Navan

Navan ( ; , meaning "the Cave") is the county town of County Meath, Ireland. In 2016, it had a population of 30,173, making it the tenth largest settlement in Ireland. It is at the confluence of the River Boyne and Blackwater, around 50 km northwest of Dublin.

History and name

Navan is a Norman foundation: Hugh de Lacy, who was granted the Lordship of Meath in 1172, awarded the Barony of Navan to one of his knights, Jocelyn de Angulo, who built a fort there, from which the town developed.

Inside the town walls, Navan consisted of three streets. These were Trimgate Street, Watergate St. and Ludlow St. (which was once called Dublingate St.).

The orientation of the three original streets remains from the Middle Ages but the buildings date from the Victorian and Edwardian periods. The town's Post Office on Trimgate Street office was built in 1908 on the site of an earlier post office. In 1990, the post office was relocated to Kennedy Road. The building of a new shopping centre re-oriented the town's centre. The onetime post office was acquired as the site of the town's first McDonald's restaurant.

Variants of ''Navan'' had been in use since Norman times.An Uaimh - its Origin
. Navan Historical Society. It is thought to come , a variant of its more common Irish name ''an Uaimh''. In 1922, when the Irish Free State was founded, ''an Uaimh'' was adopted as the town's only official name. However, it failed to gain popularity in Irish and in 1971 the name was reverted to ''Navan'' in English.

Bus transport

Navan is served by several bus routes. The town has no central bus station; there are four separate stops in the town, with different routes serving each (Market Square, Mercy Convent, Shopping Centre and Fire Station). The majority of routes are operated by Bus Éireann. The most frequent route is the 109 to Dublin, which departs from Abbey Road.

Sillan also serve the town. Royal Breffni Tours provide services to Dundalk Institute of Technology. Streamline Coaches provide services to NUI Maynooth.

Education

Navan has a number of secondary schools, including private denominational and public inter-denominational and non-denominational. St. Patrick's Classical School is a Roman Catholic boys-only school. Loreto Secondary School, St. Michael's at the Loreto Convent, and St. Joseph's Secondary School at the Mercy Convent are both girls-only Roman Catholic convent schools. Coláiste na Mí is a VEC-run school in Johnstown that opened in 2013. Beaufort College is a large state-owned inter-denominational vocational school. The Abylity Secondary College was a parent-owned fee-paying non-denominational school.

Navan and the surrounding area has a number of primary schools, including the town's Catholic boys' primary school Scoil Mhuire, which was originally run by the De La Salle Brothers. Pierce Brosnan was a former pupil of St. Anne's Loreto, which is situated beside St. Mary's Catholic Church and near to St. Joseph's Mercy. There are also St. Paul's, St. Ultan's, and St. Oliver's primary schools. Scoil Éanna is the town's only gaelscoil. The town's only Church of Ireland secondary school, Preston School, closed in the 1970s. It is now the site of the shopping centre in the town. There is a Church of Ireland primary school known as Flowerfield School, on the Trim rd a new site. It was originally situated at the Flowerfield area of the town, on the main thoroughfare to Drogheda, in a building that has been sympathetically converted into private accommodation. There is also a multi-denominational Educate Together primary school in the town, sited at Commons Road.

Sport

Páirc Tailteann is located in Navan and is home of the Meath Gaelic football and Navan Hibernians GAC Hurling teams.

Navan R.F.C. won over 186 trophies in the 1960s and currently compete in the All Ireland League (AIL) Division 1B

Knockharley Cricket Club was founded in 1982 and are the only cricket club in County Meath competing in the Leinster Cricket Union, the club's most recent success came in 2006 when the 1st XI won the Middle 2 Leinster Cup defeating Mullingar at North Kildare.

Parkvilla Football Club was founded in 1966 and currently plays in North East Football league Premier Division and their reserve team competes in Division 3B.

Public art

Public art and sculptures in Navan include ''Sniomh'', by Betty Newman Maguire, which sits in front of Navan Fire Station. This sculpture is reputedly inspired by the movement of water and the merging of the rivers Boyne and Blackwater.

Another public sculpture, ''The Fifth Province'' by Richard King, is located on the Navan Bypass. This sculpture is composed of four branches and a central upright stem that symbolises the flowering of hope and peace.

'' The Bull'', designed by sculptor Colin Grehan, is a prominent piece of public art. Situated in the market square of the town, this is a 16 tonne limestone statue of a bull being held back by two handlers and commemorates the historic bull markets that took place in the area. The statue was surrounded by controversy over its cost, an estimated €8.7 million, and its location. Local man Paddy Pryle noted that "anybody coming up Timmons Hill, which is one of the main entrances into the town, will be entering Navan via the bull's arse. It is one of the most crazy things I have seen put up yet," Objections to the statue delayed its erection by 8 years.

Folklore

According to local folklore a Souterrain was discovered near the Navan Viaduct in 1848. The location of its entrance has since been lost.

Another folk tale involves the ghost of Francis Ledwidge. According to the story an old friend of Ludwidge was working at the Meath Chronicle, the local news printer, when he heard the sound of Ledwidge's motorcycle outside. His friend was confused as he believed Ledwidge was fighting on the Western Front, upon going out to greet him the friend found that Ledwidge had disappeared. The story claims that this ghostly apparition appeared at the same moment he died.

In the Fenian cycle of Irish mythology, Fionn mac Cumhaill studied under the druid Finegas along the river Boyne. He is believed to have caught the Salmon of Knowledge in what is now Navan.

Twinning

Navan is twinned with the following places:
*Bobbio, Italy
*Broccostella, Italy

People

*Francis Beaufort, scientist and naval officer
*Pierce Brosnan, actor
*Enda Caldwell, radio personality
*Shane Cassells, Fianna Fáil politician
* Ian Clarke, computer scientist
*Keith Donegan, racing driver
* Simon Fagan, musician
*Anthony Holten, author
*Donal Keogan, Gaelic footballer
* Gráinne Maguire, stand-up comedian, writer and podcaster
* Arthur Mathews, comedy writer
* Conor Nash, Australian Rules Footballer
*Helen McEntee, Fine Gael politician
*Dylan Moran, comedian
* John O'Callaghan, DJ
*Hector Ó hEochagáin, TV personality
* Joseph Rooney, Catholic priest
*Tommy Tiernan, comedian
*Paul Tighe, Catholic prelate
*Yemi Adenuga, TV personality and Ireland's first black female elected Councillor

See also

* List of towns and villages in Ireland
*List of palindromic places

References

External links

Historical Society of Navan website

{{Authority control

County towns in the Republic of Ireland
Towns and villages in County Meath