Dunboyne

Template:Infobox Irish Place Dunboyne (Template:Lang-ga) is a town in County Meath in Ireland. For the most part, it is a dormitory town for the city of Dublin.

Location

Dunboyne is centred on the crossroads formed by the R156 regional road and the R157, just south of the N3 National primary route.

History

Dunboyne's history stretches back to the Middle Ages.

It was home to many men who fought against British rule and pike-men marched on Dublin from Dunboyne in 1798, although few returned.

Dunboyne has seen major transformation since the early 1980s. Suburban housing estates developed around the fringes of the traditional village, such as Beechdale, Plunket Hall, Sadlier Hall and Garnett Hall, and also Woodview and Castleview Heights and the new development at Dunboyne Castle estate and hotel. The Hotel was formerly a convent, in which nuns and parishioners used to live, until the closing of the convent in the 1900's due to building damage. A partial amount of the building had been dismantled. In 2006, it was suggested that the convent be renovated into a hotel. A new hotel was built around the shell of the old building. Today the hotel is running successfully, and the management are determined in achieving a 5 star rating.

Many of the families outside this village, were farmers. They produced dairy, and vegetables for the local area. Now in 2008, the farms and families has decreased and the agricultural services are fading and are not producing as much as they were in 1980's.

Sport

Dunboyne is also known for its rich GAA tradition. The Dunboyne team won the Meath senior county football championship in 1998 and 2005. 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. He was awarded 'Freedom of Meath' in 2006 for his contributions to the Meath GAA scene. He lives in Dunboyne, and there is a bridge named after him, "Boylan's Bridge". All Ireland winners from Dunboyne representing Meath include Brian Smith (Captain 1949), James Reilly (1949), Brendan Reilly, Enda McManus, Nigel Crawford and David Gallagher.

Dunboyne was also a motor racing venue between 1958 and 1967 for both cars and motorbikes. The racing circuit was a 4 mile long triangular shaped circuit with a combination of fast straights and hairpin bends. The start/finish line was in the centre of Dunboyne village and the racing circuit itself consisted of public roads around the village. During these years races such as the Leinster Trophy, Dunboyne Trophy and Holmpatrick Trophy were held. The Dunboyne Motor Club have revived the spirit of this era with an annual reunion in the village bringing together many of the cars and bikes that raced on the circuit.

The old motor racing circuit still sees competitive racing of the two legged variety in the form of the Annual Easter Sunday Road race held by the Dunboyne Athletic Club. Athletes compete for the Mattie McGrath Trophy and 2007 saw this event being held for the 38th time.

Education

Primary Schools:

• Dunboyne Junior Primary School
• Dunboyne Senior Primary School
• Gaelscoil Thulach na nÓg
• St Peter's National School (Church of Ireland)

Secondary School:

• St. Peter's College

The process of providing a school for Dunboyne began in earnest in September 1992. St. Peter's College was first set up in 1994. The current principal is Mr. Eamonn Gaffney. The vice principals are Ms. Maureen Murray and Mr. Liam Greene. The school is attended by many students from Dublin suburbs, such as Clonee and Littlepace. There are currently around 975 students and around 100 teachers in the school.

The school features up-to-date facilities, with a new extension having been completed in 2006. There are also further plans for expansion of the school, set to take place in 2010. St. Peter’s College provides a wide range of extra-curricular activities for the students of the college.

In 1996, Taoiseach John Bruton presented to the college with a bog-oak sculpture of the Bradán Feasa, the Salmon of Knowledge. In May each year, the salmon is presented to the student of the year.

The school crest replicates a simple Celtic design representing for us the concept of continuity, permanence and our Gaelic heritage.

Third Level:

• Dunboyne College of Further Education:

Dunboyne College of Further Education is a well-established College of Further Education providing full-time courses at FETAC level 5.

They are now located in a new premises in Dunboyne Business Park. The College operates under the authority of County Meath Vocational Education Committee which operates second level and further education opportunities in the County Meath area.

The qualifications obtained from all the programmes in The Dunboyne College of Further Education provide students with the opportunity to progress to further studies at third level.

• Dunboyne College for Futher Eduction
  Dunboyne College for Futher Eduction

Controversy at Gaelscoil Thulach na nÓg

In 2002, Thomas Ó Dulaing, headmaster at Gaelscoil Thulach na nÓg was dismissed by the board of patrons. He had opted for teaching religious sacraments outside schools hours, which the board of patrons argued exceeded his remit. Many parents supported the former headmaster.

Youth Clubs

• Cummann Ná BhFiann

This club originated from the organisation Colaiste Na BhFiann. The club began in 2001. It promotes the Irish language and helps young children to understand irish. There are currently on estimate 50 students in the club. There is also a manager and leaders. The current manager is Sinead Ní Ciarlabhain, and the leaders are Seamus Ó Croidheain and Sorcha Ní Daibhanigh.It begins in September and ends in May the following year.

• Foróige

This is an english speaking youth club. They encourage teenagers to keep out of trouble and to have fun on Friday nights. The current amount of students in this organisation is 300 in Meath, in Dunboyne there are 30 teenagers. Many leaders help and offer thier assistance every week.

Transport

Dunboyne railway station was opened on 29 August 1862 and finally closed on 1 April 1963. However, Dunboyne is due to be reconnected in 2010, after more than forty years, to the national rail passenger network, as part of the reopening of the Navan-Clonsilla line.

Dunboyne is served by several Dublin Bus routes including the 70, 70X, 70N and 270. Bus Éireann also indirectly serves Dunboyne along the Dublin-Navan route, with a stop located near the junction of the Navan Rd. and the R157, which leads to Dunboyne.

Geographical Qualities

It has been suggested that Dunboyne is the only town in Ireland that could be an inland island, as the only way into and out of the town is over bridges, directly outside the town on each road.

The Castle River flows into the Tolka river and recent flooding in and around Dunboyne has been attributed to problems further down the Tolka. Alleviation works have resulted in the risk of flooding being severely lessened. The last major flood was in 2002, preceded by floods in 2000 and 1987.

Dunboyne Castle, which was a fine Georgian house, was built as the seat of the Butler family, Lords Dunboyne. It later passed to the Mangan family and was the seat of Simon Mangan, HM Lieutenant for County Meath in the 1890s. After being sold in 1950, it became the Good Shepherd Convent, before becoming the Dunboyne Castle Hotel in recent years.

People

• John Bruton, Taoiseach (Prime Minister) from 1994 to 1997 and former leader of the Fine Gael political party, lives about 5 kilometres outside the village. As the current envoy for the European Union to the United States of America, he resides mostly in Washington D.C. He still maintains farmland and a home in Dunboyne.
• Sean Boylan, former manager of the Meath GAA football team lives in Dunboyne.
• Mgr Dermot Farrell, the Parish Priest since 1 October, 2007, is the former President of St Patrick's College, Maynooth. He succeeded Mgr Edward Dunne as parish priest of Dunboyne in 2007.

Miscellaneous Information

Dunboyne was the backdrop for the fictional village of Leestown in the very successful television series of the 1970s called The Riordans. More recently certain elements of the local Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) clubs and country houses were used in a recent RTÉ GAA related drama series. And also a partial amount of footage of 'Ear to the Ground' this was filmed in 2006. The footage was shot in the Local GAA grounds on the Rooske Rd. The show is now finished.

In Stockholm, Sweden there is an unusual youth hostel; it is a ship called af Chapman. Named Dunboyne by her original Dublin owners, Charles E. Martin & Co., she participated in trade with Australia in her early years. Sold to Norway in 1909, the Dunboyne was renamed the G.D. Kennedy in July 1915 when she was bought by the Swedish shipping company Transatlantic who sold her to the Swedish government in 1924, when it was renamed af Chapman. She has been operating as a youth hostel since 1949.

References

The Local Echo

See also

• List of towns in the Republic of Ireland

External links

• Dunboyne Parish
• Dunboyne Castle Hotel
• St. Peter's Dunboyne GAA
• Dunboyne Athletic Club
• St. Peter's College
• IRRS Journal article on railway re-opening
• Dunboyne Road Racing 1958-1967
• Meath Tourism
• Colaiste Na BhFiann