Navan's history: old market square?

Dionysus

Where was the old, as in late medieval and early modern, market and fair square in Navan? I know that the market cross, dating from 1585, is now in the National Museum of Ireland. I surmise that the old market and fair square is what is known today as the Market Square but I cannot find a single historical mark in the area indicating that this area was the economic and political centre of Navan town in the late medieval and early modern period. This was an extraordinarily important area in Navan, Meath, and Ireland. I am conscious that the Fairgreen area is separated from the market square area so that adds to the confusion.

In a nutshell, from where in Navan did the relevant authorities in the 1960s (1950s?) remove the market cross from?

Thanks a million.

IIMII

Didn't know that. How big is the cross? Is it worth getting a replica made for the town? Also I've often wondered how large the walled town was?

Dionysus

IIMII wrote: »

Didn't know that. How big is the cross? Is it worth getting a replica made for the town?

It is definitely worth doing a replica, and at least marking the spot in the town. I got my answer about the location of the market, and the answer to both your questions in John Bradley, 'The Medieval Towns of Co. Meath' in Ríocht na Midhe, vol. viii (1989), p. 39:

'the street pattern of the medieval town was essentially Y-shaped. and consisted of Trimgate Street, Ludlow Street and Watergate Street. New Bridge and the street leading to it from Market Square are additions of more recent times....The medieval market place was located at the junction of th streets in what was later known as Market Square. It was of triabgular form like those at Thurles and Fethard, Co Tipperary. The remnants of a market cross of c. 1585 are now preserved in the National Museum of Ireland.'( He was using H. A. King, 'Late Medieval Crosses in County Meath c. 1470-1635' in Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 84, C, 79-115, for this last reference).

* See also C.C. Ellison, 'Some Aspects of Navan History' in Ríocht na Mídhe, vol iii, 1, (1963), 33-56, for more information on this cross and its dedication, in 1585, to the Nangle family, barons of Navan.

IIMII wrote: »

Also I've often wondered how large the walled town was?

According to John Bradley in the above article, page 40:

'The walled town enclosed an ovaloid area 320 by 275 m, covering an area about 5.3 hectares (13 acres), with a circumference of about 800m. The exact course of the wall is difficult to determine, however. On the south side of the town it evidently coincided with the long boundary wall formed by the burgage plots on the south of Trimgate Street. From here it linked with Trim Gate and then it followed the long property boundary northwards for about 275m, as far as Barracj Lanem where it turned to the east crossing Watergate Street and thence to the Boyne. The only visible section of the wall is located on the north side, in the Urban District Council yard at Barrack Lane.'

Hope this helps!;)

Wiley1

Another section of the original wall of Navan town is actually in Ryan's pub on the main street, if you are in the pub you would be outside the old town and obviously in the chuch yard you're inside the town. I'm sure you can contact the land registry and get old maps if you wanted, would be cool to see.

tinareilly

hi everyone,
doing a family history and i found out my great grandfather who lived in yellow walls navan had a pub in navan town. it was either called o reillys or reillys would have been from 1920 onwards. can anyone tell me where i can find this sort of information?

Stroke Politics

There is a bronze cast replica showing the details of the high cross at the base of the statue of the bull, I think it was placed there this year when they were installing the bull. It's a shame that it has to share a space with another sculpture, and TBH it's a little underwhelming in the presence of the massive bull, but at least it recognises the existence of the original high cross.....

Wiley1

tinareilly wrote: »

hi everyone,
doing a family history and i found out my great grandfather who lived in yellow walls navan had a pub in navan town. it was either called o reillys or reillys would have been from 1920 onwards. can anyone tell me where i can find this sort of information?

You would get this info from navan library I would imagine. They have archives of all newspapers and other infor like that.

upmeath

Hi all, I thought I might share some findings from a thesis project carried out earlier this year at UCD. My colleagues and I researched the history of Irish market towns and found that under colonial influence competing market places often developed side by side in many Irish towns. A central market square might have developed naturally at the centre of the town prior to British rule, but the arrival of a new culture and its institutions saw commercial and social activities occurring in separate spaces thereafter. One quite prominent example of this is Cork City, which had separate English and Irish Markets from the late 1700s.

These different social dynamics gave to different ways of living in a market town. British settlers had a different set of reference points within towns to their Irish neighbours. The Protestant church in a town would very often be accompanied by a market square and these open spaces were more often than not located to the southwest of the church itself. This is certainly true of the relationship between Church and Fair Green in Navan. Other notable examples of this occur on the Battery Road in Longford town and also at the centre of Daingean, Co. Offaly.