Slane, Co. Meath, Ireland
Although today I was reminded that I’m not built for farm living! The shower I took this morning was below three large spiders and I couldn’t even keep my eye on them because I had to press a button for water.. every 15 seconds. It was nuts!!!
After we got ready, no breakfast provided during this stay, Mr. T.P. Naughton came and picked us up and we began our tour at the ancestry office in Slane. It was grand, they have a snapshot of the street out front of their place from the 1950s, the 1850s, and I think either somewhere in between or pre 1850s. Regardless, it showed the history well. They also had a laminated map for me of the town in 1852 which included the lots on which our ancestors lived. TP called a man working for the city and he came out and unlocked the barricade (the house is “in ruins” and locked up & boarded up to keep the “anti-social behavior” away). It was amazing and so kind. He really went out of his way to make this a special day for us!!! He also got me a piece of stone from the house, which is in the second and third photos. Thomas Deniver was the name of my third great grand uncle and he lived there and then after marrying and having children he moved to the bigger house up front which you can see in the third photo, it’s now a restaurant (that yellow and white building). Also, his mother Elizabeth, my fourth great grandmother, lived in a small house just up and to the left of the stone house, which unfortunately is no longer there save for the foundation maybe. We also were informed that the city was planning to restore these cottages but there is a gentleman fighting for the deed to the particular cottage my ancestor used to live in. Imagine that.. We should’ve gotten his name. Regardless, in my opinion the property belongs to the county because the Marquis of Conyngham, who eventually owned all that property, left it to them fair and square.
Next we went on to the hill of slane which is very old and very cool. The Catholic Church remains are up there, along with the cemetery, and he said rumor has it they only built another church because people were tired of walking up the hill. St. Patrick lit a Paschal fire there in AD 433 in defiance of the Druids at the hill of Tara. Crazy amounts of history. It is also Irish lore that the Tuatha Dé Danann, who we learned about on our storytelling bus tour in Dublin, had a healing well at this location to heal their wounds during battle.
Next he took us to where our ancestors most likely worked, an old wool mill. I took several photos, it was great to see. It’s now a beautiful setup for a wedding!
Then we went back to the Conyngham Arms Hotel, where we ate yesterday, and ate again.
I wanted to visit Slane Castle so I walked there and left gram sitting outside a corner store reading. Don’t worry, she was perfectly content. The first photo is in front of the castle. It’s very large and they hold all of their main concerts there, including U2. Finally I got back and then gram and I walked up to the other Roman Catholic Church and checked it out.
Gram walked all the way up the Hill of Slane and all the way down. She also walked all the way to the church. She did great today!!! But will probably need some Tylenol and Bengay tonight!!! So proud of her. The last picture is a selfie of gram and I and we are sitting on a bench across the street from our ancestor’s house.
We called the taxi man next to take us back to the hostel. Unfortunately we weren’t able to see Newgrange, which predates both Stonehenge (by 1000 years) and the ancient pyramids (by 400 years). Guess I have to leave some stuff to do for when I come back ;) We stopped at the catholic church’s cemetery but the graves are all too new to be anybody related to us. They could be buried on the hill of slane or somewhere else, we may never know.
The rest of the day we’ll just be relaxing. Gram’s reading and I’m doing some research after this, maybe a nap. Heading to. Belfast tomorrow. Can’t wait!!!