal and 'grotesque grotto'…

  • Fourknocks Passage Tomb

    County Meath

    Far from the beaten track, this extraordinary passage tomb dates from 3000 BC and, like Newgrange, is aligned with the winter solstice. The mound is 19m…

  • Rath of the Synods

    County Meath

    Tara's Protestant church grounds and graveyard spill onto the remains of this triple-ringed fort where some of St Patrick's early synods (meetings)…

  • Newtown Ruins

    County Meath

    About 1.5km east of town on Lackanash Rd are the ruins of the former Parish Church of Newtown Clonbun, the Cathedral of Sts Peter & Paul and 18th-century…

  • Newgrange Farm

    County Meath

    One for the kids, this hands-on, family-run 135-hectare working farm allows visitors to feed the ducks, lambs and goats, milk a cow, pet a rabbit and take…

  • Ledwidge Museum

    County Meath

    This quaint cottage, 1km east of Slane on the N51, was the birthplace of poet Francis Ledwidge (1887–1917). A keen political activist, Ledwidge was…

  • Slane Distillery

    County Meath

    Triple-cask-matured whiskey made on-site at Slane Castle was first released in 2017. The castle's 18th-century horse stables are home to a visitor…

  • Bective Abbey

    County Meath

    The extraordinarily preserved yet little-visited ruins of Cistercian Bective Abbey are off the R161, 7km northeast of Trim. Founded by Murchadh O'Melaghin…

  • Banquet Hall

    County Meath

    Tara's most unusual feature is a rectangular earthwork measuring 230m by 27m along a north–south axis. Tradition holds that it was built to cater for…

  • Market Cross

    County Meath

    Until 1996, when it was relocated outside the courthouse on Headfort Pl, the Market Cross had stood for centuries in Cross St, at the heart of the town…

  • Gráinne's Fort

    County Meath

    Gráinne was the daughter of King Cormac, the most lauded of all high kings. Betrothed to Fionn MacCumhaill (Finn McCool), she eloped with Diarmuid, one of…

  • Wellington Column

    County Meath

    The local burghers dedicated this column to Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington, in recognition of his impressive career: after defeating…

  • St Patrick's Cathedral Church

    County Meath

    That huge steeple you see belongs to St Patrick's Cathedral Church, parts of which date from the 15th century, although it wasn't granted cathedral status…

  • St Colmcille's House

    County Meath

    This solid structure is a survivor from the old monastic settlement. Its name is a misnomer, as it was built in the 10th century and St Colmcille was…

  • Enclosure of King Laoghaire

    County Meath

    South of Tara's Royal Enclosure is this large but worn ring fort where the king, a contemporary of St Patrick, is said to be buried standing upright and…

  • Tara Visitor Centre

    County Meath

    A former Protestant church (with a window by acclaimed stained-glass artist the late Evie Hone) is home to Tara's visitor centre, which screens a 20…

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