Slane Castle

Slane Castle stands on the river about 1 kilometre (0.6 mi) upstream from the centre of the village. The castle grounds have been the site of large rock concerts since 1981. This concert has never been free. There is an ancient well in the grounds of the castle near the river. In Irish mythology, the well blessed by Dian Cecht so that the Tuatha Dé Danann could bathe in it and be healed. Slane Mill In the 1760s Boyne Navigation opened between Slane and Oldbridge, approximately 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) down river. This is a series of along the canals which made the River Boyne navigable to small boats from Slane to the port in Drogeda. A canal which is part of the navigation runs parallel to the river on the south bank near Slane. David Jebb was the engineer in charge of the construction. Once the navigation was opened as far as Slane Jebb himself built a flour mill at Slane.^[12] Slane Mill stands on the north bank of the River Boyne beside the N2 bridge. The mill is a five storey cut stone building. When the mill was completed in 1766 it was the largest flour mill in Ireland. The water powered mill continued to be a flour mill until the 1870s when roller mills replaced grindstones. The mill was converted to scutch flax. Slane Bridge: The N2 crosses the River Boyne south of the village. The road descends a steep hill from the village and makes an almost ninety degree turn onto the 14th century bridge.^[3] This bend has been the scene of at least 20 fatalities in living memory.^[14] As you climb the hill towards Slane village the wall on the right hand side of the road has a number of small white crosses, each representing a death on this stretch of road. Most of the crashes have involved heavy goods vehicles which are not able to slow down sufficiently to make the sharp bend after picking up speed on the hill. Meath County Council and the National Roads Authority have installed a number of traffic calming measures over the years in an attempt to make the bend onto the bridge safer, however crashes still occur. It was hoped that the opening of the M1 motorway would divert a lot the heavy traffic from the village but there is evidence that many heavy goods vehicles still use the N2 (and thus Slane bridge) in order to avoid paying the toll on the M1 bridge. Source: Wikipedia.