Trim

Introducing Trim

The snoozy but most worthy town of Trim (Baile Átha Troim, meaning ‘Town at the Ford of the Elder Trees’) was at one time a major player in local affairs, and a cursory exploration of the town will reveal some inviting relics of its medieval past, none more so than the very obvious and very big castle that was Ireland’s largest Anglo Norman fortification. The medieval town was a busy jumble of streets, and once had five gates and as many as seven monasteries in the immediate area.

It’s hard to imagine nowadays, but a measure of Trim’s importance was that Elizabeth I genuinely considered building Trinity College here. One student who did go to school here – at least for a short time – was Arthur Wellesley, the duke of Wellington, who studied in Talbot Castle and St Mary’s Abbey. Local legend has it that the duke was born in a stable round these parts, which would explain the duke’s famous exclamation that simply being born in a stable doesn’t make one a horse. Sadly for the legend, if he did say it – which is hardly definite – he didn’t mean it literally: for stable and horse read Ireland and Irish, for he was in fact born in Dublin. The local burghers dedicated a Wellington column at the junction of Patrick and Emmet Sts, which was less a tribute to his views on his own birth and more to the fact that his impressive career did actually benefit Ireland. After defeating Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo, the Iron Duke went on to become prime minister of Great Britain and in 1829 passed the Catholic Emancipation Act, which repealed the last of the repressive penal laws.

Trim was home to the county jail, giving rise to the ditty: ‘Kells for brogues, Navan for rogues and Trim for hanging people’.

Today Trim’s history is everywhere. The streets, still lined with tiny old workers cottages, are seeing a few new developments aimed at realising the area’s huge tourism potential.

Last updated: Jul 16, 2010