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SLANE village, set on a steep hillside running down to the Boyne a mile or so west of Knowth, is an enchanting little place which packs a surprising amount of interest. The scene is set at the village centre, where four three-storey eighteenth-century houses stand at the four corners of a crossroads, each virtually identical (with arched entrance courtyards to the side) and built of rough-cut grey limestone. The story goes that they were built by four spinster sisters who wanted to keep an eye on one another's comings and goings. Down by the river, the Georgian theme is continued in the fine mill , built in 1766, across the road from which stands a large Gothic gate to Slane Castle, whose lands stretch out westward along the river. Slane Castle suffered an enormous fire in the spring of 1992 and is strictly out of bounds to the public. Some restoration work has been completed but it's a painstaking and expensive task and it seems as if the castle will remain closed to the public for the forseeable future. During the reconstruction period, the owners have appealed to tourists not to enter the grounds at all, for their own safety. Approximately once a year, however, the castle does open its gates to half of young Ireland for massive, open-air rock concerts promoted by the entrepreneurial Henry Conyngham, Lord Mountcharles, who has a warm relationship with Ireland's rock business - including U2, who recorded The Joshua Tree in one of the rooms at Slane. The only other way of getting a glimpse of the castle grounds is to go to the tiny nightclub held in the castle basement every Saturday night (tel 041/982 4207). On a more traditional level, the castle is the seat of the Conyngham family and is a classically ordered mass of mock battlements and turrets with a neo-Gothic library. The best architects of the day - Wyatt, Johnston and Gandon - were involved in the design, and the grounds were laid out by Capability Brown. Inside, there's a substantial art collection and many mementos of King George IV, who is said to have spent the last years of his life involved in a heady liaison with the Marchioness Conyngham: some claim that this relationship accounts for the exceptionally fast, straight road between Slane and Dublin. Further out in the castle grounds, and not for public consumption beyond a glimpse from the river towpath, is St Erc's Hermitage . Lord Mountcharles recently gave this to the nation, but it will be some time before it opens to the public. Walking north from the crossroads, uphill, you can climb to the top of the Hill of Slane , where St Patrick lit his Paschal Fire in 433 AD, announcing the arrival of Christianity. This was in direct defiance of Laoghaire, High King of Tara, who had ordered no fire-making until Tara's own hillside was set alight. Fortunately for St Patrick, Laoghaire was promptly converted, welcoming the new religion throughout the country. The summit commands magnificent views of the whole Boyne Valley. Near the top, the ruined Friary Church (1512) and separate college building are worth investigating. The church has a well-preserved tower , with a very narrow and steep flight of sixty-odd steps: if you make it up you're rewarded with a broad panorama of the eastern counties, though Slane itself is all but hidden from view. In the graveyard there is a very unusual early Christian tomb with gable-shaped end-slabs. This is supposed to be the final resting place of St Erc , Patrick's greatest friend and servant whom he made Bishop of Slane. The college was built to house the four priests, four lay-brothers and four choristers there to serve the church; assorted pieces of carved stonework can be found if you mooch round its ruins.
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