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| TRIM CASTLE, COUNTY MEATH. -Trim, Gaelic Ath-truim, the Ford of the Eldertrees, was so called because of a grove of elders, or boortrees, that grew near the ancient ford across the river Boyne, which flows near the town. The castle which appears in the picture is perhaps, the finest remaining specimen of Anglo-Norman military architecture in Ireland. It took the place of the fortress originally erected by De Lacy, one of Strongbow's lieutenants, in 1172, which was attacked and destroyed by King Roderick O'Conor in 1173. It was again erected and again destroyed, during a civil war between the De Lacys and De Clares, in 1220. Soon afterward, the castle was rebuilt, presumably by the heirs of De Lacy, and notwithstanding many sieges, the remains are still imposing and even formidable. It is thus technically described: The north-eastern side is 121 yards long and is defended by two towers at the angles and two intermediate. The west side is 116 yards long and was guarded by a center and flanking towers. The third side is 192 yards in length, defended by six flanking towers. In the center rises a massive and lofty "conjon-keep" -such as Scott was fond of describing in his poems and romances. This keep has walls twelve feet thick and the smaller towers have walls about half the thickness. Here met many of the parliaments of the Pale, and it was the prison of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, and his nephew, Henry of Lancaster, afterward Henry V. of England, when a mere boy, in 1399. They were immuted by Richard II, who really hed them as hostages. The Duke of Wellingotn, when Captain Wellesley, represented the borough of Trim in the Irish parliament. |
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