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A GROUP which with the support of the Orange Order wants to replace the obelisk erected to commemorate the Battle of the Boyne, has been asked to resubmit its plans and include details on how a car park and picnic area would operate “in conjunction” with the OPW-run Battle of the Boyne visitors centre.
The obelisk was over 50 metres tall and was erected on the grassy slopes of the Boyne in 1736, most likely by men who had memories of the 1690 battle.
It was blown up in 1923, allegedly by republicans using dynamite from an Irish Army camp.
The Boyne Foundation has the full support of the Orange Order which last year formed a new Boyne Orange Lodge.
The obelisk is intended for a site on the northern side of the Boyne. This side of the battle field is particularly significant to the order as it is where King William’s main army entered the river and from where he observed the Jacobite forces. The OPW visitor centre at Oldbridge is on the southern side of the Boyne and a short walk from the location identified for the obelisk. In an extensive letter asking for further information from the foundation, Louth County Council raises a number of “major concerns” about the car park and picnic area. It says they “would be inappropriate and premature pending the completion of the Irish Battlefield Study,” which is currently being drawn up by the Department of the Environment.
As well as full details on the proposed obelisk including design, materials and finish, it also wants a “full visual assessment” to show its relationship to Dowth, Newgrange, the nearby obelisk bridge and the Brú na Bóinne heritage site as well as its potential impact on them.
The Department of the Environment in a submission on the application said that while it has no objection in principle to the obelisk, the site is “at a critical location” and the car park and picnic area would have “significant negative impacts on the landscape, character and amenities of the Battle of the Boyne site”.