Navan

Navan is the county town and largest town of County Meath, Ireland. It is at the confluence of the River Boyne and Blackwater, around 50 km northwest of Dublin. At the 2022 census, it had a population of 33,886, making it the fourteenth largest settlement in all of Ireland. The town is in a civil parish of the same name.

Navan is the county town and largest town of County Meath, Ireland. It is at the confluence of the River Boyne and Blackwater, around 50 km northwest of Dublin. At the 2022 census, it had a population of 33,886, making it the fourteenth largest settlement in all of Ireland. The town is in a civil parish of the same name. ==Etymology== The Modern Irish name An Uaimh is most likely derived from the prehistoric burial mound An Odhbha, named after Odhbha, the first wife of Érimón. It is likely the result of Odbha being later misunderstood and confused by locals with the similar sounding and much more familiar word uaimh, or uamha, which also has a very similar meaning "cave, crypt or souterrain". The Modern English name Navan is likely either an anglicisation of An Uaimh, which was often written and pronounced An Uamhainn, or of An Odhbha(n). An Uaimh was the town's sole official name from the foundation of the Irish Free State in 1922 until 1970, when it was changed to Navan. Since the Official Languages Act 2003, both the Irish and English names have had equal status, as in the rest of the State. ==History== ==Transport== Navan railway station closed in 1958 meaning buses are the primary method of public transport in the town. Navan is served by several bus routes. The town has no central bus station. Since 2025, there are two town bus routes operated by Bus Éireann, the NV1 and the NV2. NV1 runs from Gainstown to Dunville Road, serving the town centre and areas of the town east of the Boyne River. NV2 runs from Gainstown to Belcourt, serving the town centre and areas north of the Boyne and Blackwater Rivers. Navan is also served by a number of other Bus Éireann operated PSO services. The primary of which is the NX service which provides an express service to Dublin City Centre and operates at a frequency of up to every 20 minutes. The 109 which serves a number of other towns in County Meath such as Kells and Dunshauglin, 109X Dublin to Cavan service and the 109A which provides a direct connection to Dublin Airport also serve the town. Sillan also serve the town. Royal Breffni Tours provide services to Dundalk Institute of Technology. Streamline Coaches provide services to NUI Maynooth. ==Education== Navan has a number of secondary schools, including private denominational and public inter-denominational and non-denominational. St. Patrick's Classical School is a Roman Catholic boys-only school. Loreto Secondary School, St. Michael's at the Loreto Convent, and St. Joseph's Secondary School at the Mercy Convent are both girls-only Roman Catholic convent schools. Coláiste na Mí is a VEC-run school in Johnstown that opened in 2013. Beaufort College is a large state-owned inter-denominational vocational school. The Abylity Secondary College was a parent-owned fee-paying non-denominational school. Navan and the surrounding area have a number of primary schools, including the town's Catholic boys' primary school, Scoil Mhuire, which was originally run by the De La Salle Brothers. Pierce Brosnan is a former pupil of St. Anne's Loreto, which is situated beside St. Mary's Catholic Church and near St. Joseph's Mercy. There are also St. Paul's, St. Stephen's, St. Ultan's, and St. Oliver's primary schools. Scoil Éanna is the town's only gaelscoil. The town's only Church of Ireland secondary school, Preston School, closed in the 1970s. It is now the site of the shopping centre in the town. There is a Church of Ireland primary school known as Flowerfield School, on the Trim Rd., a new site. It was originally situated at the Flowerfield area of the town, on the main thoroughfare to Drogheda, in a building that has been sympathetically converted into private accommodation. There is also a multi-denominational Educate Together primary school in the town, sited at Commons Road. ==Notable people== Yemi Adenuga, TV personality and Ireland's first black female elected Councillor Rear Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort, naval officer and scientist Pierce Brosnan, actor Shane Cassells, Fianna Fáil politician Ian Clarke, computer scientist Sam Curtis, professional footballer Keith Donegan, racing driver Simon Fagan, musician Anthony Holten, author Donal Keogan, Gaelic footballer Gráinne Maguire, stand-up comedian, writer and podcaster Arthur Mathews, comedy writer Helen McEntee, Fine Gael politician Dylan Moran, comedian Conor Nash, Australian Rules Footballer John O'Callaghan, DJ Hector Ó hEochagáin, TV personality Joseph Rooney, Catholic priest Tommy Tiernan, comedian The Most Rev. Paul Tighe, Titular Bishop of Drivastum, currently Secretary of the Section of Culture of the Dicastery for Culture and Education in the Roman Curia in the Holy See ==International relations== Navan is twinned with the following places: Bobbio, Italy , since 2003 Broccostella, Italy, since 2005 ==References==

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1376922273 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.