In July 2011 Trim Tidy Town’s all-out effort to win big in the National Tidy Towns Competition included a number of striking murals springing up around the town. One of the most colourful was a depiction of Gulliver at the old mart, which has become quite a tourist attraction. Until a few days ago I was unaware of the 30ft long mural. The painting of Gulliver and other murals at Spicer’s wall on Watergate Street and underneath the bridge at the Maudlins roundabout are the work of professional artist Meaghan Quinn.
The mart was the venue for the weekly livestock sales for 53 years until 2004 is destined to be used for a housing development. TE Potterton has been trading as an auctioneers since 1886, operating weekly livestock sales at Castle Street in Trim from 1957 until it relocated to an open site less than a mile away on Summerhill Road in 1962. The Trim Mart was for many years one of the largest on the north east.
Following its opening in May 2023 by Minister Heather Humphreys, Solstice Arts Centre undertook the management duties of the new Swift Cultural Centre in Trim on behalf of Meath County Council. The name reflects both the importance of the acclaimed author of “Gulliver Travels” and Trim resident, Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), as well as the significance of the swift to Trim’s wildlife and urban ecosystem. The Swift Cultural Centre will collaborate and share meeting rooms and cultural spaces with Trim Library to provide a diverse and enriching community learning, engagement and performance programme for the public. Community use by local artists, societies and community groups remain the primary and core value of the space. The €9m development of the theatre and library included the refurbishment of the former St. Patrick’s Chapel for use as part of the centre. With a seating capacity of up to 235 people, Swift Cultural Centre provides a much-welcomed space for local drama, music and theatre groups.
Gulliver’s Travels, or Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships is a 1726 prose satire by the Anglo-Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift, satirising both human nature and the “travellers’ tales” literary subgenre. It is Swift’s best-known full-length work and a classic of English literature. Swift claimed that he wrote Gulliver’s Travels “to vex the world rather than divert it”.
The book was an immediate success. The English dramatist John Gay remarked, “It is universally read, from the cabinet council to the nursery.” In 2015, Robert McCrum released his selection list of the 100 best novels of all time, where he called Gulliver’s Travels “a satirical masterpiece”.
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Irish sculptor, James McKenna, was born in Dublin on the 21st June 1933.
I visited the area in order to photograph this on Christmas Day but because of of weather conditions I was unable to use my camera so I had no option but to wait until St Stephen’s Day.
This area, in Trim, on the banks of the River Boyne has improved over recent years but it is still a bit untidy and the plaque which was missing last year has not been replaced.
Máel Sechnaill mac Domnaill, also called Máel Sechnaill Mór or Máel Sechnaill II (949 – 2 September 1022), was a King of Mide and High King of Ireland. His great victory at the Battle of Tara against Olaf Cuaran in 980 resulted in Gaelic Irish control of the Kingdom of Dublin.
Máel Sechnaill belonged to the Clann Cholmáin branch of the Uí Néill dynasty. He was the grandson of Donnchad Donn, great-grandson of Flann Sinna and great-great-grandson of the first Máel Sechnaill, Máel Sechnaill mac Máele Ruanaid. The Kings of Tara or High Kings of Ireland had for centuries alternated between the various Uí Néill branches. By Máel Sechnaill’s time this alternating succession passed between Clann Cholmáin in the south and the Cenél nEógain in the north, so that he succeeded Domnall ua Néill in 980. This system had survived previous challenges by outsiders including the kings of Ulster, Munster and Leinster, and the Viking invasions.
In 980, Olav Cuarán, King of Dublin, summoned auxiliaries from Norse-ruled Scottish Isles and from Mann and attacked Meath, but was defeated by Máel Sechnaill at the Battle of Tara. Reginald, Olaf’s heir, was killed. Máel Sechnaill followed up his victory with a siege of Dublin which surrendered after three days and nights. When Maél Sechnaill took Dublin in 980, according to the Annals of Tigernach, he freed all the slaves then residing in the city.
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