Slane

Coordinates: 53°42′31″N 6°32′36″W / 53.7086°N 6.5434°W / 53.7086; -6.5434
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other uses, see Slane (disambiguation).

Slane
Irish: Baile Shláine
Village
The ruins of the friary church on the hill of Slane.
The ruins of the friary church on the hill of Slane.
Slane is located in Ireland
Slane
Slane
Location in Ireland
Coordinates: 53°42′31″N 6°32′36″W / 53.7086°N 6.5434°W / 53.7086; -6.5434
CountryIreland
ProvinceLeinster
CountyCounty Meath
Elevation
64 m (210 ft)
Population
 (2022)[1]
1,445
Irish Grid ReferenceN959742

Slane (Irish: Baile Shláine, meaning "Town of Sláine mac Dela")[2] is a village in County Meath, in Ireland. The village stands on a steep hillside on the left bank of the River Boyne at the intersection of the N2 (Dublin to Monaghan road) and the N51 (Drogheda to Navan road). As of the 2022 census, Slane's population was 1,445.[1] The village and surrounding area contains many historic sites dating back over 5,000 years. The village centre, as it is laid-out today, dates mainly from the 18th century.

History

One of the four private Georgian houses at the centre of the village.

The area and its surroundings have been inhabited since at least the

motte and bailey
, which is in close proximity to the Hill of Slane settlement.

Following the Williamite confiscations, which saw the Flemings dispossessed, the present form of the Castle and the village centre were re-cast and in the latter case, laid out as a model British village by the Ulster plantation family of the Conynghams, in what is considered a typical example of 18th-century town planning.

As part of this remodelling, today in the centre of the village stand four nearly identical

oriel windows and archways.[3]

The village centre also incorporates "Gallows hill",

United Irishmen who were publicly executed there on a gallows in an attempt to deter further agitations for independence, following the failed 1798 uprising
.

In 2007 Meath County Council proposed that both Slane village and the mill be recognised as Architectural Conservation Areas and protected according.[6]

Population and demographics

In the 20 years between the 1996 and 2016 census, Slane doubled in population, from 699 to 1,369 inhabitants.[7][8]

As of the 2006 census, there were 1,099 people living in Slane, having grown from a population of 823 in 2002. The population of the village and the surrounding rural area was 1,587 in 2006, up from 1,336 in 2002.[9]

According to the 2016 census, of those who commute to work or school, 77% (658 of 854 respondents) had a commute of less than 1 hour.[8]

Sport

The earliest recorded inter-county match of caid, equivalent to modern Gaelic football, in the entirety of Ireland; was one between Louth and Meath, in the fields of Slane, in 1712, about which the poet James Dall McCuairt wrote a poem of 88 verses beginning "Ba haigeanta".

The modern-day Slane Gaelic Football Club comprises the local parish Gaelic Athletic Association Gaelic football teams for the urban and rural areas of Slane. Teams play their home games in Toddy Harding Park, located 5 kilometres (3 mi) north of the village. Slane Wanderers is the village's local football club, whose home games are played in Wheatfield Park.

In 1979, the inaugural Irish Motocross Grand Prix was held in Slane.[10]

Places of Interest

The Hill of Slane

Ruins on the hill of Slane, facing East.
The ruins on the hill of Slane as it appeared in 1830.Picturesque views of the Antiquities of Ireland. Drawn on stone by J. D. Harding, from the sketches of R. O'C. Newenham. Since 1830, the battlements on the tower to the left are now unrecognizable.
Ruins on the Hill of Slane in 2008, facing North West. The tower on the top right, was capped with battlements, up to at least 1830.

To the north of the village rises the Hill of Slane, which stands 158 metres (518 ft) above the surroundings. There are a number of historic sites located around the top of the hill.

better source needed] There is an artificial mound on the western end of the hilltop. The hill may have been chosen as the site of a Christian abbey due to the presence of an existing Tuatha Dé Danann shrine, the remains of which may be two standing stones in the burial yard.[13]

Saint Erc
.

The Hill of Slane remained a centre of religion and learning for many centuries after Saint Patrick. The

friary church and college can be seen on the top of the hill. It is known that Slane Friary was restored in 1512. The ruins include a 19-metre (62 ft) high early gothic tower. The friary was abandoned in 1723.[3]

The traditional Christian

folk song named Slane which is about the Hill of Slane.[16]

Chilean pine
tree on the Hill of Slane.

Approximately 150 meters west of the college and friary church, hidden by trees, lay the steeply inclined remains of a twelfth-century

motte and bailey, built by Richard Fleming in the 1170s. This was the seat of the Flemings of Slane, barons of Slane. The Flemings moved to a castle on the left bank of the River Boyne, the current location of Slane Castle. The Flemings were lords of Slane from the twelfth century until the seventeenth century, when the Conyngham family replaced them as lords of Slane during the Williamite Confiscations.[17]

Slane Castle

Slane Castle.

Our lady's well. Legion of Mary
–led pilgrimages to the site are hosted every August.

The castle grounds have been the site of

large rock concerts
since 1981.

Also within the grounds of Slane Castle (demesne) are the ruins of St. Erc's Hermitage. This consists of a late 15 to 16th century chapel, an earlier dwelling,[3] a stone arched footbridge over a stream/tributary that feeds into the Boyne and the stone quarry face from where the materials for construction were taken. Local folklore has it that during the 19th-century move of the apostle's stone, a stone carving of the crucifixion of Christ, which was taken from this chapel to be placed in the modern church in the village, the 200 kg stone carving was to mysteriously find its way back to the Hermitage in the still dead of night. A portion of a celtic cross carving, that was also initially part of St. Erc's Hermitage is now housed in an Iron frame beside the altar within Saint Patrick's Church on Chapel street. A catholic church was built c.1805.[19] Not to be confused with the similarly named Saint Patrick's Church of Ireland, on main street, built 1797 "M.DCC.XCVII."[20]

In 2009 "Slane Castle Whiskey", began to be bottled and labelled, a blended whiskey, it was created by Noel Sweeney and made at the Cooley mountain distillery outside Dundalk.[21][22]

Following a change in ownership, the Cooley distillery ceased further collaboration.

Brown Forman of "Slane Castle Distillery", completed in 2017, it is owned and operated by Henry and Alex Conyngham.[23][24] The whiskey that is intended to be produced in the distillery, carries the label, "SLANE Irish Whiskey", with the placename of "Slane", since 2018, now a registered trademark, controversially held by the owner of "Slane Castle Irish Whiskey Limited".[25][26]

Slane Mill

The "Old mill" resides next to 20th-century adjacent factory buildings that were built before the rate of the textile industry at the site, outgrew the capacity of the area. It is referred to as the "old mill" to distinguish it from the "new mill" or "factory" that was built slightly uphill from this site, due to the area's land constraints. The main mill building "displays a level of carved detail that is unusual for an industrial building and more typically found in country houses of the period".[27]

In the 1760s

flour mill at Slane.[28]
Slane Mill stands on the north bank of the River Boyne beside the N2 bridge. The mill is a five-storey cut-stone building. When the mill was completed in 1766, it was the largest flour mill in Ireland.

By channelling the water of the Boyne through the weir that passes under the five-storey building, the water-powered mill in the building ground flour until the 1870s, at which point roller mills replaced grindstones. The mill building was later converted to processing Irish scutch flax for clothing.[29]

With competition in the textile industry, the mill began to transition from

ESB
for a number of decades until it fell into disrepair.

By the late 20th century, both mills shared the fate of most others in the textile industry of western Europe; repeated downsizing brought about by a failure to innovate a desirable and unique design signature, competition from businesses with greater supply-chain vertical integration, the need to upgrade to more modern air-jet looms and cheaper labour in the far East have all conspired to ensure the "new mill" likewise has all but left the textile industry that was once the primary employer in Slane.

Slane Bridge

The hill and dangerous bend approaching Slane bridge.
Memorial plaque on Slane bridge commemorating poet, Irish and National Volunteers member, Francis Ledwidge, who was to serve and die in World War I.
Signposts showing the entry to Slane, as well as the 30km/h speed limit
Road signposts on the N2 as northbound traffic enters Slane from Ashbourne. A 30 km/h speed limit has been adopted in Slane since 2009 in an effort to prevent further collisions. The signs are located nearly a kilometre from the notorious black spot.

The N2 crosses the River Boyne south of the village. The road descends a steep hill from the village and makes an almost ninety-degree turn onto the 14th-century bridge.

M1 bridge.[30][32] Planning permission for a 3.5 km bypass of Slane was refused by An Bord Pleanála in 2012, due to heritage concerns regarding the nearby Newgrange monument. An Bord Pleanála said that due to the proposed road being in the "viewshed" of the Newgrange UNESCO site, approval would only be considered if no alternative route was possible.[33]

The bridge has not always been the source of tragedy, the evening of 18 May 1969 is fondly remembered by many of the community when a truck laden with Bushmills and Cream of Barley Whiskey was travelling from Antrim to Dublin when its brakes failed coming down the hill and it rolled over the bridge wall into the river some 3 meters or so below, the driver[who?] survived and was brought to Hospital but the entire loot of liquor was strewn across the river bottom. Most of the town of Slane were quick on the scene, vans and truck were seen spiriting away from the wreck of the truck in the dead of night. Several prosecutions followed, but the actual quantity of whiskey taken away is still known only to the management of Bushmills and perhaps to the Insurance Company that followed up the claim. The following day five Irish Divers, Brian Cusack, Sean Sheridan, Joe Murray, Fergus McKenna and Sean Donohoe arrived and while the local people of Slane were still dredging for bottles they collected 408 bottles in total, the local butcher in Slane at the time was apparently still drinking Bushmills Whiskey four years later.[34]

Near Slane

See also: Dunmoe Castle

There are many other historical sites in the area around Slane. The

passage tomb built c. 3200 BC.[35]

Ledwidge Cottage Museum, Slane, County Meath
where Francis Ledwidge lived and grew up as a young poet.

Across the river from the old mill stand the ruins of Fennor Castle/Tower House, adjacent to Fennor Church and its graveyard.[36][37]

The ruins of Castle Dexter which was built circa the 12th century, lay approximately 2 kilometres (1.3 miles) west of Slane Castle and it is likewise sited near the banks of the River Boyne. 18th-century drawings and watercolours of how this castle appeared are held in the National Library of Ireland.[38]

In common with the town of Drogheda and the area around the adjacent limestone quarry of Platin, a number of now overgrown lime kilns dot the hills of Slane, with the most visible being behind the only service station remaining in the village and to the rear of Ledwidge Cottage.

Rosnaree Mill and its accompanying Sheela na Gig
, a stone carving which has been taken indoors to prevent further weathering, can be viewed upon request to the owner at George's Patisseries on Chapel Street, Slane.

The site of the Battle of the Boyne is 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) downriver, east, from Slane.

Transport

Bus Éireann route 190 links Slane to Drogheda, Navan, Trim, Mullingar and Athlone. There is a bus in each direction every hour to/from Navan, Trim and Drogheda and every two hours to Athlone.[39] The bus to Duleek was withdrawn in November 2013.[40] Collins Coaches operate a route linking Slane to Dublin, Collon, Ardee and Carrickmacross with one journey each way to/from Ballybay.[41] McConnons also serve Slane with a few services a day.[42] The Sunday only Bus Éireann route 177 providing a single journey each way via Slane on the Monaghan to Dublin route was withdrawn in November 2013.

Slane local electoral area

Slane is also the name of a local electoral area encompassing a large area of eastern County Meath from Lobinstown to the Irish Sea. This area includes other towns larger but not older than Slane in the modern day, such as Duleek, Stamullen and the portions of the environs of Drogheda which are in County Meath. The population of Slane Local Electoral Area was 32,126 in 2006.[9][43][needs update]

"Slane" trademark controversy

An application by "Slane Castle Whiskey" to both the EU

Intellectual Property Office and the US Patent and Trade Mark Office, to trademark the placename of "Slane" was filed in 2015. This trademarking became known after a business in the village, which had desired to use "Slane" in its title, discovered it was blocked from doing so.[44] The controversy, around the trademarking includes that this application was designed to cast a very wide net, over a range of goods and services, not limited to alcohol, resulting in the trademark-holders controlling an array of other categories.[44][26] In the EU jurisdiction, the attempt had been granted,[45] without the prerequisite of a simple web-search being conducted on the name,[44] raising issues of corruption and reassessment being required, as an earlier EU-trademark-ruling exists, that explicitly prohibits businesses from trademarking the name of historical places.[44]

In the still ongoing US case,[46] the attempt to trademark "Slane" was refused in 2015 on the grounds that, upon doing a web-search, the word is both the name of a place and there are other local businesses with a long-standing use of "Slane" as part of their name.[44]

Notable people

See also: Category:People from Slane

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Data". Census 2022. Central Statistics Office. June 2023. Retrieved 29 June 2023.
  2. ^ "Baile Shláine / Slane". logainm.ie. Irish Placenames Commission.
  3. ^
    ISBN 0-903693-09-7
    .
  4. ^ "Irish Archaeology Site assessment, field survey and reportin". Archived from the original on 17 October 2017. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
  5. ^ "Hill of Slane – field school open day". Archived from the original on 16 October 2017. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
  6. ^ "Appendix III – Architectural Conservation Areas" (PDF). Draft Meath County Development Plan 2007–2013. Meath County Council. 2007. pp. 389–390. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 November 2007. Retrieved 10 October 2007.
  7. ^ a b "Slane (Ireland) Census Town". citypopulation.ie. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  8. ^ a b "Sapmap Area - Settlements - Slane". Census 2016. Central Statistics Office. April 2016. Archived from the original on 2 March 2022. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  9. ^ a b "Census 2006 – Volume 1 – Population Classified by Area" (PDF). Central Statistics Office Census 2006 Reports. Central Statistics Office Ireland. April 2007. Retrieved 24 June 2011.
  10. ^ "Fairyhouse To Host The Irish Motocross Grand Prix". motocross.ie. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
  11. ^ "From this beautiful hill, a vast prospect of Ireland is afforded on a clear day. Eastwards can easily be seen the mounds of Newgrange and Knowth, with the town of Drogheda and the Irish Sea beyond, while the view northwards extends as far as Slieve Gullion (well into Northern Ireland), southwards as far as the Sugarloaf Mountain in Wicklow, and westwards to the midlands of Ireland." (Noted at MythicalIreland.com).
  12. ^ Mythical Ireland: Slane in ancient times
  13. ^ Lewis, "Notes on Some Irish Antiquities" The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 9 (1880:137–145) p. 142 "if such a [pagan] shrine were there, on the top of the lofty hill of Slane, it might have led to the building of the abbey: a circumstance which needs explanation, as abbeys were usually built in valleys, where land is fertile and water near at hand."
  14. ^ In the syncretic fashion suggested for Tara by Alan Gailey and G. B. Adams, "The Bonfire in North Irish Tradition" Folklore 88.1 (1977:3–38) p. 13
  15. ^ Rice, V.Rev. G. "The History of Christianity in Slane". Slane Historical Society. Archived from the original on 17 January 2007. Retrieved 20 May 2006.
  16. ISBN 0-664-25180-3
    .
  17. Cokayne, George Edward. The Complete Peerage
    .
  18. Cath Maige Tuireadh. Elizabeth A. Gray (trans.)
  19. ^ Saint Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, Chapel Street, Slane, County Meath
  20. ^ Saint Patrick's Church of Ireland Church, Main Street Lower, Slane, County Meath
  21. ^ Slane Castle Distillery Goes Ahead – New Irish Distillery To Be Built -Irish Whiskey News
  22. ^ a b Slane Castle Distillery
  23. ^ Boyne Valley Whiskey Tours – Coming Soon
  24. ^ Jack Daniel’s firm to build €44m distillery at Slane Castle
  25. ^ "SLANE and SLANE CASTLE are trademarks of Slane Castle. ©2018 Slane Castle Irish Whiskey Limited."
  26. ^ a b Trade Mark investigation into "Slane"
  27. ^ Billinger. geograph website
  28. ISSN 1649-1696. Archived from the original
    on 19 November 2007. Retrieved 8 October 2007.
  29. ^ Fitzpatrick, David & Fitzpatrick, Maureen. "The Old Mill". The Old Frequented Ways. Slane Historical and Archaeological Society.
  30. ^ a b Keogh, Elaine (4 July 2004). "Councillor angered at lack of progress on Slane bypass". The Irish Times. Retrieved 20 May 2006.[permanent dead link]
  31. ^ Crowley, Sorcha. "New traffic controls for Slane black spot". The Irish Times. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  32. ^ Hogan, Treacy; Keogh, Elaine (29 May 2001). "Speeding trucks pose major safety risk on death bridge". The Irish Independent. Retrieved 20 May 2006.
  33. ^ "Proposed Slane Bypass - Brú na Bóinne Heritage Sites". www.newgrange.com. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  34. ^ "The Boyne Water This article was written by Brian Cusack for a booklet commemorating the Irish Sub-aqua Club's twenty-fifth anniversary". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 13 December 2013.
  35. ISBN 0-500-27371-5
    .
  36. ^ FENNOR CASTLE (in its historical context).Slane history and archaeology society
  37. ^ Ryle, John. "Fennor Castle and its Historical Context". The Old Frequented Ways. Slane Historical and Archaeological Society.
  38. ^ a view of Carrick Castle (or Castle Dexter), near Slane, County Meath, Ireland. drawings by Austin Cooper and watercolours by Gabriel Beranger
  39. ^ "Bus Éireann Timetable Route 190, Drogheda - Navan - Trim - Mullingar - Athlone - Bus Éireann - View Ireland Bus and Coach Timetables & Buy Tickets".
  40. ^ "Route 190/190A Laytown-Drogheda-Navan-Trim/Athboy effective Sunday, 24 November 2013 - Timetable News - Bus Éireann - View Ireland Bus and Coach Timetables & Buy Tickets". Archived from the original on 3 December 2013.
  41. ^ "Dublin Commuter Service". Archived from the original on 14 March 2013.
  42. ^ "McConnons Buses - Daily return bus service from Monaghan to Dublin. M1 and N2 routes. WiFi on Board".
  43. ^ "Meath Electoral Areas Map". Meath County Council. Archived from the original (JPG) on 27 October 2007. Retrieved 3 May 2007.
  44. ^ a b c d e ‘Slane’ registered as trademark by US multinational, The Irish Times
  45. ^ "European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO)". Archived from the original on 16 October 2017. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
  46. ^ "Slane - Trademark #86658395, Owner: Slane Castle Irish Whiskey Limited". Archived from the original on 16 October 2017.

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