THE IRISH PENNY JOURNAL.
| Number 22. | SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1840. | Volume I. |
THE CHURCH AND ROUND TOWER OF DONAGHMORE, COUNTY OF MEATH.
English and other visitors to our metropolis who dare theperils of the deep, and various other perils now equally imaginary,to see something of our Emerald Isle, are generallydirected as a matter of course to our far-famed county ofWicklow as the only picturesque lion within a few hours’ journey;and certainly in this romantic region they will find muchto gratify the taste, and which will remain indelibly fixed onthe memory. But, delightful as such excursion undoubtedlyis, it will only convey to a stranger’s mind a partial and imperfectimpression of Irish scenery; and he will be apt to concludethat however rich we may be in the possession of lakesand mountains—the grand but solitary domains of nature—weare wholly wanting in scenery of a different class, that ofthe richly wooded pastoral valley, blooming with artificial aswell as natural beauty, the anciently chosen abodes of luxuryand rank, and, as such, rich in memorials of the past, with theirattendant historical associations. Scenery such as this, theproud Briton will most probably think the exclusive boast ofhis own favoured isle. He will not imagine that it is also tobe found in equal perfection in Ireland, and even within a shortdistance of the metropolis. It is not in the Guide or TourBook, and is but little known even to the well informed ofthe citizens of Dublin themselves, more of whom have seenand enjoyed the scenery of the Thames than that of the Boyne,which is within four hours’ journey. Yet the scenery of theBoyne, following its course upwards from Drogheda to Navan,a distance of eleven miles, and the scenery of the Blackwater,a river tributary to the Boyne, ascending from Navanto Kells, a distance of eight miles more, is, in its way, of a characteras beautiful and luxuriant as could be found anywhere,or even be imagined. Scenery of this class of equal richnessmay be often found in England; but we do not know of anyriver’s course of the same length in which natural beauty sohappily combines with the artificial, or in which so many interestingmemorials of past ages could be found. Scatteredin rich profusion along the banks of this beautiful river wefind the noblest monuments of the various races of men whohave held sway in Ireland: the great earthen fortresses, stonecircles and dome-roofed sepulchres of the Tuatha de Danannsand the Fir-Bolgs—the raths of the Milesians—the churchesand round towers of the earliest Christian times—the proudcastles of the Anglo-Norman chiefs and their equally imposing[Pg 170]architectural structures dedicated to the services of religion.In the variety, if not the number of such monuments herefound, the Boyne is without a rival in any Irish river, nor dowe think it could be paralleled by any river in the empire;and we might truly add, that it is on its luxuriant banks, amidso many instructive memorials of past ages, that the history ofour country, as traced in its monuments would be best studied.
It is from amongst these interesting remains that we haveselected the subject of our prefixed illustration—the Churchand Round Tower of Donaghmore, situated a little more thana mile from Navan, on the road to Slane.
This religious establishment, which was anciently calle