gest Norman castle,
Trim Castle (or King John's Castle), which was built in the late 12th century
following the Norman invasion of Ireland's eastern seaboard. Trim and the
surrounding lands were granted to Hugh de Lacy, a Norman knight. Richard
II of England stayed there before being ousted from power. Once a
candidate to be the country's capital, the town has also occupied a role as one
of the outposts of the Pale. It was also designated by Elizabeth I of
England as the planned location for a Protestant Dublin University
(known as Trinity College, Dublin). However this was revised by Sir
Francis Drake, who advocated the case for locating the University in Dublin.
In 1649 after the sacking of Drogheda, the garrison of Trim fled to join
other Irish forces and the town was occupied by the army of Oliver
Cromwell. There were many local disturbances in neighbouring villages in the Irish
Rebellion of 1798, most infamously the battle on the Hill of Tara,
following the dispersal of the Wexford rebellion. Trim was represented by Arthur
Wellesley in the Irish Parliament from 1790 to 1797.
The 19th century saw the construction of Trim Courthouse,
St. Loman's Catholic church, St. Patrick's Anglican church, the Wellington
column, the current Bank of Ireland building, and Castle Street by Lord
Dunsany, a major landowner. Following the Great Irish Famine of
1846–1849, the practices of agriculture in the hinterland altered, with a
change in emphasis from tillage to stock raising. This resulted in a change in
the
