Laytown
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| Laytown An Inse |
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WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates:
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| Irish grid reference O162714 |
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| Statistics | ||
| Province: | Leinster | |
| County: | County Meath | |
| Elevation: | Sea level | |
| Population (2002) - Town: - Environs: |
2,007 |
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Laytown (Irish: An Inse) is a village in County Meath, Ireland. Together with the neighbouring villages of Mornington and Bettystown it comprises the census town of Laytown-Bettystown-Mornington.
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[edit] History
The surrounding area is known to have been settled for around 1500 years; recent excavations have revealed settlement at Laytown since at least the 6th century AD.
[edit] Archaelogical finds
- On the famous beach at Bettystown, one of the biggest historical finds in Irish history was made. In 1850 a peasant woman claimed to have found the Tara Brooch in a box buried in the sand. The Tara Brooch is now on display in the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin.
- An archeological dig in 2000 revealed early Christian graves of around 50 people and a Bronze Age enclosure. Artefacts recovered include a Hiberno-Norse ring pin, though this may signify mere contact or trade with Vikings rather than their actual presence in the area.[1]
[edit] Geography
Laytown is 50km (30mi) north of the nation's capital, Dublin. Laytown and neighboring town, Bettystown, sit on one of Ireland's most scenic beachfronts. The beach stretches from Mornington at the River Boyne, which borders County Louth to Gormonston at the River Delvin, which borders County Dublin. This stretch of beach is 3km (2 mi) long and constitutes two fifths County Meath coastline.
Laytown sits on the mouth of the River Nanny, a tidal estuary where mullet, trout, and flounder can be caught - but no salmon. According to local folklore, Saint Patrick banished all the salmon from the river. By an old schoolhouse overlooking the river there is a spring known as St Patrick's Well, though the access path to it is overgrown.
[edit] Buildings of note
Many of Laytown's larger buildings, including the train station master's house and the large terrace homes facing onto the beach were built in the mid-nineteenth century. [2] The architecture of the Church of the Sacred Heart is of particular note: the facade is retained from the original nineteenth century, but the main building is a 1970s circular-plan single room with a large window overlooking the Irish Sea. On the hill behind the window is a twenty-foot wooden cross. [3]
[edit] Transport & communications
The village has become well established as a commuter town for people working in Dublin, fuelled by the completion of the M1 motorway linking the north east of the country to the capital. The village is served by the Northern commuter line linking Drogheda and Dundalk to Connolly station in Dublin. Laytown railway station opened on 25 May 1844[1] and was renamed as Laytown & Bettystown in 1913.
[edit] Amenities
The town has a garda station and a primary school on a site of approximately 0.8 hectares (2 acres), the buildings thereon being a series of dated school buildings and portable units. The village also consists of two pubs, a run-down hotel, two newsagents, a pharmacy, two take-aways and a train station.
[edit] Laytown on film
Both Irish and American movies (The Crying Game and Michael Collins) and television shows have been filmed all over Laytown, mostly on the beach.
[edit] Laytown today
Laytown was once a tiny coastal village, but in the past decade, the town has seen both a huge population and economic boom. With the ever developing and growing city of Dublin, Laytown, along with other villages and towns all along the east coast, has recorded a population boom. This has brought problems with overcrowded schools. [4]
[edit] Laytown races
Laytown hosts a single annual horse racing meeting on its beach - the only grandstand race meeting in Europe held on the beach under official rules - that was once the subject of a BBC documentary, titled Racing the Tide.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ Laytown and Bettystown station. Railscot - Irish Railways. Retrieved on 2007-09-06.
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