Near Dublin - Ireland 2014 - page 190

last entry one hour before closing, 45-minute tours run 2/hour but spots are limited and can
fill up—so arrive early in peak season, tel. [phone], www.heritageireland.ie .
Visiting the Castle: Today the castle remains an impressive sight—so impressive that
it was used in the 1994 filming of Braveheart (which was actually about Scotland's—not
Ireland's—fight for freedom from the English). The best-preserved walls ring the castle's
southern perimeter and sport a barbican gate that contained two drawbridges.
At the base of the castle walls, notice the cleverly angled “batter” wall—used by de-
fenders who hurled down stones that banked off at great velocity into the attacking army.
Notice also that the castle is built directly on bedrock, visible along the base of the walls.
During sieges, while defenders of other castles feared that attackers would tunnel under-
ground to weaken the defensive walls, that was not an issue here.
The massive 70-foot-high central keep, which is mostly a hollow shell, has 20 sides.
This experimental design was not implemented elsewhere because it increased the number
of defenders needed to cover all the angles. You can go inside the keep only with the in-
cluded tour, where you'll start by checking out the cool ground-floor models showing the
evolution of the castle. Then you'll climb a series of tightly winding original staircases and
modern, high catwalks, learn about life in the castle, and end at the top with great views of
the walls and the countryside.
Make time to take a 15-minute walk outside, circling the castle walls and stopping at
the informative plaques that show the castle from each viewpoint during its gory glory
days. Night strollers are treated to views of the castle hauntingly lit in blue-green hues.
Trim Evening Stroll
Given good weather, here's my blueprint for a fine night in Trim. Start the evening by
taking the pleasant River Walk stroll along the River Boyne from Trim Castle. Cross the
wooden footbridge over the river behind the castle and turn right (east). The paved, level
trail leads under a modern bridge and extends a mile along fields that serfs farmed 750
years ago. During the filming of Braveheart , Mel Gibson's character met the French prin-
cess in her tent in these fields, with the castle looming in the background.
The trail ends in the medieval ruins of Newtown. This was indeed once the “new town”
(mid-1200s) that sprouted as a religious satellite community to support political power
housedinthecastle.Wanderthesprawling,ragtagruinsof Saints Peter and Paul Cathed-
ral (1206), once the largest Gothic church in Ireland.
Just beyond the ruins, cross the old Norman bridge to the 13th-century scraps of the
Hospital of St. John the Baptist. Medieval medicine couldn't have been fun, but this hos-
pital was the best you could hope for back when life was nasty, brutish, and short. Many a
knight was spent here.