Editing Slane (section)

===The Hill of Slane===
[[File:Hill of slane 1.jpg|thumb|left|Ruins on the hill of Slane, facing East.]]
[[File:NEWENHAM(1830) p209 MEATH - CASTLE AND CHURCH AT SLANE.jpg|thumb|left|The ruins on the hill of Slane as it appeared in 1830.''Picturesque views of the Antiquities of Ireland. Drawn on stone by J. D. Harding, from the sketches of R. O'C. Newenham.'' Since 1830, the [[battlement]]s on the tower to the left are now unrecognizable.]]
[[File:Hill of Slane ruins.jpg|thumb|left|Ruins on the Hill of Slane in 2008, facing North West. The tower on the top right, was capped with [[battlement]]s, up to at least 1830.]]

To the north of the village rises the Hill of Slane, which stands {{convert|158|m}} above the surroundings. There are a number of historic sites located around the top of the hill.<ref>"From this beautiful hill, a vast prospect of Ireland is afforded on a clear day. Eastwards can easily be seen the mounds of [[Newgrange]] and Knowth, with the town of Drogheda and the Irish Sea beyond, while the view northwards extends as far as [[Slieve Gullion]] (well into Northern Ireland), southwards as far as the Sugarloaf Mountain in Wicklow, and westwards to the midlands of Ireland." ([http://www.mythicalireland.com/ancientsites/slane/index.html Noted at MythicalIreland.com]).</ref> In the [[Metrical Dindshenchas]], a collection of [[bard]]ic verse, the ancient [[Fir Bolg]] king [[Sláine mac Dela]] was said to have been buried here, in the place that had been called ''Druim Fuar'' that came to be known in his memory ''Dumha Sláine''.<ref>[http://www.mythicalireland.com/ancientsites/slane/ancient.html Mythical Ireland: Slane in ancient times]</ref>{{better source needed|date=December 2013}} There is an artificial mound on the western end of the hilltop. The hill may have been chosen as the site of a Christian abbey due to the presence of an existing [[Tuatha Dé Danann]] shrine, the remains of which may be two standing stones in the burial yard.<ref>Lewis, "Notes on Some Irish Antiquities" ''The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland'' '''9''' (1880:137–145) p. 142 "if such a [pagan] shrine were there, on the top of the lofty hill of Slane, it might have led to the building of the abbey: a circumstance which needs explanation, as abbeys were usually built in valleys, where land is fertile and water near at hand."</ref>

[[Muirchu moccu Machtheni]], in his highly mythologised seventh-century Life of Patrick, says that [[Saint Patrick]] lit a [[Paschal Full Moon|Paschal]] fire on this hilltop in A.D. 433 in defiance of the [[High King of Ireland|High King]] [[Lóegaire mac Néill|Laoire]] who forbid any other fires while a festival fire was burning on the [[Hill of Tara]]. Historians and archaeologists agree that Muirchu has moved to Slane a fire lit elsewhere;<ref>In the syncretic fashion suggested for Tara by Alan Gailey and G. B. Adams, "The Bonfire in North Irish Tradition" ''Folklore'' '''88'''.1 (1977:3–38) p. 13</ref> The Hill of Slane can be seen from the Hill of Tara which is about {{convert|16|km}} away.<ref name="Trench" /><ref name="Rice">{{cite web|author=Rice, ''V.Rev.'' G. |title=The History of Christianity in Slane |url=http://community.meath.ie/slanehistoricalsociety/index.php?option=displaypage&Itemid=80&op=page&SubMenu= |work=Slane Historical Society |access-date=20 May 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070117193651/http://community.meath.ie/slanehistoricalsociety/index.php?option=displaypage&Itemid=80&op=page&SubMenu= |archive-date=17 January 2007 }}</ref> According to Muirchu, Logaire was so impressed by Patrick's devotion that, despite his defiance (or perhaps because of it), he let him continue his missionary work in Ireland. It is somewhat more certain that Patrick appointed a bishop of Slane, [[Saint Erc]].

The Hill of Slane remained a centre of religion and learning for many centuries after Saint Patrick. The [[Annals of the Four Masters]] record that in A.D. 948 "The belfry of Slaine [an [[Irish round tower]]] was burned by the foreigners [Vikings], with its full of relics and distinguished persons, together with Caeineachair, Lector of Slaine, and the crozier of the patron saint, and a bell which was the best of bells." Nothing remains of the tower today, although the ruins of a [[friary]] church and college can be seen on the top of the hill. It is known that Slane Friary was restored in 1512. The ruins include a {{convert|19|m|adj=on}} high early [[Gothic architecture|gothic]] tower. The friary was abandoned in 1723.<ref name="Trench" />

The traditional Christian [[hymn]] ''[[Be Thou My Vision]]'' is set to an early [[medieval]] Irish [[folk song]] named ''Slane'' which is about the Hill of Slane.<ref name="McKim">{{cite book | last = McKim | first = Lindajo H. | title = The Presbyterian Hymnal Companion | edition = 1st |date=June 1993 | publisher = Westminster John Knox Press | isbn = 0-664-25180-3 | page = 340}}</ref>
[[File:Slanehill-Aug-2005.jpg|thumb|right|The cemetery and [[Chilean pine]] tree on the Hill of Slane.]]
Approximately 150 meters west of the college and friary church, hidden by trees, lay the steeply inclined remains of a twelfth-century [[Norman architecture|Norman]] [[motte and bailey]], built by Richard Fleming in the 1170s. This was the seat of the Flemings of Slane, [[Baron Slane|barons of Slane]]. The Flemings moved to a castle on the left bank of the River Boyne, the current location of [[Slane Castle]]. The Flemings were lords of Slane from the twelfth century until the seventeenth century, when the [[Marquess Conyngham|Conyngham family]] replaced them as lords of Slane during the [[Williamite War in Ireland|Williamite Confiscations]].<ref name="Cockagne">{{cite book | last = Cokayne | first = George Edward | author-link = George Cokayne | title = [[The Complete Peerage]] }}</ref>