The fire festival of the year
Tlachtga and Samhain
The Hill of Ward is the Irish name Tlachtga. In Celtic mythology, Tlachtga was a druidess, a daughter of Mór-Ríghan, who gave birth to triplets on the hill. From the Iron Age through the medieval period, the hill was the site of great ceremonies. At Samhain—the Celtic new year, the hinge between harvest and dark—a fire was lit on Tlachtga. It was the foremost ceremony of the year, marking the transition, calling the souls of the dead close. Modern Samhain festivals still light a fire from the hilltop at dark to commemorate the ancient practice.
Walls for protection, market for trade
The walled town
Athboy was fortified in the medieval period. The walls enclosed the market and the streets. They offered protection during raiding seasons and defined the boundary between the town and the countryside. Fragments survive. The pattern of streets is still there, guided by the ghost of medieval walls.
Water that turns stone
The mill and the river
The River Tremblestown runs through Athboy. For a thousand years it has turned mill wheels. The mills ground grain, turned wool into cloth, processed the products of the farmland around the town. The river was the engine of the town's economy.