A Brief History of the Boyne Valley

Medieval Ireland had scribes to record history and preserve it in parchment and ink, but centuries ago Ireland had another diligent scribe, who recorded evidence in fossil and subsoil form: the bog. Compiling history as fossilised bone and preserved wood, plant spores and pollen, bogs and other evidence point to the Boyne Valley as being an early center for settlers. Using this and other evidence, we can chronicle a Brief History of the Boyne Valley

Let’s examine the evidence. 10,000 years ago our climate took a turn for the better, and as temperature improved, plants and animals returned after the ice age, peatlands began their growth recording the data layer by soggy layer. By the time the first human colonists set up camp in Ireland all the native trees were doing well. Archaeological evidence tells us that the Mesolithic (middle stone age) people who were here between 8700 and 8600 years ago, were hunter gatherers, who used small flint chips (microliths) to give a cutting edge to their weapons and tools. Like most hunter-gatherers they made use of everything their environment had to offer and which they had the technology to handle. Many lived in choice coastal sites where the sea provided all sorts of collectibles from shellfish to bird’s eggs, and the shells and bones preserved in their middens (rubbish dumps) show that birds, fish and mammals all had a place in their enormously varied diet.

Around 7000 years ago the climate appears to have become warmer, which increased wetness, which in turn revitalised the process of peat formation, which allowed our diligent scribes to record more information in their acid mor (humus).

The First Farmers

About 5000 years ago the peatland history books recorded a marked drop in the amount of elm pollen reaching their surface, while the pollen of pine, alder and oak showed a less dramatic decline. This coincided with the appearance of the pollen of grasses of broad-leafed plantain and other herbs, while dock and nettle were rising to weed proportion, and the discovery of more sophisticated artefacts. Only one deduction can be made: this was the start of the first agricultural revolution, and the Neolithic, or new Stone Age period. Bands of people armed with implements of polished stone and with knowledge of animal husbandry, crop tillage and ring barking of trees exploded from Europe to Ireland. They fed their animals on leaves, especially the nutrient rich elm. They killed trees by ring-barking - striping off the bark - and planted crops around the dead trunks. We know from the complex graves and cemeteries they left behind that the Neolithic people must have had a highly sophisticated economy. The bounty of just 20 square miles of the Boyne Valley spared at least a million people hours over, say, four years to construct the impressive passage grave complex at Newgrange.

Form here we can rely on artefacts alone to retell the History of the region.

The advent of copper, and then Bronze, heralded not only a new tool, but also a new lifestyle. The big tomb operators pass on, and are replaced by the more nomadic lifestyle of the prospector farmer hunting for copper. Simple single graves fitted in much better with a shifting lifestyle, than gigantic tombs. Past centers for agriculture including the valley of the Boyne played no significant part in the way of life of metal hungry prospectors. The people of the Bronze Age did take time out from their quest for copper and tin to leave us fulacht fiadhs, and wedge tombs in the Brugh na Boinne so their existence would not be forgotten entirely.

Then the Celtic influence spread to Ireland. They did not settle in towns, instead they were farmers who lived scattered throughout the country. The fertility of the Boyne Valley must have attracted its fair share of Celtic farmers as many Celtic legends deal with the Boyne Valley. Many artefacts point to thriving Celtic trade and craftsmanship in the area. Pottery created in the area at that time was still found in use in the nineteenth century, a great tribute to its craftsmanship. The Celts did not believe in elaborate burials, or so we assume since, to date, no great iron-age tomb has been excavated, so they did not leave such a lasting impression on the landscape as their Bronze age, and stone age brethren, apart form the earth rings in the area, where Celtic Ringforts and Hillforts once commanded the landscape.

Then came the Christians, who would have scorned the beliefs of the people who created Newgrange. Monasteries in the area, though not early examples, include, Mellifont Abbey, and in Termonfechin, a village near to Drogheda gets its name form the Irish words Tearman Feichin which mean the asylum, or resting place, of St. Fechin, and early Irish Saint. In the nearby village of Monasterboice there is a round tower and evidence of a small monastery, as well as a high cross. There is certainly evidence to suggest thriving monastic life craft, and trade, including the Bettystown Broach (Tara Broach), and the Book of Kells, as well as the afore mentioned decorated high cross.

With the Norman’s, came towns, cities, and the feudal system. The prosperity of so many towns in Louth and Meath was owed to the fertile valley. Examples include Drogheda, Navan, and Trim. The medieval walls of Drogheda were for many years a magnificent and formidable defence. They protected a thriving trade town, and were probably paid for by the profits of the produce of the Boyne Valley. The importance and prosperity of the town at the time is reflected by the walls, the many churches, and the seven gates, of which only three exist today. The large castle at trim was owned by Hugh deLacy, and the elaborate decorations at Mellifont abbey point to opulence.

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