Trim Castle is a castle on the south bank of the River Boyne in Trim, County Meath, Ireland. With an area of 30,000 m², Trim Castle is the largest Cambro-Norman castle in Ireland. The design of the central three-storey keep (also known as a donjon or great tower) is unique for a Norman keep being of cruciform shape, with twenty corners. It was built on the site of the previous large ring work fortification in at least three stages, initially by Hugh de Lacy (c. 1174) and then in 1196 and 1201–5 by his son - Walter de Lacy.
The land area of Meath was owned by the church but was granted to Hugh de Lacy, an Anglo-Norman landowner and royal office-holder, in 1172 by Henry II of England as one of the new administrative areas.
De Lacy built a huge ringwork castle defended by a stout double palisade and external ditch on top of the hill. De Lacy left Ireland entrusting the castle to Hugh Tyrrel, baron of Castleknock, one of his chief lieutenants. The ringwork was attacked and burnt by forces of the Gaelic High King of Ireland, Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair. Tyrrel, having appealed in vain for help, was forced to flee. Ua Conchobair soon withdrew and De Lacy, or Raymond FitzGerald, immediately repaired or rebuilt the castle in 1173. After Hugh's death in 1186 his son Walter de Lacy succeeded as Lord of Meath. He continued rebuilding and the castle was completed in the 1220's, most likely in 1224.
Braveheart, a movie starring Mel Gibson, was filmed in Trim during the summer of 1994. Gibson played the Scottish hero William Wallace, with Sophie Marceau, Patrick McGoohan and Brendan Gleeson. Outside the castle walls was transformed into the thirteen century city of York which was besieged by William Wallace in the movie. The keep inside the walls became the Tower of London where Wallace was executed in 1305. Released in 1995 the movie won five Academy Awards including the award for Best Picture.
