Laytown

2020-05-07T06:28:30Z

77.75.244.7: /* Laytown on film */Fixed Mis information

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2015}}
{{Use Irish English|date=July 2015}}
{{Infobox settlement
|name = Laytown
|native_name = {{pad top italic|An Inse}}
|native_name_lang = ga
|settlement_type = Village
|image_skyline = Laytown Strand Races - geograph.org.uk - 547827.jpg
|image_caption = Laytown Races
|pushpin_map = Ireland
|pushpin_label_position = right
|pushpin_map_caption = Location in Ireland
|subdivision_type = Country
|subdivision_name = [[Republic of Ireland|Ireland]]
|subdivision_type1 = [[Provinces of Ireland|Province]]
|subdivision_name1 = [[Leinster]]
|subdivision_type3 = [[Counties of Ireland|County]]
|subdivision_name3 = [[County Meath]]
|established_title =
|established_date =
|unit_pref = Metric
|area_footnotes =
|area_total_km2 =
|population_as_of =
|population_footnotes =
|population_total =
|population_rural =
|population_density_km2 =
|coordinates = {{coord|53.6838|-6.2433|dim:1000_region:IE|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
|elevation_footnotes =
|elevation_m =
|blank_name = [[Irish grid reference system|Irish Grid Reference]]
|blank_info = {{iem4ibx|O162714}}
|website =
|footnotes =
}}
{{Historical populations|state=collapsed
|1831|587
|1841|317
|1851|333
|1861|68
|1901|112
|1936|258
|1946|401
|1951|411
|1956|1117
|1961|1034
|1966|1339
|1971|1882
|1981|2997
|1986|3321
|1991|3360
|1996|3678
|2002|5597
|2006|8978
| footnote=<ref>http://www.cso.ie/census and http://www.histpop.org {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160507023856/http://www.histpop.org/ |date=7 May 2016 }}. Figures include totals for Mornington, listed separately until 1971, and Donnycarny, listed separately until 1851. No census town was recorded in the census years of 1871, 1881, 1891, 1911 and 1926 as there was no cluster of twenty inhabited houses. Separate hamlets of Baymore (population 123) and Colpe (population 71) were recorded in 1831. For a discussion on the accuracy of [[Great Famine (Ireland)|pre-famine]] census returns see [[John Joseph Lee|JJ Lee]] "On the accuracy of the pre-famine Irish censuses" in Irish Population, Economy and Society edited by JM Goldstrom and LA Clarkson (1981) p54, and also "New Developments in Irish Population History, 1700-1850" by Joel Mokyr and [[Cormac Ó Gráda]] in The Economic History Review, New Series, Vol. 37, No. 4 (Nov., 1984), pp. 473-488.</ref>
}}
[[File:Ireland 2010 etc 029 (2).jpg|thumb|upright|The [[Tara Brooch]], now at the National Museum]]

'''Laytown''' ({{Irish place name|An Inse|the [[holm (island)|holm]]}}) is a village in [[County Meath]], [[Republic of Ireland|Ireland]], located on the [[R150 road|R150]] [[Regional road (Ireland)|regional road]] and overlooking the [[Irish Sea]]. Historically it was called ''Ninch'',<ref>[http://www.logainm.ie/133207.aspx Placenames Database of Ireland: Laytown] (see archival records)</ref> after the [[townland]] it occupies.<ref>[http://www.logainm.ie/38428.aspx Placenames Database of Ireland: Ninch]</ref> Together with the neighbouring villages of [[Mornington, County Meath|Mornington]] and [[Bettystown]] it comprises the [[census town]] of [[Laytown-Bettystown-Mornington]] with a combined population of 10,889 at the 2011 Census, which is part of the wider area collectively known as [[East Meath]]. The 2016 Census recorded a population of 11,872 in the area which is now called Laytown-Bettystown-Mornington-Donacarney.<ref name=cso2016>{{cite web | url = http://census.cso.ie/sapmap2016/Results.aspx?Geog_Type=ST2016&Geog_Code=ADC8C330-CEBE-4734-B55F-B65BE6198DAC | title = Sapmap Area: Settlements Laytown-Bettystown-Mornington-Donacarney | work = Census 2016 | publisher = [[Central Statistics Office (Ireland)]] | accessdate = 4 May 2020}}</ref>

[[File:VoyagerLaytownScupture.JPG|thumb|upright|Beachfront sculpture ''Voyager'']]

==History==
The surrounding area is known to have been settled for around 1500 years; recent excavations have revealed settlement at Laytown since at least the 6th century AD.

===Archaeological finds===
One of the most notable historical finds in Irish history was made on Bettystown beach in 1850. A local woman claimed (rather implausibly) to have found the [[Tara Brooch]] in a box buried in the sand. Many think it was in fact found inland and the claim was made to avoid a legal claim by the landowner of the actual find site, wherever that was. The Tara Brooch is now on display in the [[National Museum of Ireland]] in Dublin.

More recent archaeological finds include, for example, a blue glass bead of the Early Christian Period which was found in 1976 at the rath at Ninch West. The rath is traditionally associated with [[Láeg|Laeg mac Riangabra]], [[Cuchulain]]'s charioteer, from whom Laytown is said to take its name. The glass bead is now also in the collection of the [[National Museum of Ireland]].

Also in the late 1970s, an earthen mound known locally as 'The Mote' and overlooking the River Nanny at The Ninch, was partially excavated by P. D. Sweetman for the National Monuments Section of the Office of Public Works. Two Iron Age interments were found.<ref>http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/925/laytown_an_inse.html</ref><ref>Sweetman, P.D. 1982-3 ‘Reconstruction and partial Excavation of an Iron Age Burial Mound at Ninch, Co. Meath’. ''Ríocht na Mídhe'' VII, 2, 58-68.</ref>

A dig, in 2000, revealed early Christian graves of around 50 people and a [[Bronze Age]] enclosure. Artefacts recovered include a [[Hiberno-Norse]] ring pin.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20070928000935/http://www.excavations.ie/Pages/Details.php?Year=&County=Meath&id=8834</ref>

===19th and 20th century developments===
Many of Laytown's larger buildings, including the train station master's house and the large terrace homes facing onto the beach, were built in the mid-nineteenth century.<ref>http://www.buildingsofireland.ie/niah/search.jsp?county=ME&townland=0519&type=quick</ref> The architecture of the Church of the Sacred Heart is of particular note, with its facade retained from the original nineteenth century, but the main building being to a 1970s circular-plan. It is a single room with a large window overlooking the Irish Sea. On the hill behind the window is a twenty-foot wooden cross.<ref>http://www.buildingsofireland.ie/niah/search.jsp?type=record&county=ME&regno=14319011</ref>

===Subsequent growth===
Laytown was once a small coastal village, but in the early 21st century, the town has seen a large population and economic boom.{{fact|date=February 2020}} With the ever-developing and growing city of Dublin, Laytown, along with other villages and towns all along the east coast, has seen population growth. This has brought problems with overcrowded schools. <ref>https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/25/business/worldbusiness/25youth.html?ex=1327381200&en=38409dcd59f12062&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss</ref>

==Geography==
Laytown is 50 km (30 mi) north of the nation's capital, [[Dublin]]. Laytown and neighbouring village, [[Bettystown]], sit on one of Ireland's most scenic beachfronts. The beach stretches from Mornington at the [[River Boyne]], which borders [[County Louth]] to Gormanston at the River Delvin, which borders [[County Dublin]].

Laytown sits on the mouth of the River Nanny, a tidal [[estuary]] where mullet, trout, eels, gobies and flounder can be caught - but no salmon. According to local folklore, [[Saint Patrick]] banished all the salmon from the river. By an old schoolhouse overlooking the river there is a spring known as St Patrick's Well, though the access path to it is overgrown.

=== Climate ===
Laytown has a [[Oceanic climate#Temperate (Cfb)|temperate oceanic climate]] ([[Köppen climate classification|Köppen]]: ''Cfb''), similar to most other towns in [[Ireland]], with few extremes of temperature and ample [[precipitation]] all year round and an annual average rainfall of {{Convert|777|mm|inch}}. [[Weather]] in Laytown is very similar to that of nearby [[Drogheda]].

{{Weather box
| width = auto
| metric first = yes
| single line = yes
| location = Laytown, County Meath, Ireland



| Jan record high C = 20
| Feb record high C = 18
| Mar record high C = 19
| Apr record high C = 20
| May record high C = 24
| Jun record high C = 26
| Jul record high C = 28
| Aug record high C = 29
| Sep record high C = 25
| Oct record high C = 21
| Nov record high C = 18
| Dec record high C = 19
| year record high C = 29

| Jan high C = 7
| Feb high C = 9
| Mar high C = 10
| Apr high C = 12
| May high C = 15
| Jun high C = 18
| Jul high C = 19
| Aug high C = 19
| Sep high C = 17
| Oct high C = 14
| Nov high C = 10
| Dec high C = 8
| year high C = 13.2

| Jan low C = 3
| Feb low C = 2
| Mar low C = 4
| Apr low C = 4
| May low C = 7
| Jun low C = 9
| Jul low C = 12
| Aug low C = 12
| Sep low C = 9
| Oct low C = 7
| Nov low C = 5
| Dec low C = 5
| year low C = 6.6

| Jan record low C = -7
| Feb record low C = -7
| Mar record low C = -8
| Apr record low C = -4
| May record low C = -2
| Jun record low C = 2
| Jul record low C = 5
| Aug record low C = 5
| Sep record low C = 1
| Oct record low C = -1
| Nov record low C = -3
| Dec record low C = -7
| year record low C = -8

| precipitation colour = green
| Jan precipitation mm = 63
| Feb precipitation mm = 54
| Mar precipitation mm = 63
| Apr precipitation mm = 62
| May precipitation mm = 60
| Jun precipitation mm = 65
| Jul precipitation mm = 45
| Aug precipitation mm = 75
| Sep precipitation mm = 54
| Oct precipitation mm = 85
| Nov precipitation mm = 73
| Dec precipitation mm = 78
| year precipitation mm = 777

| unit rain days = 0.2 mm
| Jan rain days = 24
| Feb rain days = 22
| Mar rain days = 24
| Apr rain days = 22
| May rain days = 20
| Jun rain days = 21
| Jul rain days = 23
| Aug rain days = 23
| Sep rain days = 21
| Oct rain days = 24
| Nov rain days = 24
| Dec rain days = 23
| year rain days = 271

| unit snow days = 0.2 mm
| Jan snow days = 3
| Feb snow days = 3
| Mar snow days = 2
| Apr snow days = 2
| May snow days = 1
| Jun snow days = 0
| Jul snow days = 0
| Aug snow days = 0
| Sep snow days = 0
| Oct snow days = 0
| Nov snow days = 1
| Dec snow days = 2
| year snow days = 14


| humidity colour = green
| daily = Y
| Jan humidity = 85
| Feb humidity = 83
| Mar humidity = 81
| Apr humidity = 79
| May humidity = 79
| Jun humidity = 78
| Jul humidity = 79
| Aug humidity = 81
| Sep humidity = 83
| Oct humidity = 84
| Nov humidity = 87
| Dec humidity = 87
| year humidity = 82.2

| Jan sun = 124
| Feb sun = 141
| Mar sun = 186
| Apr sun = 240
| May sun = 279
| Jun sun = 270
| Jul sun = 217
| Aug sun = 217
| Sep sun = 210
| Oct sun = 155
| Nov sun = 120
| Dec sun = 124
| year sun = 2283

| Jand sun = 4
| Febd sun = 5
| Mard sun = 6
| Aprd sun = 8
| Mayd sun = 9
| Jund sun = 9
| Juld sun = 7
| Augd sun = 7
| Sepd sun = 7
| Octd sun = 5
| Novd sun = 4
| Decd sun = 4
| yeard sun = 6.3

| source = <ref name="Weather2 Climate History for Laytown">{{cite web |url=http://www.myweather2.com/City-Town/Ireland/Meath/Laytown/climate-profile.aspx |title=Weather2 Climate History for Laytown |access-date=August 25, 2018 }}</ref>
}}

==Education==
There are two primary schools in Laytown/Bettystown which follow a Catholic ethos. They are Scoil Oilibhear Naofa Junior School and Scoil an Spioraid Naomh Senior School. Scoil Oilibhear Naofa is a recently built state-of-the-art school and the Department of Education has plans for a complete redevelopment of Scoil an Spioraid Naomh.{{Citation needed|date=November 2013}}.

There are also two multi-denominational schools outside the town that service East Meath and South Drogheda. They are Le Cheile [[Educate Together]] National School and Gaelscoil an Bhradain Feasa. These schools teach an ethical programme and a basic type of comparative religion. If parents want the children to have faith formation in any particular religion, they have to arrange that in after school classes.

A new secondary school (Colaiste na hInse) has been built in Laytown which services the [[East Meath]] area.

==Transport and communications==
The village is a [[commuter town]] for people working in Dublin, who are served by the rail line into [[Dublin Connolly station]], and the [[M1 motorway (Republic of Ireland)|M1 motorway]] linking the north east of the country to the capital. The village is served by the Northern commuter train line linking [[Drogheda]] and [[Dundalk]] to Connolly station in Dublin. [[Laytown railway station]] opened on 25 May 1844<ref>{{cite web | title=Laytown and Bettystown station | work=Railscot - Irish Railways | url=http://www.railscot.co.uk/Ireland/Irish_railways.pdf | accessdate=6 September 2007}}</ref> and was renamed as ''Laytown & Bettystown'' in 1913. An express coach service links Laytown, Bettystown and Sonairte with Parnell Street in Dublin. [[Bus Éireann]] has changed from route 190 to the D1 which provides several daily services to/from [[Drogheda]] via Bettystown and Mornington.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://buseireann.ie/pdf/1261645889-190.pdf |title=Timetable - Route 190 |accessdate=2013-08-04 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130717235231/http://www.buseireann.ie/pdf/1261645889-190.pdf |archivedate=17 July 2013 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

[[File:Steam locomotive at Laytown, Co. Meath - geograph.org.uk - 1011936.jpg|thumb|A [[Great Northern Railway (Ireland)]] locomotive ''Slieve Gullion'' in May 1985 going through [[Laytown railway station]] on a special run by the [[Railway Preservation Society of Ireland]].]]

The [[East Meath]] area also has a free monthly magazine known as the Meath Coaster. This magazine, solely supplied in East Meath, showcases images of the coast's scenery, local schools' and clubs' achievements as well as an update from the [[Meath County Council]].{{fact|date=February 2020}}

==Amenities==
The town has a garda station and a [[primary school]] called Scoil an Spioraid Naoimh. Coláiste na hInse is a co-educational [[secondary school]] in Laytown which was founded in 2008 and had an enrollment of over 1,000 pupils as of 2018.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.education.ie//en/Publications/Inspection-Reports-Publications/Subject-Inspection-Reports-List/76103M_Subject%20Inspection_7378_20180223.pdf| publisher = Department of Education | title = Department of Education and Skills - Subject Inspection Report | date = 22 February 2018 | accessdate = 6 February 2020 | quote = Colaiste na hInse, Bettystown, is a co-educational school with a current enrolment of 1009 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url = https://colaistenahinse.ie/images/pdfs/NewTeacherInformation.pdf | publisher = | website = colaistenahinse.ie | title = Information for New Staff | accessdate = 11 February 2020 | quote = Coláiste na hInse is a [..] school in Baile an Bhiataigh Co. na Mí. Established in 2008}}</ref> The village also has three pubs, two newsagents, a pharmacy, two take-aways and a railway station.

Sonairte, the National Ecology Centre, is half a mile from the station on the Julianstown road (R150). <ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20080517124617/http://www.sonairte.org/</ref>

==Laytown on film==
Both Irish and American movies (''[[The Crying Game]]'' and ''[[Michael Collins (film)|Michael Collins]]'') and television shows have been filmed all over Laytown, mostly on the beach. The Crying Game was filmed locally in the village of Laytown in 1991 using the carpark as a fair-ground and the former long wooden pedestrian bridge over the nanny river as a location.

==Laytown races==
Since 1868 [[Laytown Racecourse|Laytown]] has hosted a single annual horse racing meeting on its beach - one of only a couple on sand (held on the beach) race meetings run under official rules of racing in Europe.<ref>{{cite web | title = Laytown | url = https://www.goracing.ie/racecourses-and-events/racecourses/laytown/information | publisher = [[Horse Racing Ireland]] | accessdate = 4 May 2020}}</ref> The [[BBC]] have made it the subject of a documentary, titled ''Racing the Tide'', and have included passages in their [[Coast (TV series)|Coast]] and [[Countryfile]] programmes.
The horses used to run along the beach, make a U-turn and run back. The onlookers used to stand just feet away from them to watch the racing, with no barriers in between.
In 1994 a terrible accident occurred when one of the horses became spooked by a small river stream on the course and bolted into the crowd. This caused panic amongst some of the other horses too. One jockey was taken to hospital, several people in the crowd were injured, and, tragically, three horses had to be put down because of the injuries they sustained.
The races were abandoned for a few years and when they did restart, several safety measures had been put into practice. Barriers were constructed, the crowd were separated from the runners and now watch from a field next to the beach, the number of runners in each race was limited and the races were limited to much shorter distances with no turning round.

==Politics==
The Laytown-Bettystown-Mornington-Julianstown area is governed locally by the [[Meath County Council]]. However, this area of east Meath is part of the [[Louth (Dáil constituency)]] constituency.

==See also==
* [[List of towns and villages in the Republic of Ireland|List of towns and villages in Ireland]]
* [[Donacarney]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Commons category}}

{{Towns and villages in County Meath}}

[[Category:Towns and villages in County Meath]]
[[Category:Beaches of County Meath]]
[[Category:National Monuments in County Meath]]

Wikipedia - Benutzerbeiträge [de]

Laytown