Rathnally is a linear walk which is unusual for us. We don’t like going back on ourselves. It used to be a loop. In fact, one of my earliest memories was doing the Rathnally Loop with my mother. I think that I still lived in the town so I would guess that I was five or six.
I can remember lots of people doing it with us so it could have been one of those organised walks like the Milk Run, that was popular in the 70s. That was before the Navan rd became a mini motorway. Nobody in their right mind would do the Loop today, apart from cyclists and training athletes.
As we are in a 5km lockdown, Rathnally is worth a go. We started from the Newtown cottages and walked by a few houses until the noise of the road disappeared. Our small road was quiet enough for Pixel to walk off the lead and we only had to pull him off the road twice as cars approached.
As we walked away from the town, the landscape quickly became rural. This townland is called Loganstown. I never could find out who or what Logan was.
I did know that the Boyne was on the other side of all these fields. Everything on the other side of the Boyne was my territory. I knew every tree, every stream and every inch of field from the river over to Laracor Cross. Of course, there were some farmers that actually owned the land, sometimes for generations. To me, that was just a legal matter and was of no consequence.
I never set foot on Loganstown though, even when paddling along the river. I have no idea why I made a distinction with the northside of the river but I take some satisfaction in the knowledge that even as a young roamer, I had some sense of boundaries.
To our left is a large expanse of agricultural Willow with golden leaves. A tree farm always reminds me of my Granny Carroll saying that it was a shame to plant trees on good farming land in Meath.
The willow farm carries on the whole way up the road to the old railway bridge. This would have been the old Kilmessan – Athboy steam railway line that was built around 1864. It was mainly used for transporting cattle to Dublin. Sports fans would use it to get to Croke Park or Fairyhouse races but it was too expensive for most folk. When CIE began running the buses in the 20s and farmers began to move cattle in trucks, the railway was neglected until it closed in the 50s.
I thought the birds would be quiet in the Autumn, but there is still plenty of activity despite the fact that the hedgerows have been cut back. Robins and wrens follow us along the road, chirping at us. Pheasants scamper across fields looking ashamed to have been caught in the open.
The road takes a sharp turn to the left and a stream babbles underneath as it makes its way through a woody area into the Boyne.
Tarmac and hedgerow are replaced by a tunnel of trees with a green strip in the middle. This is what the local walkers come for. Cars don’t come down here as there are no more houses until you get near the Navan rd again. For any houses near the Navan road, it’s much quicker to go back out that way in the car. As a result, this is a beauty spot.
The tunnel of golden trees goes for about a mile with birdhouses nailed up high and a plantation of white Birch trees acting as a windbreak. Birds fly from one side of the road to the other as we walk along.
The road brings you down towards the Boyne but the valley is so steep here that you can hardly see any water. Anyone who paddles along here will recognise the landscape. The Kilmessan rd is within a stone’s throw. The old Rathnally Mill peeps up from the slope below. It is guarded by well looked after gardens.
The road swings around again. Old green stone walls and big trees lead towards Rathnally House where my Grandfather used to work.
It was built in the early 18th century for one of the Carters who fought on the winning side at the Battle of the Boyne. When my Grandfather worked in the house, Major D’Arcy Perceval Pelham Thompson lived here.
The grounds no longer look well-maintained but in its day the house must have been a sight when all the surrounding outbuildings were busy.
Further on, is a walled house, which is strange for these parts. I can find no more information about this place but Google Maps shows its gardens as quite large.
After the walled garden, the road turns at the old entrance to Rathnally House and heads straight for the Navan rd and its speeding cars. All that is left to do is turn around and return the way you came.
Google Maps: 53.560908, – 6.769015
Distance: 6.9. km
Type of walk: Quiet country roads
Views: Farmland, woodland and river valley
Animals: Cows, sheep, horses, pheasants.
Humans: Three groups of walkers, one jogger, one guy on an electric bike.
Traffic: two cars
Plant of the day: Harts Tongue Fern, a shiny plant that was here before the dinosaurs. It likes limestone walls that hide in the shade beneath trees, so it is all along this road. It is supposedly good for burns and liver complaints.
Negative: The first half of the walk is dull in comparison to the Autumn colours that blaze around Rathnally.
Memorable: I find an old structure in a field with no mention in the records. It looks like the wall of a stone building.
Score: 7/10
Rathnally serves as an extension for those who are tired doing the loop in the Porchiefields. If you know anything more about it, do let me know.
Hi rob! Just read with interest about your walk at Rathnally, was it last year? My ancestors lived there, they were known as Brennan’s of the Lock, it refers we think to the canal lock on the Boyne which was never developed. They probably knew your grandfather! Charles Brennan married a Mary Pentony in 1835 and he was my great great grandfather. A Thomas Brennan was living there in 1911.
I think there were relatives called Miggin’s living at the walled house you mention.. Brennan’s were further in towards the old railway line, sadly no trace of their two storey house remains. Unless it’s the small piece of wall you found? Anyway well done and your photos are lovely. Regards Anne Leavy
As a youngster coming from Manchester in England my family would come every year to stay in Trim co meath where my family came from , we would visit Rathnally with my uncle who lived in Trim and his then fiancé who lived in Rathnally with her family the Murray’s. I remember coming across a carriage which was completely covered in overgrown weeds it was just like one my sister and i thought cinderella had arrived to the ball in.. it was very grand a sight we never forgot.. and wondered who owned it.. obviously some very rich land owner….and certainly not Cinderella!!
An overgrown carriage would have been a wonderful sight Rosemarie. Thanks for sharing your memory of it.