Best Scenic Place in County Meath, Ireland - Map and Reviews

Slieve na Calliagh, also known as Slieve na Calliagh or the Hill of the Witch (from the Irish Sliabh na Caillí), is a prominent ridge in County Meath, Ireland, rising to approximately 276 metres above sea level. It forms part of the Loughcrew Hills, sometimes called the Loughcrew Cairns or the "Hills of the Witch," and represents one of the most extraordinary concentrations of Neolithic megalithic monuments in the entire country. The ridge is crowned by a series of ancient passage tombs, collectively known as the Loughcrew Cairns, which were constructed around 3,500 to 4,000 BCE, making them roughly contemporary with — and in some cases older than — the more famous Newgrange monument in the Boyne Valley. What makes Slieve na Calliagh particularly special, even among Ireland's rich prehistory, is its combination of altitude, panoramic views, and the sheer density of megalithic art and burial monuments clustered along its summit ridge. The site holds the largest known collection of Neolithic megalithic art in Ireland. The cairns contain elaborately decorated kerbstones and chamber orthostats covered in carved spirals, radial patterns, lozenges, circles, and abstract designs whose full meaning remains a subject of ongoing scholarly debate. The most significant of the cairns on this hill is Cairn T, which is the largest and best preserved, and which contains a remarkable astronomical alignment: at the equinoxes — both spring and autumn — the rising sun shines directly through the entrance passage and illuminates the elaborately decorated back stone of the inner chamber. This solar alignment, which happens twice a year, draws visitors and researchers who gather on the hillside in the pre-dawn darkness hoping to witness one of Ireland's most powerful prehistoric spectacles. The mythology surrounding Slieve na Calliagh is as compelling as its archaeology. The hill takes its name from the Cailleach, a divine hag figure from Irish and broader Celtic mythology — a powerful, ancient goddess associated with winter, storms, creation, and the shaping of landscapes. According to local legend, the Cailleach Bhéara leaped between the hills, and wherever she dropped her apron, the stones fell and formed the cairns. Another tradition holds that she tripped on the summit of Slieve na Calliagh and was killed, and that the largest cairn marks her burial place. These legends speak to the profound sense of age and supernatural power that people have felt in this landscape across millennia, from Neolithic farmers to medieval storytellers to modern visitors standing windswept on the summit. In physical terms, Slieve na Calliagh is a rough, open, and often wind-blasted ridge that rewards the effort required to reach it. The climb is moderately demanding and the terrain is grassy and often wet underfoot, with patches of heather and exposed rock near the summit. The cairns themselves are enormous — Cairn T alone is roughly 35 metres in diameter — and they dominate the skyline as you approach from the lower slopes. The stones are ancient and weathered, lichen-covered and grey-green, and the carvings on the kerbstones and chamber walls carry an intensity that photographs rarely capture fully. The chamber interiors are dim and low-ceilinged, and you must crouch or bend to enter; standing inside, even on an overcast day, generates a palpable sense of deep time and human purposefulness stretched across four thousand years. From the summit, the views are extraordinary in every direction. On a clear day, it is said that one can see into over half the counties of Ireland — a claim that underscores just how dominant this ridge is across the flat midland plain. To the east lies the Boyne Valley and the distant outline of the Dublin and Wicklow mountains. To the west the land dissolves into the great limestone plain of Connacht. The surrounding countryside is a mosaic of drumlin fields, hedgerows, scattered farm buildings, and the occasional glinting surface of lakes. The town of Oldcastle, County Meath, lies a short distance to the east and serves as the main gateway community for visitors. The broader Loughcrew Estate, at the base of the hills, includes formal gardens that are also open to visitors and offer a gentle contrast to the wild archaeology of the summit ridge. Visiting Slieve na Calliagh is a relatively accessible experience but requires reasonable walking fitness. A small car park and information point are located on the road close to the base of the hill, and a clearly marked path leads upward to the summit cairns. The walk to Cairn T takes approximately twenty to thirty minutes from the car park at a steady pace. The key to accessing the interior of Cairn T is that a key must be obtained from the nearby Loughcrew Gardens or from the OPW (Office of Public Works) site caretaker; without the key, visitors can still view the kerbstones and exterior of the cairns, but not enter the passage and chamber. The equinox events in March and September attract particularly large gatherings, and visitors hoping to witness the dawn illumination should arrive well before sunrise and expect company. Outside of these events, the hill is often quiet enough that you may find yourself alone among the stones, which is an experience of a completely different but equally worthwhile quality. The Loughcrew Cairns were excavated in the nineteenth century by antiquarian Eugene Conwell, who identified and catalogued the monuments and removed many artefacts — including decorated bone objects, beads, and other grave goods — that are now held in the National Museum of Ireland. The site did suffer some damage and disturbance in those early excavations, which were conducted with the rough methods of the era, but enough survives to make Loughcrew one of the most significant prehistoric sites in northwestern Europe. Despite this significance, it remains far less visited than Newgrange, which means that Slieve na Calliagh retains a raw, authentic, and somewhat off-the-beaten-track character that many visitors find deeply preferable. There is no visitor centre on the hill itself, no gift shop, and minimal infrastructure beyond the path and signage, which suits the landscape perfectly. Spring and early autumn are arguably the best times to visit, combining reasonable weather prospects with the dramatic equinox alignments. Summer brings longer days and the best chance of clear views, though midges can be troublesome in sheltered spots. Winter visits, while demanding, offer the hill in its most elemental state — cloud shadows racing across the plain below, wind pulling at your coat, and the stones standing exactly as they have stood through thousands of such winters. Whatever the season, visitors are advised to wear sturdy footwear, carry waterproof layers, and allow more time than they think they will need, because the place has a habit of holding you longer than intended.

Lough Sheelin is a large natural freshwater lake straddling the borders of counties Cavan, Meath, and Westmeath in the Irish Midlands, with the coordinates placing it firmly within this scenic and historically rich body of water. It is one of the finest coarse and game fishing lakes in Ireland, renowned above all else for its exceptional brown trout, which draw anglers from across Europe and beyond. The lake covers approximately 1,800 hectares, making it one of the larger inland lakes in the Republic, and its waters are noted for their clarity and productivity. Beyond fishing, Sheelin is celebrated for its quiet, pastoral beauty — a place where time seems to slow, the mornings carry a soft mist over glassy water, and the surrounding drumlins roll away in every direction in a patchwork of green fields and hedgerow. The history of the area around Lough Sheelin stretches back thousands of years. The lake and its surrounds were inhabited during the early Christian period, and the wider Cavan-Meath borderland contains numerous ringforts, ecclesiastical sites, and ancient monuments that testify to centuries of settlement. One of the most poignant legends associated with the lake is the tragic story of Orinthia, sometimes rendered as Orna, a young noblewoman said to have drowned in its waters following a doomed love affair — a tale of the kind that Irish landscape frequently absorbs and retells in subtly different forms across generations. The lake's name in Irish, Loch Síleann, is itself thought to derive from an old personal name, lending the water an ancient, almost memorial quality. The surrounding villages, including Mountnugent, Finea, and Kilnahard, have long histories tied to the lake's resources and the monastic traditions of the midland Irish church. Physically, Lough Sheelin is a lake of considerable atmospheric beauty. Its shoreline is irregular, punctuated by small bays, reed beds, and wooded peninsulas, particularly on the Cavan shore where the landscape is characteristically drumlin — those smooth, whale-back hills left behind by glacial action during the last Ice Age. Standing at the water's edge on a still morning, the lake surface can appear almost mirror-flat, reflecting the sky and the fringe of willows and alder that crowd portions of the bank. Later in the day, even modest breezes animate the water considerably, making conditions brisk and changeable for those in boats. The sounds of the lake are dominated by wildfowl: great crested grebes, tufted ducks, coots, and in season, the haunting call of curlews over the nearby wetlands and fields. The surrounding landscape is quintessentially midland Irish — a mosaic of small farms, ancient hedgerows, narrow winding roads, and low glaciated hills that seem to enfold the lake in a gentle embrace. The town of Virginia in County Cavan lies a short drive to the north and serves as a practical base for visitors, offering accommodation, food, and supplies. To the south and east, the Meath and Westmeath margins of the lake are somewhat flatter, the terrain opening toward the broader midland plain. The village of Finea, at the southwestern corner, is a particularly charming access point, sitting near the point where the River Inny, which flows ultimately to Lough Ree and the Shannon, drains from the lake. The broader region is laced with rivers, smaller lakes, and bogs that support a rich and diverse wildlife community. Lough Sheelin's reputation for brown trout fishing is extraordinary and has been carefully cultivated over decades. The lake holds wild brown trout of impressive size, and there is a dedicated local angling infrastructure including boat hire, gillies, and angling clubs that manage the resource with considerable pride and care. The mayfly season in May and early June is regarded as one of the finest spectacles in Irish game fishing, when vast hatches of Ephemera danica bring trout — and anglers — to the surface in numbers that can seem almost miraculous. Conservation efforts have at times been necessary to protect water quality, and the lake has benefited from catchment management schemes designed to reduce agricultural run-off. This attention to stewardship has helped preserve its status as a premier wild fishery. For visitors who are not anglers, the lake offers excellent birdwatching, walking along quiet lakeshore roads and lanes, and a genuine sense of being somewhere off the usual tourist trail. There are no major commercial attractions or crowds; the appeal is fundamentally one of landscape, peace, and a living connection to the Irish countryside. The best times to visit are late spring through early autumn, when the weather is most cooperative and the natural world is at its most active, though the lake has its own stark beauty in winter too. Access is by private vehicle along the network of regional and local roads that approach the lake from Virginia, Mountnugent, Finea, and Kilnahard — public transport to the immediate lakeshore is minimal. Accommodation ranges from small guesthouses and self-catering cottages to the well-known Ross House on the Cavan shore, which has long been associated with fishing holidays on Sheelin. One of the more fascinating and little-discussed aspects of Lough Sheelin is the degree to which it sits in a kind of administrative and cultural limbo, shared between three counties and their associated traditions, local governments, and folklore. This three-county character means that the lake has never been entirely claimed by any single county's identity, and there is something pleasingly democratic about a body of water that belongs, in equal measure, to Cavan, Meath, and Westmeath. Local people from each county speak of the lake with a proprietorial warmth that is entirely genuine, and the angling community that has grown around Sheelin over generations has created its own micro-culture of shared expertise, storytelling, and seasonal ritual that feels like a living folk tradition in its own right.