| Laytown an Inse
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| — Town — | |
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Laytown
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| Coordinates: | |
| Country | Ireland |
| Province | Leinster |
| County | County Meath |
| Elevation | 0 m (0 ft) |
| Population (2002) | |
| • Rural | 2,007 |
| Time zone | WET (UTC+0) |
| • Summer (DST) | IST (WEST) (UTC-1) |
| Irish Grid Reference | O162714 |
| Historical populations | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
| 1831 | 587 | — |
| 1841 | 317 | −46.0% |
| 1851 | 333 | +5.0% |
| 1861 | 68 | −79.6% |
| 1901 | 112 | +64.7% |
| 1936 | 258 | +130.4% |
| 1946 | 401 | +55.4% |
| 1951 | 411 | +2.5% |
| 1956 | 1,117 | +171.8% |
| 1961 | 1,034 | −7.4% |
| 1966 | 1,339 | +29.5% |
| 1971 | 1,882 | +40.6% |
| 1981 | 2,997 | +59.2% |
| 1986 | 3,321 | +10.8% |
| 1991 | 3,360 | +1.2% |
| 1996 | 3,678 | +9.5% |
| 2002 | 5,597 | +52.2% |
| 2006 | 8,978 | +60.4% |
| [1] | ||
Laytown is a village on the R150 regional road on the Irish Sea coast of County Meath, Ireland. Historically it was called Ninch[2] (Irish: an Inse, meaning "the holm"), after the townland it occupies.[3] Together with the neighbouring villages of Mornington and Bettystown it comprises the census town of Laytown-Bettystown-Mornington.
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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.
Laytown is 50 km (30 mi) 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 Gormanston at the River Delvin, which borders County Dublin.
Laytown sits on the mouth of the River Nanny, a tidal estuary where mullet, trout, eels, gobies 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.
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. [3] 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. [4]
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 train line linking Drogheda and Dundalk to Connolly station in Dublin. Laytown railway station opened on 25 May 1844[4] and was renamed as Laytown & Bettystown in 1913. An express coach service links Laytown, Bettystown and Sonairte with Parnell Street in Dublin.
The town has a garda station and a primary school and Gaelscoil. Coláiste na hInse in Laytown has been given the go ahead to go to tender for 1,000 pupils with a special needs unit. The village also consists of three pubs, two newsagents, a pharmacy, two take-aways and a train station.
Sonairte: The National Ecology Centre, is half a mile from the station on the Dublin road. [5]
Both Irish and American movies (The Crying Game and Michael Collins) and television shows have been filmed all over Laytown, mostly on the beach.
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. [6]
Since 1876 Laytown has hosted a single annual horse racing meeting on its beach - one of only a couple on sand (held on the beach) race meetings run under official rules of racing in Europe. The BBC have made it the subject of a documentary, titled Racing the Tide, and have included passages in their Coast and Countryfile programmes.
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