Dunboyne

Template:Infobox Irish Place Dunboyne (Irish: Dún Búinne) is a town in County Meath in Ireland. For the most part, it is a dormitory town for the city of Dublin.

Location

Dunboyne is centred on the crossroads formed by the R156 regional road and the R157, just south of the N3 National primary route.

History

Dunboyne's history stretches back to the Middle Ages.

It was home to many men who fought against British rule and pike-men marched on Dublin from Dunboyne in 1798, although few returned.

Dunboyne has seen major transformation since the early 1980s. Suburban housing estates developed around the fringes of the traditional village, such as Beechdale, Woodview and Castleview Heights and the new development at Dunboyne Castle estate and hotel.

Sport

Dunboyne is also known for its rich GAA tradition. The Dunboyne team won the Meath senior county football championship in 1998 and 2005. Dunboyne man Seán Boylan was the longest serving county manager in GAA history and led Meath to four All Ireland victories in 1987, 1988, 1996 and 1999. He was awarded 'Freedom of Meath' in 2006 for his contributions to the Meath GAA scene. He lives in Dunboyne, and there is a bridge named after him, "Boylan's Bridge". All Ireland winners from Dunboyne representing Meath include Brian Smith (Captain 1949), James Reilly (1949), Brendan Reilly, Enda McManus, Nigel Crawford and David Gallagher.

Dunboyne was also a motor racing venue between 1958 and 1967 for both cars and motorbikes. The racing circuit was a 4 mile long triangular shaped circuit with a combination of fast straights and hairpin bends. The start/finish line was in the centre of Dunboyne village and the racing circuit itself consisted of public roads around the village. During these years races such as the Leinster Trophy, Dunboyne Trophy and Holmpatrick Trophy were held. The Dunboyne Motor Club have revived the spirit of this era with an annual reunion in the village bringing together many of the cars and bikes that raced on the circuit.

The old motor racing circuit still sees competitive racing of the two legged variety in the form of the Annual Easter Sunday Road race held by the Dunboyne Athletic Club. Athletes compete for the Mattie McGrath Trophy and 2007 saw this event being held for the 38th time.

Education

Primary Schools:

• Dunboyne Junior Primary School
• Dunboyne Senior Primary School
• Gaelscoil Thulach na nÓg
• St Peter's National School (Church of Ireland)

Secondary School:

• St. Peter's College

Third Level:

• Dunboyne College of Further Education

Controversy at Gaelscoil Thulach na nÓg

In 2002, Thomas Ó Dulaing, headmaster at Gaelscoil Thulach na nÓg was dismissed by the board of patrons. He had opted for teaching religious sacraments outside schools hours, which the board of patrons argued exceeded his remit. Many parents supported the former headmaster.

Transport

Dunboyne railway station was opened on 29 August 1862 and finally closed on 1 April 1963. However, Dunboyne is due to be reconnected in 2010, after more than forty years, to the national rail passenger network, as part of the reopening of the Navan-Clonsilla line.

Dunboyne is served by several Dublin Bus routes including the 70, 70X, 70N and 270.

Geographical Qualities

It has been suggested that Dunboyne is the only town in Ireland that could be an inland island, as the only way into and out of the town is over bridges, directly outside the town on each road.

The Castle River flows into the Tolka river and recent flooding in and around Dunboyne has been attributed to problems further down the Tolka. Alleviation works have resulted in the risk of flooding being severely lessened. The last major flood was in 2002, preceded by floods in 2000 and 1987.

Dunboyne Castle, which was a fine Georgian house, was built as the seat of the Butler family, Lords Dunboyne. It later passed to the Mangan family and was the seat of Simon Mangan, HM Lieutenant for County Meath in the 1890s. After being sold in 1950, it became the Good Shepherd Convent, before becoming the Dunboyne Castle Hotel in recent years.

People

• John Bruton, Taoiseach (Prime Minister) from 1994 to 1997 and former leader of the Fine Gael political party, lives about 5 kilometres outside the village. As the current envoy for the European Union to the United States of America, he resides mostly in Washington D.C. He still maintains farmland and a home in Dunboyne.
• Sean Boylan, former manager of the Meath GAA football team lives in Dunboyne.
• Mgr Dermot Farrell, the Parish Priest since 1 October, 2007, is the former President of St Patrick's College, Maynooth. He succeeded Mgr Edward Dunne as parish priest of Dunboyne in 2007.

Miscellaneous Information

Dunboyne was the backdrop for the fictional village of Leestown in the very successful television series of the 1970s called The Riordans. More recently certain elements of the local Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) clubs and country houses were used in a recent RTÉ GAA related drama series.

In Stockholm, Sweden there is an unusual youth hostel; it is a ship called af Chapman. Named Dunboyne by her original Dublin owners, Charles E. Martin & Co., she participated in trade with Australia in her early years. Sold to Norway in 1909, the Dunboyne was renamed the G.D. Kennedy in July 1915 when she was bought by the Swedish shipping company Transatlantic who sold her to the Swedish government in 1924, when it was renamed af Chapman. She has been operating as a youth hostel since 1949.

See also

• List of towns in the Republic of Ireland

External links

• Dunboyne Parish
• Dunboyne Castle Hotel
• St. Peter's Dunboyne GAA
• Dunboyne Athletic Club
• St. Peter's College
• IRRS Journal article on railway re-opening
• Dunboyne Road Racing 1958-1967
• Meath Tourism