Attractions

The verdant pastures and low hills of Meath are Dublin's closest northern neighbor. The farmland here is so rich that there's an old Irish saying that a farm in Meath is worth two in any other county. With sheep grazing peacefully in green fields, Meath may look ordinary, but it holds remnants of Ireland's mysterious past. It is also the site of the Hill of Tara -- the Olympus of early Ireland where the kings of Ireland ruled.

By then, though, the county was already very old. Meath's rich soil has attracted settlers for more than 8,000 years, and archaeologists have uncovered fascinating burial grounds and settlements that give some insight into where and how they lived. The most intriguing of these is Newgrange, with its mysterious carvings and huge stone passage tombs. Nearby, the Hill of Slane, a lofty 150m (492-ft.) mound, overlooks one of the loveliest parts of the Boyne Valley. On this hill, tradition has it, Patrick lit the Christian paschal fire in direct defiance of the Irish King Laoghaire, throwing down the gauntlet for a confrontation between Ireland's old and new religious orders.

The chief town of County Meath is Navan, but nearby Kells is better known to the traveler because of its association with the famous Book of Kells, the hand-illustrated gospel manuscript on display at Trinity College in Dublin. The town of Kells, known in Gaelic as Ceanannus Mor ("Great Residence"), was originally the site of an important 6th-century monastic settlement founded by St. Colmcille. The monastery was dissolved in 1551, and today only ruins and crosses survive.

Less than 40km (25 miles) southeast of Kells, beside the River Boyne, stand the alluring ruins of Bective Abbey, a Cistercian monastery founded in 1147. Today it feels more like a castle than a monastery; it is a great ruin, with myriad staircases, passageways, and chambers -- a favorite hide-and-seek venue for local children, and perfect for a family picnic.

Even though Meath is primarily an inland county, it is also blessed with a stretch of coastline and two fine sandy beaches, Bettystown and Laytown. History pops up everywhere in County Meath, even on the beach: The Tara Brooch was found at Bettystown in 1850. Often copied in modern jewelry designs, the brooch is one of Ireland's finest pieces of early Christian gold-filigree work, embellished with amber and glass. It's on view at the National Museum in Dublin.

Threatening Tara -- Ireland's insatiable hunger for construction, highways, and speed is heading for a head-on collision with its ancient history. Work to expand the M3 motorway smack-dab in the middle of the historic Tara-Skryne Valley has shocked even this nouveau riche, couldn't-care-less-about-a-bunch-of-rocks country, and brought calls for a long-needed national debate about the long-term price of overdevelopment.

The highway, which will smooth the commute for residents of bedroom communities in leafy County Meath to their offices in Dublin, has been called an "act of governmental vandalism" by opponents, but the government in question has shown no interest in backing down on its plans to speed up the movement of the Irish through Ireland at what sometimes seems like any cost.

This kind of heedless development has seemed in recent years to be paving the country over with little thought for what this means to everything that has long defined this nation. But Tara -- the seat of the ancient kings, the site of the Battle of the Boyne, arguably the heart of Ireland -- had always seemed sacred.

It seems that nothing is sacred in Ireland anymore.

The Tara valley is riddled with ceremonial monuments virtually as old as the land itself. The vast majority are yet to be explored by scientists. Archaeologists believe one of them -- known as the Mound of the Hostages -- dates from 3,000 B.C., making it as old as the pyramids.

But in 2007, Ireland's minister for transportation dug a ceremonial shovel of earth at a groundbreaking for the motorway, right through the middle of it all.

Within weeks, an unknown ancient archaeological site was discovered directly in the road's planned path. Many thought that this would surely stop the government's plans, but it didn't. It turned out that the government had already amended the National Monuments Act to allow for the demolition of national monuments.

Protests of the road building have continued virtually nonstop since work began, but the government has been undaunted, and work continues as this book is going to press.

You can learn the latest before your visit at www.tarawatch.org.