Near Dublin - Ireland 2014 - page 189

Taxi: DKs Taxi can give you a lift to nearby Boyne sites (tel. [phone]).
Fishing Tours: Marc O'Regan leads backcountry trout and pike fishing trips, making a
splash with anglers who want to experience Ireland's bountiful lakes and rivers (tel.
046/943-1635, www.crannmor.com ). O'Regan and his wife also run the recommended
Crannmór Guest House.
Sights in Trim
▲▲▲ Trim Castle
This is the biggest Norman castle in Ireland. Set in a grassy riverside park at the edge
of this sleepy town, its mighty keep towers above a very ruined outer wall. It replaced
a wooden fortification that was destroyed in 1173 by Irish High King Rory O'Connor,
who led a raid against the invading Normans. The current castle was completed in the
1220s and served as a powerful Norman statement to the restless Irish natives. It remained
a sharp barb at the fringe of “the Pale” (English-controlled territory), when English rule
shrank to just the area around Dublin in the 1400s. By that time, any lands farther west
were “beyond the Pale.”
Cost and Hours: €3 for castle grounds, €4 for entrance to keep and required tour;
roughly April-Oct daily 10:00-18:00; Nov-March Sat-Sun 10:00-17:00, closed Mon-Fri;