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One local sight worth going out of your way for is Athlumney Castle , about a mile's walk from the centre of town - head over the bridge, then turn first right following the signs. Just as you come up to the ruin, veer right into Loreto Convent (once the castle's outbuildings) where you can pick up the keys. In the convent grounds you should immediately spot the twelfth-century motte (now surrounded by a ring of trees) that would have had a Bretesche , or wooden tower, built on it. This was purely defensive, and the owner would actually have lived closer to the river. The castle you see now is a fifteenth-century tower house to which a Jacobean manor house was added in the early seventeenth century. The Tower House has four floors in excellent condition, the first of which has a secret chamber down the stairs in the wall. The last occupant of the mansion was Sir Lancelot Dowdall, a Catholic who, on hearing of the defeat of James II, decided to set his home alight rather than see it fall into the hands of William's army. According to the story, he crossed the river and stood all night watching it burn before heading into permanent exile. The interior shows large gaping fireplaces and a horseshoe stone-oven on the bottom floor which would have been the area of the kitchens (the heat from which would rise to warm the living quarters above). It once had a gabled roof within which the servants were housed, and it still has many impressive mullioned windows as well as a magnificent oriel window overlooking the modern road. If you head back to the bridge you can take the steps down to the ramparts , then a pleasant walk follows the canalside all the way to Stackallen, though a certain amount of building work may disrupt your way to begin with. A mile or so northeast of Navan on the Slane road is a fine 100ft-high round tower at Donaghmore. This stands on an early Christian site, reputedly founded by St Patrick.
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