The Battle of the Boyne between the Protestant King William III and his father-in-law, the Catholic King James II, was fought on 1 July 1690.King William had 36,000 men and King James had 25,000 - the largest number of troops ever deployed on an Irish battlefield. At stake were the British throne, French dominance in Europe and religious power in Ireland. The battle, won by William, was a turning point in James' unsuccessful attempt to regain the crown and ultimately helped ensure the continuation of Protestant supremacy in Ireland. Approximately 1,500 soldiers were killed.
This was a really cool place to visit. It was so cool, in fact, that when we were in the outer yard looking at all the cannons (not the ones out front), we totally forgot to take any pictures. Unfortunately we were not able to go back in there (you can't go backwards) so we just took the one picture through the fence. One thing we also totally didn't get while we were there, was that you can also tour the Oldbridge house. When we signed in, they told us the tour started to the left. We started there, and when it ended, we were out in front of the house. Later we looked at the brochures they gave us (as we were driving away) and noticed that one brochure was of the estate house. I guess you were supposed to go back inside and then go up the stairs. Not quite sure on this. If we are ever back up that way, we'll go in and see. We bought the Heritage Site (OPW) tourist cards at a one time price of 20 Euro, the first place we ever went to sight-see in Ireland. Now we can use them at any site we go to in one year, and not have to pay an admission charge again. Pretty good deal! The picture of the wood, is a slice of a walnut tree that was on the estate. Of course my woodworking husband wanted a picture of that! I was surprised he only took one.
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