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KILMESSAN

CO. MEATH · IE

Kilmessan
Cill Mheasáin, Co. Meath

The Ireland's Ancient East
STOP 09 / 09

Cill Mheasáin · Co. Meath

A tidy Boyne Valley village with two pubs, a hurling club that owns Meath, and a Victorian railway junction that became a country hotel.

Kilmessan is a tidy village in the south of the Boyne Valley, five miles east of Trim and roughly the same again from Navan and Dunshaughlin, about six kilometres off the M3. It is small - just over nine hundred people at the last count - but it has held on to the things a village needs: a shop, a post office, a pharmacy, a primary school, two pubs, and the kind of GAA club that punches well above the population.

The name is the oldest thing here. Cill Mheasáin means the church of Messan, an early Christian foundation that gave the place its identity long before the railway or the hotel. The parish church you see today, the Church of the Nativity of Our Lady, was rebuilt by the architect William Hague around 1895 on a site used since about 1820, and it is joined in one parish with Dunsany next door.

The headline for most visitors is the Station House Hotel, the old railway junction turned country hotel. Kilmessan was a real junction on the Midland Great Western Railway from 1862 - the station was even burned during the Civil War in 1922 - and when the trains finally stopped the buildings sat idle until the Slattery family reopened them as a hotel at Easter 1984. The platforms, the signal cabin lines, the railway bones are still legible if you look.

The other thing worth knowing is that Kilmessan sits in the middle of the great royal landscape. The Hill of Tara is a short drive north, Trim with its enormous Norman castle is fifteen minutes south, and the Brú na Bóinne sites at Newgrange are well within reach. Kilmessan itself is not a tourist village - it is a place to sleep, eat, and use as a base, with Dunsany Castle and its medieval church a couple of fields away.

Population

~911 (2022)

Pubs

2and counting

Founded

Cill Mheasáin, the church of Messan; railway junction opened 1862

01 / 09

At a glance.

Three things every local will eventually mention. Read these and you've already understood more than most day-trippers do.

01 The name

Cill Mheasáin - the church of Messan.

An early ecclesiastical site gave the village its name. The Catholic Church of the Nativity of Our Lady, rebuilt by William Hague around 1895, still anchors the village. The parish is joined to Dunsany next door.

Stories & lore → 02 The junction

A railway station from 1862 that is now a hotel.

Kilmessan was a working junction on the Midland Great Western line. The station was burned in the Civil War in 1922, the last passenger train ran in 1947, and freight stopped in 1963. The buildings reopened as the Station House Hotel in 1984.

Where to stay → 03 The hurling

The most successful hurling club in Meath.

Kilmessan GAA have won the county hurling championship 29 times and took the Leinster Intermediate title in 2008. The camogie club were All-Ireland junior club champions in 2014 and 2017. In a football county, this is the hurling village.

Stories & lore →

02 / 09

The pubs.

None of these are themed Irish pubs, because they don't need to be. A few that earn the trip:

Fergie Maguire's Bar

Proper local

Village pub

One of the two pubs in the village. A traditional Meath village bar - the sort that fills up on a Sunday after a Kilmessan hurling match and stays quiet the rest of the week. No frills, no gastropub pretension, just a pint in a working village.

H.A. Thornes Bar

Old-school

Village pub

The village's other pub, on the main street. Long-standing local trade. Between the two of them and the bar at the Station House Hotel, that is the full extent of Kilmessan's nightlife, and the village is honest about it.

03 / 09

Where to sleep.

Place	Type	Local note
The Station House Hotel	Country hotel & restaurant, the old railway junction	The reason most people stop in Kilmessan. The Victorian railway junction of 1862 was reopened as a hotel by Thelma and Chris Slattery at Easter 1984, and the railway heritage is kept deliberately - original features throughout, set in its own gardens and woodland. The Signal restaurant does the proper dinner; the brasserie handles casual meals. A long-established wedding and events venue. Book ahead at weekends.

04 / 09

Stories & lore.

The reason to come back. The things every local will eventually tell you about, usually after the second pint.

Kilmessan station, 1862 to 1984

The junction that became a hotel

Kilmessan opened in 1862 as a junction on the Midland Great Western Railway, a turn-point where the line branched and trains turned for the run back toward Dublin. There was a signal cabin and a turntable. The station was burned during the Civil War in 1922, rebuilt, and carried passengers until December 1947, after which it was reduced to a halt; the turntable was lifted in 1950 and freight traffic continued until 1963. The buildings then sat idle for two decades. In 1984 Thelma and Chris Slattery reopened the site as the Station House Hotel, keeping the railway character rather than scrubbing it out. It is one of the better examples of a dead rural line given a second life - the platform is still a platform, even if no train will ever stop at it again.

Cill Mheasáin and the parish church

The church of Messan

The village name records an early Christian foundation - the church of a saint called Messan - and that ecclesiastical history is the oldest layer here. The present Catholic church, the Church of the Nativity of Our Lady, was begun on the site around 1820 and largely rebuilt around 1895 by William Hague, one of the busiest church architects of late Victorian Ireland. It is a cruciform building in limestone with a rose window, lancets, a bellcote and a graveyard to the side, listed for its architectural and social value. The parish is shared with Dunsany, whose own demesne holds a far older church - a fifteenth-century National Monument inside the grounds of Dunsany Castle, a couple of fields from the village.

Kilmessan GAA

A hurling village in a football county

Meath is a football county, famously and stubbornly so, which makes Kilmessan an oddity: it is the most successful hurling club in the county, with 29 Meath senior hurling championships and a Leinster Intermediate title in 2008. The camogie club matched it, winning the All-Ireland junior club championship in 2014 and again in 2017. For a village of nine hundred people that is a remarkable record, and on a championship Sunday the village turns out for it. If you want to understand why a place this small feels so sure of itself, the answer is partly on the hurling field.

05 / 09

Things to do outside.

Wear waterproofs. Bring a sandwich. Tell someone where you're going if it's the mountain.

Village and church loop A short stroll around the village core - the main street, the two pubs, the post office and shop, out to the Church of the Nativity with its graveyard and back. Not dramatic, but it shows you the whole of a tidy Meath village in half an hour.

2 km loopdistance

30-40 minutestime

Station House grounds If you are staying or eating at the Station House, the hotel sits in its own gardens and woodland on the old railway land. A gentle wander around the grounds reading the railway heritage - the platform line, the old station buildings - is the best short walk in the village.

1 kmdistance

20 minutestime

Hill of Tara A short drive north brings you to the Hill of Tara, the ceremonial heart of ancient Ireland - earthworks, mounds and standing stones spread over an open hilltop with long views across the Boyne Valley. Kilmessan is one of the closest village bases to it. Bring boots; the ground is grass and can be wet.

Varies on sitedistance

1-2 hourstime

06 / 09

Tours, if you want one.

The ones below are bookable through our partners - pick one that suits, or skip the lot and just turn up.

via partner

Dublin: Boyne Valley with Newgrange and Bru Na Boinne Entry

day trips

Step inside the 5,000-year-old passage tomb at Newgrange, explore the Bru na Boinne visitor centre, and visit the Hill of Tara and Monasterboice high crosses on a day trip from Dublin.

8 hours From €85

See tour → via Viator

Private Tour of Newgrange and The Hill of Tara

cultural

Private 6-hour tour from Dublin into the Boyne Valley - UNESCO-listed Newgrange (3,200 BC), the Hill of Tara, and optional stops at Four Knocks and Hill of Slane.

6 hours From €650

See tour → via Viator

Private Tour from Dublin: Hill of Tara Trim Castle, Celtic sites

cultural

A private 7-8 hour day trip from Dublin to Hill of Tara, Trim Castle, Bective Abbey, and the town of Trim - snacks and a picnic tea included, groups up to 6.

7-8 hours From €645

See tour →

We earn a small commission when you book through our tour pages. It costs you nothing extra and keeps the village hubs free. All Co. Meath tours →

07 / 09

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

The Boyne Valley greens up, Tara is at its best for views, and the village is quiet. A good time to base yourself here and explore the wider royal landscape.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

Long evenings, the Station House busy with weddings and the GAA season in full swing. The Tara and Newgrange sites are at their busiest, so go early in the day.

◉ Go

Autumn

Sep-Oct

Championship season for the hurlers, soft light over the valley, and the heritage sites quieter than summer. Arguably the best time to come.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

Short days and wet ground on the open hilltops. The pubs and the Station House keep going, but Tara and the outdoor sites are bleak in poor weather. Bring proper boots and low expectations of the light.

◐ Mind yourself

08 / 09

What to skip.

Honestly? Don't bother.

If a local was sitting beside you, this is the bit where they'd lean in.

Expecting a tourist village

Kilmessan is a real working village, not a heritage showpiece. There is a shop, a post office, two pubs and a hotel - that is the lot. The draw is the Station House and the location, not a parade of attractions. Come for a base, not a day of sightseeing in the village itself.

Looking for the trains

There are none. The line through Kilmessan carried its last passenger train in 1947 and closed to freight in 1963. The Station House Hotel is the station now. Do not turn up expecting a working railway; turn up for the building the railway left behind.

Skipping Dunsany

Most people drive straight to Tara and miss what is on the doorstep. Dunsany, in the same parish a couple of fields away, has a castle and a fifteenth-century church that is a National Monument. Worth knowing it is there even if access to the private demesne is limited.

Getting there.

By car

Kilmessan is about 45 minutes northwest of Dublin, roughly 6 km off the M3. Trim is about 15 minutes south, Navan and Dunshaughlin about the same to the north and east. The Hill of Tara is a short drive north.

By bus

TFI Local Link / Bus Éireann route 109B (Trim - Kilmessan - Dunshaughlin - Dublin Busáras) serves the village, and a limited route 135 connects Kilmessan to Navan. Services are infrequent; a car is far easier for reaching Tara and the Boyne Valley sites.

By train

There is no rail service. The old junction closed to passengers in 1947 and is now the Station House Hotel. The nearest mainline stations are at Enfield and Drogheda; Navan has no passenger rail.