The most interesting places for me are always the ones that not everyone knows and goes. And I love just to drive in the countryside and see what comes along.
So when I first drove to Trim I wanted to see the place but not the Trim Castle. The famous one where once Mel Gibson had filmed his Braveheart. And so I ended up to find the Priory of St. John the Baptist. It is easy to find: coming from Navan arriving at Trim just after all the beautiful estates on the left take the left turn and go straight. Before the bridge (with traffic lights as it is so small that passes only one car per time) there is a parking place on the right.
In the first moment it doesn’t look too interesting but reading about it at the information board (in English and Irish) it becomes intriguing.
The guesthouse and hospital of St. John the Baptist was founded in 1206 by the brotherhood of the Order of the Holy Cross. They were kind of Augustinian monks, specialized in hospitals and guesthouses and built always near to Augustinian abbeys with a special look on an easy transport for sick people.
Church and pulpit are built in the 13th and 17th century. Impressive the high lanced window on the east-side as it stands nearly alone. In the 15th century a shrine of stones, the pulpit and a small sacristy with cross-shaped vaults were added.
Interesting is a three-floor tower that maybe once was the prior’s home. There is a second smaller tower were once was the entrance gate. Maybe a watch-tower. In 1539 the priory was dissolved and Laurence Whyte, the last bishop, took a yearly pension of £10, at that time enough to have a good life. The buildings then were used as private homes until abbonded for good.
On the opposite side of the Boyne River there was the cathedral of St. Peter and Paul. It was built in 1202 by Simon de Rochefort, bishop of Meath, and had to serve also the hospital. This cathedral was one of the biggest and best built cathedrals in whole Ireland at those times. It had a long nave for the congregation, side-naves and a choir with a cross-shaped vault. On the southern side there was an abbey that was surrounded by many household houses. Today there is to see only the refectory and part of the entrance to the chapter house and a lot of tomb stones.
The surrounding walls are missing like most of the walls. But knowing the history of this place the imagination flows easily. For sure the near Castle was also a reason why the hospital was known as one of the most secure once. The Boyne river made it easy to transport people as well to the castle if necessary. The huge sarcophagus contains the remains of Robert Dillon and his wife Elizabeth, owner of a castle-house I visited at Riverstown. But that is another story….
Trim, County Meath/Ireland
Love this place!!! Thanks!!!!