Trim Castle
About
Trim Castle is the largest Anglo-Norman castle in Ireland, and the reason is the keep: a cruciform tower of twenty sides, begun by Hugh de Lacy after the Norman invasion of the 1170s and finished by his son, sitting inside a curtain wall and ditch that still enclose a couple of acres of grass in the middle of the town. The grounds are free and open, and locals cut through them, walk dogs in them and sit on the grass in them, which is the single most surprising thing about the place for a first-time visitor. The keep is different. You can only get inside it on a guided tour with an OPW guide, the stairs are original and genuinely steep and narrow, and the tour ends on the wall-walk with the whole Boyne valley laid out. It is also the castle that stood in for York in Braveheart in 1994, which the interpretive panels near the gate are happy to tell you about. Hours are seasonal and the site gets busy in summer, so an early arrival matters more than it looks like it should.
Photos
Highlights
- ✓The cruciform keep, twenty-sided and unique in Ireland
- ✓The wall-walk view over the Boyne and the Yellow Steeple
- ✓Free access to the grounds, curtain wall and ditch
- ✓The Braveheart connection, filmed here in 1994
Tips
- →The keep interior is guided-access only. If you want inside, plan around the tour, not the other way round.
- →Opening is seasonal: reduced winter hours and weekends only in January and from November, so check the OPW page before travelling.
- →The grounds are free. Only the keep tour is ticketed.
- →The keep stairs are steep, narrow and original, and are not wheelchair accessible.
Best Season
More Attraction Activities
The Yellow Steeple and St Mary's Abbey
The jagged bell tower of St Mary's Augustinian Abbey, the tallest structure in Trim, standing on the ridge across the river from the castle. Viewed from outside only.
Newtown Trim and the Priory of St John the Baptist
The thirteenth-century Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, the Priory of St John the Baptist and one of Ireland's oldest bridges, a mile downriver from the castle.
St Patrick's Cathedral (Church of Ireland)
The Church of Ireland cathedral on Loman Street, with a medieval west tower, a Binns organ and a Burne-Jones window the parish calls his only early work in Ireland.