A visit to Dunboyne, Co. Meath in 2013

Описание: A slideshow of photos I took during my first visit to Dunboyne in County Meath on Saturday 10th August 2013.

Dunboyne (Irish: Dún Búinne, meaning "Búinne's stronghold") is a town in County Meath. In the 20 years between the 1996 and 2016 censuses, the population of Dunboyne more than doubled from 3,080 to 7,272 inhabitants. This was largely due to Dunboyne's proximity to Dublin.

Dunboyne's Irish language (Gaelic) name, Dún Búinne, indicates it was the fort of Bui who was the wife of the god Lugh. Dunboyne was home to many men who fought for and against British rule in the Irish Rebellion of 1798. During the War of Independence the town was Division Headquarters to the IRA (Irish Republican Army) 1st Eastern Division, a unit formed in April 1921 under Divisional commander, Seán Boylan. The Division consisted nine brigades: 1st Brigade (south Meath & north Kildare); 2nd (Navan & Trim); 3rd (Kells, Virginia & Mullagh); 4th, Delvin; 5th (Mullingar & north Westmeath); 6th, Edenderry; 7th (Naas & south Kildare); 8th Fingal; and 9th (Drogheda & south Louth). Dunboyne got its name from Boann, the goddess of the River Boyne. The River Tolka runs through Dunboyne.

Dunboyne Castle, originally a castle was built in 1764 as a seat for a branch of the Butler dynasty, the Lords Dunboyne. It later passed to the Mangan family and was the seat of Simon Mangan, HM Lieutenant for County Meath in the 1890s and 1900s.

The house was sold in 1950 and became the Good Shepherd convent, in which nuns used to live and operate a mother and baby home, the Árd Mhuire mother and baby home in Dunboyne was opened by the sisters of the Good Shepherd in 1955. It closed in 1991. A partial section of the building has been dismantled. In 2006, the convent was sold and converted into a hotel.

St. Peter & St. Paul's Roman Catholic Church in Dunboyne was built in 1959. It is a church in Dunboyne & Kilbride Parish in the Diocese of Meath.

St. Peter & St. Paul's Church of Ireland in Dunboyne was built betwen 1866 and 1868. It is one of 7 churches in Dunboyne Union of Parishes in the Diocese of Meath and Kildare.

Primary schools serving the area include Dunboyne Junior Primary School, Dunboyne Senior Primary School, Gaelscoil Thulach na nÓg and St Peter's National School (Church of Ireland).

The local secondary school is St. Peter's College. Dunboyne College of Further Education, located in Dunboyne Business Park, provides full-time courses at FETAC level 5. It is for PLC.

Dunboyne Community Centre opened in 1989.

The R156 Dublin-Summerhill road and R157 Maynooth-Fairyhouse roads used to meet in the centre of Dunboyne until the R157 Dunboyne Bypass opened west of Dunboyne in 2009. It links up with the M3 motorway which opened in 2010.

There are two rail stations in Dunboyne. Dunboyne railway station, which was built to service the town and is situated to the east of the town and M3 Parkway railway station which was built to service commuters using the M3 coming down from Navan. They were built as part of the reopening of the Navan-Clonsilla line under the Irish Governments Transport 21 development programme. However, due to a lack of funding, this railway stops after the M3 Parkway railway station just outside of Dunboyne. The original Dunboyne railway station was opened on 29 August 1862 and closed on 1 April 1963. The Clonsilla-M3 Parkway Railway line opened in 2010.

Dunboyne is served by three bus routes: the 70 and 70d (operated by Dublin Bus) and 270 (operated by Go-Ahead Ireland). There is also a limited Bus Éireann service to/from Dunshaughlin, Navan and Kells on route 109 and to Mullingar, Killucan, Rathmolyon and Summerhill on route 118.

Bus Éireann route 109 provides two journeys a day in the morning to Kells via Dunshaughlin and Navan and two return journeys in the evening. No Bus Éireann services serve Dunboyne on Sundays.

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

On 11 May 2007, the town was hit by a small tornado in which slates were torn from roofs and branches from trees during a brief storm.

The local GAA team, St Peters Dunboyne GAA, won the Meath Senior Football Championship championship in 1998, 2005 and 2018. 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.

Dunboyne Athletic Club was founded in 1928 and is located on the Rooske Road, where facilities include a 400-metre, all-weather track, IAAF standard hammer throwing cage and club house.

Dunboyne has two football clubs, Dunboyne FC and Dunboyne AFC.