On my way to Boyne Valley, I got off the beaten highway a bit to stop at the town of Trim. Legend has it that St. Patrick founded a monastery there sometime in the 5th century, and the town grew up around it. Later, following the Norman Invasion in the 12th century, a castle was built there, which castle today is Ireland's largest Norman castle. cool. Now it serves as a tourist attraction, and during my stop (after open hours) families were picnicking and playing on the lawn. Sometimes my mind gets nice and boggled when I imagine the different purposes that the same plot of land has served; who would've imagine 800 years ago that today, people would be walking their pooches on the same grounds that once were defended by arrows? Makes you wonder what it'll be like in another 800 years.
The remnants of a clock tower stand 500 feet away that once held a statue of Mary that would restore vision and mobility to pilgrims. Unfortunately, in the religious battles that have been (and occasionally still are) waged, that statue was destroyed.
On a side note, as the sun was setting I thought, "Oh, that'd be cool to get a photo of the sun through the window of the ruined tower!" I looked up the hill on which the tower stands and saw about 10 cars parked and about 15 people standing around talking. Figuring it was a parking lot for visiting the site, I started trekking up the hill. Well, with improved perspective, I found that there was no parking lot; that the cars had just driven into the field and the people were huddled together, speaking in hushed voices. Having seen "Hot Fuzz", I figured it'd be best to turn tail and get back to the established path.
To support the new economic opportunities created by the burgeoning pilgrimage industry as well as the political activity in Trim (they had a castle, after all), a new town was built about 1 kilometer away. They named it... "Newtown." Ruins are all that are left of Newtown, but a really nice walking path along the river connects the ruins and Trim Castle (the fields and ruins were featured in Braveheart!). All the townspeople and their dogs (literally) were taking their evening exercise. It was a pleasant stroll, and I imagined that I was a pilgrim returning from Trim and hoping that I could get some good grub... maybe something besides the ubiquitous potatoes.
There also stood the ruins of St. John the Baptist's hospital, but in my little fantasy world hopefully I wouldn't have been injured, as I can't imagine medicine was terribly advanced. At the 17th century Charles Fort outside of Kinsale that I visited last weekend, they had a hospital, but their specialties were blood letting and amputation. yeesh. (Makes me glad to be conducting research in biomedical engineering; we've come a long way!) Medieval medicine couldn't have been very effective, and may have caused more problems than it solved. As my guidebook read in reference to St. John the Baptist hospital ruins, many a knights were spent here!
The remnants of a clock tower stand 500 feet away that once held a statue of Mary that would restore vision and mobility to pilgrims. Unfortunately, in the religious battles that have been (and occasionally still are) waged, that statue was destroyed.
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| I got stinging nettles on my ankle (and almost got abducted) taking this shot! |
On a side note, as the sun was setting I thought, "Oh, that'd be cool to get a photo of the sun through the window of the ruined tower!" I looked up the hill on which the tower stands and saw about 10 cars parked and about 15 people standing around talking. Figuring it was a parking lot for visiting the site, I started trekking up the hill. Well, with improved perspective, I found that there was no parking lot; that the cars had just driven into the field and the people were huddled together, speaking in hushed voices. Having seen "Hot Fuzz", I figured it'd be best to turn tail and get back to the established path.
To support the new economic opportunities created by the burgeoning pilgrimage industry as well as the political activity in Trim (they had a castle, after all), a new town was built about 1 kilometer away. They named it... "Newtown." Ruins are all that are left of Newtown, but a really nice walking path along the river connects the ruins and Trim Castle (the fields and ruins were featured in Braveheart!). All the townspeople and their dogs (literally) were taking their evening exercise. It was a pleasant stroll, and I imagined that I was a pilgrim returning from Trim and hoping that I could get some good grub... maybe something besides the ubiquitous potatoes.
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| remains of Newtown. On the right is an old bridge that was featured in the Rock Hudson movie, Captain Lightfoot (1955) |
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