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music · Wednesday 1 July 2026 · 8:00pm 
Meath Beo - Acoustic Irish Music in Historic Venues
At Various historic venues, Co. Meath · County Meath
At Various historic venues, Co. Meath · County Meath
Meath Beo is a long-running acoustic traditional music series - now in its tenth year - that brings local and national trad artists into some of County Meath’s most striking historic buildings. Rather than a pub session or a festival stage, these are seated, concert-style evenings where the music takes centre stage and the venue does a fair bit of the work too. If you want to hear Irish traditional music played properly, at close range, in a room with a bit of history behind it, this is the kind of night worth making the trip for.
The Kells leg of the 2026 series is held at Rockfield House, an 18th-century manor just outside the town, built by the Rothwell family who once held more than three thousand acres of Meath land. The house was fully restored and now operates as an event venue run by the Murtagh family - the kind of room where you feel the age of the place without it being made a fuss of.
Inside, the format is intimate. Artists perform acoustically, without the amplification that can flatten the subtler textures of trad - the ornamentation in a slow air, the rhythm in a reel. The 2026 series featured Anne-Marie Grogan, a respected figure on the Irish trad circuit, and the programme draws on both local Meath talent and musicians with a wider national profile. Tickets start from €15; children go free when accompanied by a paying adult.
Meath Beo is backed by Meath County Council Arts Office and the Arts Council of Ireland, which gives it a consistency you do not always find with smaller music events - the same standard of curation runs from one night to the next.
Kells is about 50 km north-west of Dublin on the M3 motorway - roughly 45 minutes by car in ordinary traffic, with easy access from the N3 for those coming from Cavan or Monaghan direction. Bus Eireann runs services between Dublin Busaras and Kells town (route 109), and the journey takes around 90 minutes. Rockfield House is just outside the town; check the Meath Beo website for the exact venue address for each event and plan accordingly - rural Meath lanes are easy enough to navigate with GPS but worth checking in daylight if it is your first time.
Parking at the house is available on-site.
Kells is one of the more historically dense towns in Ireland - the Kells Monastery, from which the famous illuminated manuscript takes its name, is a short walk from the town centre, and the surviving round tower and high crosses are free to visit. There is more to see in Kells and across Co. Meath.
Heading to Various historic venues, Co. Meath in Kells? Meath has plenty more to see. Read the Kells area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.