Navan’s key location 

Athlumney Castle is located just outside Navan Town in a key strategic location where the Blackwater River drains into the Boyne. Its placename derives from the Irish for “Loman’s ford” and on the grounds is a Norman motte built by Hugh de Lacy in 1172, ac.15th tower house, and a c.16th-century Tudor manor house. In 1649 during the Siege of Drogheda, the ‘Maguire’ after holding the castle burnt it down to prevent Cromwell from taking it. The last Lord of Athlumney was Sir Launcelot Dowdall. Dowdall lost his lands during the Plantation of Ireland but got them back under Charles II. He became High Sheriff of Meath in 1686 but lost his lands again when he backed the Catholic King James. He eventually left for France after the Battle of the Boyne supposedly burning the castle down again! It passed into the hands of the Somerville family of Kentstown and then to Bishop Nulty. Archaeological digs have also recently uncovered an Early Christian souterrain nearby.