Hotels in County Meath
Ireland

Hotels in County Meath

County Meath is in Ireland's East Coast and Midlands.

Trim Castle stands as the remains of the largest Norman castle in Europe, and Ireland's largest castle. It was built between 1174 and 1206. Trim has been used as the location for some film productions, including the use of Trim Castle to depict York Castle in Mel Gibson's Braveheart. Trim was also the setting for the first full-length Irish martial arts movie Fatal Deviation. The 1980 movie The Big Red One, starring Lee Marvin and Mark Hamill, was also partially shot in Trim and in particular Trim Castle.

Tara Mine, Europe's largest lead and zinc mine is located in Navan. The town traditionally was famous for carpets (Navan Carpets closed in 2003) and for a thriving furniture industry (Beechmount Home Park). Both are now in decline, or have ceased, as a result of the move away from manufacture to cheaper locations like Eastern Europe. Nevertheless, Navan has rapidly expanded with the Celtic Tiger to become a large dormitory town due to its proximity to Dublin. Navan was the childhood home of Pierce Brosnan, the fifth actor to play the celebrated role of James Bond. TV personality Hector Ó hEochagáin, and comedians Dylan Moran and Tommy Tiernan also hail from Navan.

Dunboyne Castle, which was a fine Georgian house, was built as the seat of the Butler family, Lords Dunboyne. It later passed to the Mangan family and was the seat of Simon Mangan, HM Lieutenant for County Meath in the 1890s and 1900s. The Hotel was sold in 1950 and became a convent, in which nuns and parishioners used to live, until the closing of the convent in the 1990s due to building damage. A partial amount of the building had been dismantled. In 2006, it was suggested that the convent be renovated into a hotel. A new hotel was built around the shell of the old building. Today the hotel is running successfully, and the management are determined in achieving a 5 star rating.