Trim, County Meath

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Trim
Baile Átha Troim

Location

WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates:
53.552241° N 6.793413° W

Irish Grid Reference
N800567

Statistics

61 m (200 ft)

Population (2006)
- Town:
- Rural:

6,447
5,447

Trim Castle (de_Lacy's Castle)

Trim (Irish: Baile Átha Troim) is the traditional county town of County Meath in Ireland, although Meath's administrative centre is now located in Navan. The town and its immediate environs were recorded in the census of 2002 as having a population of 5,894. This figure does not account for several thousands living outside the town council area, and plans are afoot to expand the council area perimeter to absorb those outlying parts of the town currently classified as the "Trim Area". It is estimated that the town will reach a population of over 20,000 by 2015, this growth due to migration of young professionals and families working in Dublin city centre and suburbs. The closest neighbouring towns and villages are:

Athboy (about 11kms northwest)
Enfield (~15kms south)
Navan (9kms northeast)
Dunshaughlin (15kms east)

Each of these South Meath towns have strong cultural, historical and social ties, and an interdependency in terms of commerce, recreation and leisure, and administration.

Situated 61 metres above sea level on the River Boyne, Trim was one of the most important English settlements in the Middle Ages. In the 15th century the Anglo-Norman parliament met in Trim. The Duke of Wellington was born nearby; a large column remains to this day near the centre of the town as a monument. Other attractions in the town include Butterstream Gardens visited by Prince Charles in the mid nineties.

The Town Hall is also reputed as one of Thin Lizzy's very first concert venues, and has seen U2 and several other bands of worldwide influence play there over the years.

1 Trim's future
2 Trim Car Show
3 Trim Haymaking Festival
4 Trim Show
5 Town history
6 International reputation
7 Gaelic Athletic Association
8 Trim movie history
9 Famous residents
10 See also
11 External links

[edit] Trim's future

The development of a new town centre expansion zone immediately to the west of the existing town centre (at Townparks, Market Street and Emmet Street) is due to begin early in 2007. This new town centre will comprise open civic spaces, retail and office space, residential developments and a new headquarters for the Office of Public Works, or OPW, which is due to decentralise to the town by 2009.

[edit] Trim Car Show

An annual classic car show takes place in Trim every July, Trim Veteran and Vintage Rally has been running since 1985. It started in a small yard on Loman Street with just 23 cars. The founder, Norman Pratt, determined to expand the show, approached the Roundtree family who very kindly allowed The Porchfields to be used on the day. It has grown each year since then and there are now in excess of 500 cars and motor cycles on show.Many cars enter this for free to show the cars and hard work which can be admired.Many people come from around the globe to see this.

[edit] Trim Haymaking Festival

Trim Haymaking Festival is another festival held in the town every mid-June. The Porchfields, an amenity space rich in historic value, are home to a fair, market, and cultural displays.The main event being the tradisional making of the first hay of the year by hand and by old method macinery.

[edit] Trim Show

An Agricultural Show takes place in the show in the first week of September each year, named "The Trim Show", and features trained dogs, as well as horses, cattle, sheep, pigs and goats. Royal Meath Show, Trim Show Ltd.

[edit] Town history

The town is home to Western Europe's largest Norman castle, Trim Castle (or King John's Castle) which was built in the late 12th century following the Norman invasion of Ireland's eastern seaboard. Trim and the surrounding lands were granted to Hugh de Lacey, a Norman knight. Richard II of England stayed there before being ousted from power 1412. Once destined to be the country's capital, the town has also occupied a role as one of the outposts of the Pale. It was also designated by Elizabeth I of England, as the planned location for a Protestant Dublin University (known as Trinity College, Dublin). However this as revised by Sir Francis Drake, who advocated the case for locating the University in Dublin. In 1649 after the sacking of Drogheda, the garrison of Trim fled to join other Irish forces and the town was occupied by the army of Oliver Cromwell. There were minor local disturbances in neighbouring villages, in the Irish Rebellion of 1798 following the dispersal of the Wexford rebellion. Trim was represented by its most notable son, the Duke of Wellington in the Irish Parliament before the Act of Union with Great Britain in 1801.

The 19th century saw the construction of Trim Courthouse, St. Loman's Catholic church, St. Patrick's Anglican church, the Wellington column, the current Bank of Ireland building, and Castle Street by Lord Dunsany. Following the Great Irish Famine of 1846-1849, the practices of agriculture in the hinterland altered, with a change in emphasis from tillage to stock raising. This resulted in a change in the business life of Trim. Trim developed as a market town for the productive agricultural hinterland. Some small scale local industries were developed including envelope, and leather product manufcturing. Trim was also chosen as location for the Timoney Engineering company to make Fire Tenders. However in the main the town continued to mainly be a service centre for its immediate area. Trim was the birth place of the mother of promonent Irish nationalist, Padraic Pearse. During the Irish War of Independence, local companys of the Old IRA took Trim RIC Barracks, a large structure located on the current site of the Castle Arch Hotel, secured the arms from the barracks and then burnt down the Barracks (1920). A large part of the town was burned as a reprisal action by Crown forces.

A new bridge was built on the Boyne in the 1980s to divert heavy traffic from the town. This was then enhanced by the construction, in a series of stages, of an inner relief road, which now makes it possible for heavy trafic to achieve a complete by-pass of the town, in a cost effective manner. The Watergate bridge was replaced in 2005. The local town council purchased a field, beside the new bridge for historical purposes in 2004, as it was likely to be of high archaelogical significance. As part of the Civil Service decentralization plan of the Irish government, Trim was chosen as location of head quarters for the state body known as "The Office of Public Works". The movement of this state administration function to Trim, resulted in Trim being the first location outside of Dublin, to complete a satisfactory decentralization move. Trim has seen considerable growth in recent years with a growing purpose as a tourist centre, and a town of vibrant businesses and cheerful locals.

[edit] International reputation

Longwave radio station Atlantic 252's broadcasting station was situated in Trim throughout the 1990s. The station's former buildings are now home to Trim Town Council and Trim Area Council, two of the administrative bodies over the County of Meath. The Norman Castle around which the town has evolved was the centerpiece for Mel Gibson's Braveheart, recorded in 1994.

[edit] Gaelic Athletic Association

The town is home to Meath footballers as Jack Quinn and Darren Fay, and in recent times Brendan Murphy has emerged as the county team's star goalkeeper. Trim GAA Club have won the Meath Senior Football Championship on one occasion, in 1962. Trim are one of the two most sucessful teams (the other being Killmesan) in the Meath Senior Hurling Championship, with both clubs between them winning almost half the championships played.

[edit] Trim movie history

Trim Castle is a famous historical site and was used as a backdrop in the making of the film Braveheart. Trim was also the setting for the first full-length Irish martial arts movie Fatal Deviation. The low-budget production, made in 1998 starring James Bennett, is the story of a disenfranchised young man trying to rebuild his life after returning from reform school only to be harassed by a gang of local drug dealers. The drug dealers kidnap his girlfriend in order to force him to lose the Bealtaine Fighting Festival so they can keep their reputation and control of Trim. Fatal Deviation also marks the acting debut of Mikey Graham from prolific Irish boyband Boyzone as Mikey Oprano. The 1980 movie The Big Red One, starring Lee Marvin and Mark Hamill, was also partially shot in Trim and in particular Trim Castle.

[edit] Famous residents

Famous individuals with ties to the town include...

  Mary Doran

Fatal Deviation has become a true cult movie which is passed around in pubs clubs and at parties and in universities. It was made for ten thousand pounds and was written by simon Linscheid in four hours when James Bennett came to him with a bunch of action sequences for a promo and asked him to turn them into a story. Linscheid subsequently went on to direct Bennett using real life towns people and local characters. There were no stunt people and in many of the fight scenes people actually were getting hit for real.