The ancient name of Trim was Ath Truim, signifying “the ford of the boortrees” or elders, the latter half of which appellation alone remains. It is situated on the Boyne, twenty-two and a half miles north-west by west of Dublin on the Enniskillen road.

The castle lies east of the town, on the right bank of the river, and has been said to be the only castle in Ireland deserving the name. It is certainly the finest specimen of the Anglo-Norman fortress, and was one of the chief strongholds of the Pale. It occupies a sloping mound and its walls enclose a triangular area of about three acres, which measures 486 yards in circumference, and was protected by eight circular flanking towers at nearly equal distances and two gate towers.

The north-east side was formerly washed by the Boyne, but now a low meadow intervenes.

On the west or town side a gate-tower occupies the centre. The grooves for the portcullis are still perfect, and from abutting masonry it would appear that there had once been a drawbridge and barbican. The lower portion of the tower is rectangular and the upper part octagonal.

In the southern side is a circular gate tower of Gothic shape. Here also are the portcullis grooves visible and a recess for the windlass, as well as the remains of arches over the moat, and a barbican beyond.

A moat or ditch surrounded the fortress, on the two sides not washed by the Boyne, which was supplied with water by a small stream.

Where the town wall joined the castle at the south-west angle a mound of earth has been artificially raised to the height of the castle wall. This was probably done for the mounting of cannon when the castle was re-fortified in 1647.

One of the towers near this mound was cleared in 1836. It is of three storeys, and the upper part was found to be a pigeon-house, having holes for 60 or 80 pair, while the lower storey contained a postern leading to the level of the moat water. In 1425 it is recorded that the King granted the custody of the dove-cot to Thomas Brown, with pasture called the Castle Orchard.

The north angle of the bawn contains the ruins of several buildings, one being of three storeys with a high gable, and four large windows in the wall towards the river. The piers for the arched roof are still to be seen, and it is likely to have been the banqueting hall or chapel. A large vault extends under part of it. In one of the towers near this the mint is supposed to have been situated. Another tower contains the remains of a small chapel.

The keep consists of a rectangular figure, on each side of which a small square tower abuts, thus forming a twenty-sided figure from which missiles could be showered in all directions. The walls of the centre tower are twelve feet thick, while those of the adjoining ones measure from four to six feet. Winding stairways lead to the summit, at some 60 feet from the ground, while on each angle of the centre tower is a square turret nearly 17 feet in height.

After Hugh de Lacy had been granted Meath in 1173 he erected the castle of Trim to guard his possessions. He surrounded it with a moat, and furnished it with stores. He then entrusted its custody to Hugh Tyrrell and proceeded to England. No sooner had he left than Roderick O’Connor, King of Connaught, descended on Trim with a large army. Tyrrell sent messages to Strongbow for aid, but in the meantime, finding himself unable to hold the fortress, he evacuated and burnt it.

The news was brought to Strongbow as he marched to its relief, and upon his arrival finding the Irish had retreated, and having nowhere to lodge, he pursued them and killed a hundred and fifty.

Giraldus states that the castle was rebuilt by Raymond le Gros, who had marched to its relief with Strongbow, having joined the expedition on the day of his marriage.

King John stayed at Trim, but he did not lodge in the castle, although one of the towers is called after him, and his signet ring is said to have been found in the enclosure.

In 1215 letters were sent from the King to Thomas Fitzadam to surrender the castle, and five years later it was restored by William Peppard, Lord of Tabor.

At this time Meath was wasted by the quarrels between William, Earl Marshal, and Sir Hugh de Lacy, Earl of Ulster.

There was an order in 1224 from Henry III. to the Lord Justice to allow Walter de Lacy to occupy a hall, rooms, and chambers in the castle. The same year the fortress was besieged.

De Lacy died in 1241, and through the female line the castle passed into the hands of Roger Mortimer, who landed in Ireland in 1308 and took possession.

Upon the invasion of Edward Bruce, Mortimer fled to Dublin, and Lord Walter Cusacke occupied Trim.

Orders for repairing the great hall were issued in 1326, and it was most likely at this time that the two arches which formerly crossed the northern division of the keep were erected, for when they fell in 1820 the plaster showed they had been added after the walls were built.

In 1330 Edward III. granted to Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, the moiety of Meath and the privileges exercised in Trim Castle. He was hanged as a traitor the same year, but Trim was restored to his widow.

Roger, Earl of March, was killed by the Irish in 1398, and the next year Richard II. landed at Waterford to avenge his cousin’s death, with Humphrey, son of the Duke of Gloucester and Henry (afterwards Henry V.), son of the Duke of Lancaster. The boys he brought with him as hostages, and upon returning to England he left them as prisoners in Trim Castle. A very small steel spur, inlaid with silver, was found in the castle yard in 1836, which may have belonged to one of the princes.

In 1400 Henry IV. appointed a custodian to the late Earl of March’s records at Trim and elsewhere. At this time the castle was in his hands owing to the minority of the heir.

The Privy Council in England (1403) notified to the King that the castle was in a most dilapidated condition.

From this time forward Parliaments were continually held at Trim, while in 1418 the Earl of Kildare, Sir Christopher Preston, and John Bedlow were imprisoned in the castle.

Four years later Richard Talbot, Archbishop of Dublin, resided in the fortress, and in 1425 Edmund, Earl of March, died there while Lord Deputy.

But, perhaps, the most palmy days of Trim Castle were in 1449, when Richard, Duke of York, came to Ireland as Lord Lieutenant, and held his court there.

The mint was opened in 1460, and the following year Christopher Fox was appointed Comptroller.

A Parliament held at Trim in 1465 enacted that any one discovered robbing might be killed, and in Meath their heads were to be sent to the Portreffe of the town of Trim, to be put on the castle wall. Several skulls have been found in the moat.

In 1495 an Act of Parliament passed at Drogheda provided that only Englishmen should be constables of Trim and the other principal castles.

The liberty and lordship of Trim were at this time annexed to the Crown for ever.

In 1541 an order was issued to restore the castle, half the cost of which was to be paid by the country.

A grant was made to Sir James Carroll, Lord Mayor of Dublin, in 1610, to build upon the ruins of the castle a house for the King, and also a jail within the castle enclosure.

Colonel Fenwicke occupied the fortress with a regiment of foot and some troops of horse in 1647. It was in the Royalists’ hands until the fall of Drogheda, in 1649, and the garrison disobeyed the Duke of Ormond’s instructions to destroy the place before letting it fall into the hands of Sir Charles Coote and his army.

It is stated that the yellow steeple near having been treacherously delivered into the hands of the Cromwellians, was used as a vantage point to make the castle untenable, and that afterwards when the Governor of the castle was reinstated he had one side of the tower blown up. It was in a sally from the town of Trim that Sir Charles Coote lost his life.

It is reported Cromwell-spent one night in the castle, but there is no evidence that this is the case.

Adam Loftus sold the castle to Sir James Shean in 1666, and it seems to have been in military occupation in 1690. The whole property was purchased by the Wellesleys, who afterwards sold it to Colonel Leslie.

It is now in Lord Dunsany’s possession.

Elliot Stock, Paternoster Row, London.