Donacarney ( or ) is a village in the area known as

East Meath East Meath ( gle, An Oirmhí) is an area of made up of the electoral divisions of St Mary's (Part) and Julianstown in County Meath. The area is bound on the north by the River Boyne and County Louth, to the south just beyond the River Nanny cl ...

in County Meath, Ireland, close to

Drogheda Drogheda ( , ; , meaning "bridge at the ford") is an industrial and port town in County Louth on the east coast of Ireland, north of Dublin. It is located on the Dublin–Belfast corridor on the east coast of Ireland, mostly in County Louth ...

and the border with

County Louth County Louth ( ; ga, An Lú) is a coastal county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of Meath to the south, Monaghan to the west, Armagh to the north and Down to the ...

. It contains one church, two estates, two schools, and one pub. Although it includes the

townland A townland ( ga, baile fearainn; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a small geographical division of land, historically and currently used in Ireland and in the Western Isles in Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of Gaelic origi ...

s of Donacarney Great and Donacarney Little, most locals would never use those terms in describing Donacarney. The remains of a late-medieval

tower house A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strateg ...

(see picture to right) is sited close to Donacarney Cross. It is described in the Civil Survey (1654–56) as 'an ould Castle'. It appears in this state on a map of 1771. Blackhills Crescent, Donacarney, takes its name from the area known as the ''Black Hills'' or ''Black Hill Lands'' north of the crossroads and the castle, the old name of which was ''Croc a' Searra'' in Irish. For census purposes, Donacarney is combined with a number of other local towns to form the

census town In India and some other countries, a census town is designated as a town that satisfies certain characteristics. India In India, a census town is one which is not statutorily notified and administered as a town, but nevertheless whose population ...

of Laytown-Bettystown-Mornington-Donacarney, with a total population of 11,872 at the 2016 Census.

Schools

Donacarney contains two schools: One boys school and a girls school. Roughly 600 pupils attend both schools. The schools share the same campus. The name of the school is Réalt ná Mara B.N.S and Réalt ná Mara G.N.S respectively. The old school hall, which was replaced by the current schools in 1965, was originally opened in 1873. The red-bricked building, beside the

forge A forge is a type of hearth used for heating metals, or the workplace (smithy) where such a hearth is located. The forge is used by the smith to heat a piece of metal to a temperature at which it becomes easier to shape by forging, or to th ...

and old village water-pump at Donacarney cross, now serves as a community centre. It is also used as the local polling centre in elections. The school was given planning permission for a new school in 2012.

Religion

There is one

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

church close to Donacarney in the adjoining townland of Mornington. It is called Star of the Sea Church. It is also called Mornington Church, and serves the half-parish of Mornington, part of the Laytown-Mornington parish created in 1986, which includes Donacarney.

History

Donacarney, or Duuenacharny, was recorded as part of Mornington in a 'Charter of Walter de Lacy reciting and confirming a grant made by Hugh his father of various churches & lands in Ireland’ in 1230–1234. Thereafter it became part of the manor of Colpe throughout the medieval period. It was in the possession of the

Augustinian Augustinian may refer to: *Augustinians, members of religious orders following the Rule of St Augustine *Augustinianism, the teachings of Augustine of Hippo and his intellectual heirs *Someone who follows Augustine of Hippo * Canons Regular of Sain ...

Abbey at Colp, (a cell of

Llanthony Priory Llanthony Priory ( cy, Priordy Llanddewi Nant Hodni) is a partly ruined former Augustinian priory in the secluded Vale of Ewyas, a steep-sided once-glaciated valley within the Black Mountains area of the Brecon Beacons National Park in Monmou ...

in Monmouthshire) but held and run separate from the manor by a tenant. At the Suppression of the Monasteries in 1536 in became part of the estates of

Henry Draycott Henry Draycott (c. 1510–1572) was an English-born Crown official and judge in sixteenth-century Ireland, who held a number of senior Government offices, including Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland. Despite his apparent lack of legal qualifi ...

. The ruins of the late-medieval tower house was known as ‘Draycott’s Castle’ and is thought to have been burnt in 1641.Irish Tourist Association survey, relating to ‘Natural features, antiquities, historic associations etc.', 1942. Extract copied into the Topographical files of the Office of Public Works then incorporated into the Sites and Monuments Record files (National Monuments Service) referenced http://www.archaeology.ie

References

{{Towns and villages in County Meath Towns and villages in County Meath