trim castle churches and town gate

Inside, the main tower is divided into two parts, the Hall and the Bedroom or Chamber, and there was a Chapel in the east tower. Around the time when the tower was completed, the great curtain wall was built . It has 5 D-shaped towers projecting from it on the southern half of the wall, and a square gateway which has a groove for a portcullis on the west. An unusual feature is the slightly later round tower at the southernmost point, which has another building - a barbican - projecting from it which spanned the water-filled moat which originally surrounded the curtain wall. In this building there was a drawbridge which was operated from above. The old town wall was originally joined to the castle near the south-western corner. there were small openings near one of the D-shaped towers, and another at the north-western tower, to allow the defenders to make surprise attacks.

In the second half of the 13th century the castle passed through De Lacy's daughter Matilda to the Mortimers, Earls of the March, who rarely ever visited the castle. When Richard II visited the castle in 1399, he left behind him there two boys as wards. Prince Hal, later Henry V, and Humphrey of Gloucester, later the 'Good Duke', who were housed in the gate-tower with the drawbridge. During the Rebellion of Silken Thomas in 1536-41, repairs were made to the castle, but by 1599 it was in ruins. During the Civil War, Coote and Grenville took the castle in 1642. In 1647 it was strongly fortified by the Parliamentarians under Fennick, but Lord Inchiquin succeeded in taking it in 1649. Ormond abandoned it to the Cromwellians shortly afterwards, and it does not appear to have been used after that.

On the opposite side of the river are the remains of the Sheep Gate which is the only remaining portion of the town walls erected in 1359 by Roger Mortimer, Earl of Ulster, and consisting of a two storey tower. Nearby is the Yellow Steeple, a very tall but battered tower of the 14th century which formed part of an Augustinian Abbey called St. Mary's, where the 'Idiol of Trim' - a statue of the Blessed Virgin - was venerated. At 125 feet high it stood on the north side of the now demolished church. Close to it is a farm-shed with corrugated iron roof which was once Nangle's Castle.

St. Patrick's Church:
In the western part of the town is the 19th century Church of Ireland church to which a 15th century tower is attached. In the porch of the tower is a very fine (15th century ?) baptismal fort and an interesting collection of medieval grave-stones. The door leading from the tower to the church is 15th century, and at the back of the church is a large baptismal font of around 1200. Behind the modern church are the remains of an older church, into a wall of which a fine triple-light 15th or 16th century window has been inserted.

Newtown Trim:
About a mile downstream from the castle stands the vast ruin of Newtown Trim, peacefully situated on the banks of the Boyne. The episcopal See of Meath was moved here from Clonard by John Cardinal in the late 12th century. Simon de Rochfort, Bishop of Meath (1194 - 1224) founded a priory here in 1206 for the Canons of the Augustinian Congregation of St. Victor of Paris to serve the Cathedral. An attempt to substitute secular priests for the canons was made in 1397, but was unsuccessful. The church dates from 1206, and must have been one of the largest churches in Ireland. It originally consisted of a nave, chancel and two transepts, with fine ribbed vaulting over the chancel. But when the nave and transepts fell into decay in the later Middle Ages, the nave was shortened by about 870 feet, and the present west wall was built, so that the original church was much longer than the present one.

There were a number of graceful lancet windows in the church, but those in the east wall were later blocked up. In the north wall there is a round-headed sedilia. To the south of the original nave stood the domestic buildings. The refectory, retaining some of its original windows (though one towards the eastern end was added in the 15th century), stands at the south end of the quadrangle, and had a basement supporting the floor in order to keep it at the same level as the surrounding buildings. There are the remnants of a fine 13th century doorway near a stile at a point where the east wing of the cloister stood; it was the door to the chapter house. A kitchen was added to the western wing in the 15th or 16th century. To the east of this complex is another smaller 13th century parish church, with a north and south doorway, into which a 15th century window has been inserted.

Fifteenth century fragments have been built into the south wall of the church, and inside is a fine late 16th century double effigy tomb of Sir Luke Dillon and his wife. The buildings on the far side of the ancient bridge are the remnants of the 13th and 15th century Friary and Hospital of St. John the Baptist, a foundation of the Crutched Friars. From a gate beside the road on the opposite side of the river to the refectory of the monastery mentioned above, there is a remarkable echo.