Duleek (; ) is a small town in

County Meath County Meath (; gle, Contae na Mí or simply ) is a county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. It is bordered by Dublin to the southeast, Louth to the northeast, Kildare to the south, Offaly to the ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. Duleek takes its name from the

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

word ''daimh liag'', meaning house of stones and referring to an early stone-built church, St Cianán's Church, the ruins of which are still visible in Duleek today.

History

Duleek began as an early Christian

monastic Monasticism (from Ancient Greek , , from , , 'alone'), also referred to as monachism, or monkhood, is a religion, religious way of life in which one renounces world (theology), worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual work. Monastic ...

settlement. Saint Patrick established a

bishopric In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

here about 450 AD, which he placed in the care of Saint Cianán on 24 November 489. The place was sacked several times by the

Norsemen The Norsemen (or Norse people) were a North Germanic ethnolinguistic group of the Early Middle Ages, during which they spoke the Old Norse language. The language belongs to the North Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages and is the pr ...

between

830 __NOTOC__ Year 830 ( DCCCXXX) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Britain * King Wiglaf of Mercia regains control from Wessex, and returns to the throne.S ...

and 1149 and was also pillaged by the

Normans The Normans ( Norman: ''Normaunds''; french: Normands; la, Nortmanni/Normanni) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norse Viking settlers and indigenous West Franks and Gallo-Romans. ...

1171 Year 1171 ( MCLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * March 12 – Emperor Manuel I (Komnenos) orders the arrest of all Venetia ...

. In April

1014 Year in topic Year 1014 ( MXIV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar, the 1014th in topic the 1014th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 14th year ...

the bodies of Brian Ború and his son lay in state in Duleek on their way to Armagh. The original monastery settlement is reputed to be the place where Saint Patrick and several contemporaries spent the winter period while compiling the Seanchas Mór - the first written compiled form of the ancient

Brehon Laws Early Irish law, historically referred to as (English: Freeman-ism) or (English: Law of Freemen), also called Brehon law, comprised the statutes which governed everyday life in Early Medieval Ireland. They were partially eclipsed by the Norm ...

of Ireland in the fifth century. The 12th century saw the reconstitution of the original monastery as Saint Mary's Abbey and the subsumption of the Diocese of Duleek by the

Diocese of Meath The Diocese of Meath ( ga, Deoise na Mí) is an Irish diocese which took its name after the ancient Kingdom of Meath. In the Roman Catholic Church it still exists as a separate diocese, but in the Church of Ireland it has been united with other ...

. The first

Anglo-Norman Anglo-Norman may refer to: *Anglo-Normans, the medieval ruling class in England following the Norman conquest of 1066 * Anglo-Norman language **Anglo-Norman literature * Anglo-Norman England, or Norman England, the period in English history from 10 ...

Lord of Meath, Hugh de Lacy, established a manor and constructed a

motte A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy to ...

castle at Duleek. About 1180 he granted Saint Cianán's Church, together with certain lands, to the Augustinians. The churchyard of the now disused

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the secon ...

church occupies part of the site of the early monastery. On the opposite side of the village in the town land of Abbeyland close to the river

Nanny A nanny is a person who provides child care. Typically, this care is given within the children's family setting. Throughout history, nannies were usually servants in large households and reported directly to the lady of the house. Today, modern ...

and Duleek house there are ruins of the Grange of Saint Michael. This grange was established in about 1172 by Augustinian monks from

Llanthony Llanthony (, cy, Llanddewi Nant Honddu ) is a village in the community of Crucorney on the northern edge of Monmouthshire, South East Wales, United Kingdom. Location Llanthony is located in the Vale of Ewyas, a deep and long valley with ...

in Monmouthshire; the lands were granted to them by the De Lacy family. The village's four crosses and the lime tree on the village green are reminders of Duleek's links to the struggle between William III and James II and to wider European unrest at the time of

Louis XIV of France , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of ...

. However, one of the four, the Wayward Cross, was erected in

1601 This Epoch (reference date)#Computing, epoch is the beginning of the 400-year Gregorian leap-year cycle within which digital files first existed; the last year of any such cycle is the only leap year whose year number is divisible by 100. Jan ...

by Janet Dowdall in memory of her husband, Sir William Bathe of Athcarne Castle outside the village. During World War II, or The Emergency, German bombers accidentally struck the village on 1 January 1941, causing minor damage without casualties. The Duleek Heritage Trail covers a number of sites in the village centre and was "conceived as a series of stepping stones through the village" and its history.

Transport

Rail

Duleek railway station was opened on 1 August 1850, as part of the line from Drogheda to

Navan Navan ( ; , meaning "the Cave") is the county town of County Meath, Ireland. In 2016, it had a population of 30,173, making it the tenth largest settlement in Ireland. It is at the confluence of the River Boyne and Blackwater, around 50&nb ...

(and later to Oldcastle). It closed on 1 June 1958.

Zinc Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...

ore Ore is natural rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals, typically containing metals, that can be mined, treated and sold at a profit.Encyclopædia Britannica. "Ore". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 7 Apr ...

trains from

Tara Mine Tara Mines is a zinc and lead mine near Navan, County Meath, Ireland. Tara is an underground mine where the orebody lies between 50 and 900 metres below the surface in carbonate-hosted lead-zinc ore deposits. The deposit was discovered in 1970 ...

s to

Dublin Port Dublin Port ( ga, Calafort Átha Cliath) is the seaport of Dublin, Ireland, of both historical and contemporary economic importance. Approximatively two-thirds of Ireland's port traffic travels via the port, which is by far the busiest on the ...

continue to pass through the station.

Road

Duleek is on the R150 and R152 regional roads. Bus Éireann regional routes serve Duleek from Dublin and Drogheda.

Notable people

Mick McGowan Michael McGowan (born 1 February 1973) is an Irish professional darts player who last played in events for the British Darts Organisation (BDO). Career McGowan last played on the PDC pro tour in the Killarney Pro Tour 1 in October 2013 and his ...

, darts player, is from the village *

Keane Barry Keane Neill Barry (born 25 June 2002) is an Irish professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and Youth Development Tour events. The highlight of his career was beating Conor Allen in a narrow 2-0 victory in a j ...

, darts player, is from the village * Sir William Bathe of Athcarne Castle (died 1597) * Frederick Smith, recipient of the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

References

External links

Duleek HeritageMeath Tourisrm
{{Authority control Towns and villages in County Meath