Trim

Trim (from Irish: Baile Átha Troim meaning "town at the ford of elderflowers"^[2]) is the traditional county town of County Meath in Ireland, although the county town is now Navan. The town was recorded in the 2006 census to have a population of 6,870. The development of a new town centre expansion zone immediately to the west of the existing town centre (at Townparks, Market Street and Emmet Street) is due to begin early in 2007. This will comprise open civic spaces, retail and office space, residential developments and a new headquarters for the Office of Public Works, which is due to decentralise to the town by 2009. Trim won the Irish Tidy Towns Competition in 1972, 1984 and was joint winners with Ballyconnell, County Cavan in 1974. History: At an early date, a monastery was founded at Trim, which lay within the petty kingdom (tuath) of the Cenél Lóegairi. It is traditionally thought to have been founded by its patron saint Lommán, also locally known as Loman, who flourished sometime between the 5th and early 6th century.^[3] When domestic politics endangered the position of Lommán's foundation, the church of Armagh assimilated Lommán into the dossier of St Patrick, making him a disciple of that saint.^[3] Lying 61 m above sea level on the River Boyne, Trim became one of the most important Hiberno-Norman settlements in the Middle Ages. In the 15th century the Norman-Irish parliament met in Trim. Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington is reputed to have been born in Dangan Castle between Trim and Summerhill, and a large column to him was erected in the town in 1817. The town's main feature is Ireland's largest castle, Trim Castle; other features include two ruined church complexes, the Boyne River for fishing and the Butterstream Gardens, visited by Charles, Prince of Wales in the mid-nineties (no longer open to the public). Source: Wikipedia