Mornington () is a coastal village on the estuary of the River Boyne in County Meath, Ireland approximately 5 km downriver from the centre of Drogheda. Together with the neighbouring villages of Laytown, Bettystown and Donacarney, it comprises the urban area of Laytown–Bettystown–Mornington–Donacarney with a combined population of 15,642 at the 2022 census.
The large townland of is bound on the north by the River Boyne estuary and on the east by the Irish Sea. The townland extends along the seashore to Bettystown village and includes part of that village up to and including The Neptune Hotel. The townland, part of the civil parish of Colpe,The civil parish is known as Colpe and the individual townlands at the parish core are known as Colp, East and West. The names are interchangeable in earlier records and ultimately derive from the variant Irish names Inbher Colpa or Inber Colptha. Hostium Colpdi, the port of Colpa, was located on the Boyne estuary. See below. touches on other townlands: Betaghstown to the south, Colp East and Colp West to the west and Donacarney Great and Donacarney Little to the south and west. Stameen lies to the west. Baltray, Beaulieu and Banktown lie across the Boyne.
Mornington can also refer to a larger area, a half-parish, within the Laytown-Mornington Roman Catholic parish established in 1986, and formerly part of the parish of St. Mary's in Drogheda. Mornington was also a former post office sub-district and used by a wider area for address purposes up to the 1980s.
Maiden Tower and the Lady's Finger Situated on the south bank at the mouth of the River Boyne are two structures; the Maiden Tower, a watchtower, and; the Lady's Finger, a stone pillar. They served as navigational aids for ships entering the River Boyne prior to the 1765 walls being built. A ship approaching the river mouth would be lined up to safely enter the narrow channel when the view of the Lady's Finger was obscured behind the tower. The view of Maiden-Tower near Drogheda, Co:y Meath by S. Walker show their relationship on 11 June 1783. Both are listed in the Record of Protected Structures (ID Nos. MH021-124 and MH021-121) in the Meath County Development Plan 2013–2019.
The Maiden Tower, a square tower standing 60 foot high, tapering towards top, with an internal spiral staircase, was built during the reign of Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen. The name's association with the queen, who came to the throne in 1558, is mentioned as a conjecture in his time by Sir William Wilde in his book The Beauties of the Boyne ... (1849). The tower was already in existence by 1582 when it was proposed to build at Ringsend a tower of "such height and strength as shall be of a perpetual continuance like the tower at Drogheda".de Courcy, J. The Liffey in Dublin. (Dublin, 1996) p. 243 The tower is mentioned in the Charter granted to the town of Drogheda by James 1st in 1609, in reference to the fisheries of the town: "we give grant and confirm to the Mayor, Sheriffs, Burgesses & Commons…all the water of the Boyne and the fishing and fisheries thence in within and on each side of the same water, from the waters of the franchises … from the west part of Drogheda to the sea beyond the tower called Maidenstower on the east side …".Manuscript copy of translation of Grant by James I to the Corporation of Drogheda, dated 1819, in the archives of Corporation of Drogheda In the Down Survey of 1656–58, the tower is indicated as 'Maiden tower' on the county map and as 'Mayden Tower' on the map of Colp parish. In place of the Lady's Finger, both the barony and parish maps show a cross on a stepped plinth.
At a General Assembly of Drogheda Corporation on 11 January 1683 it was ordered that "Mr. Mayor cause Maiden Tower to be rough cast (i.e. rendered) at the chardge of the Corporation".Gogarty, T. Council Book of the Corporation of Drogheda. (Drogheda, 1915), p. 205 In 1775, the Corporation petitioned the Lord Lieutenant regarding "... a tower called maiden Tower ... and also one other small tower...which towers are of singular service to mariners who navigate vessels bound to the port of Drogheda ... that same were now much out of repair and became less conspicuous, the bright colouring being worn off, that they had lately employed persons to repair said towers, but were obstructed by James Brabazon, tenant to Lord Mornington whose estate is contiguous to said towers".D’Alton, J. The history of Drogheda, with its environs; and an introductory memoir of the Dublin and Drogheda railway, (Dublin, 1844) vol. 2, p. 366.
The tower was built as a warning beacon to sailors and marked the mouth of the River Boyne. At the topmost reaches of the tower, one can command an extensive view over land and sea. Access to this parapet is by spiral steps tapering towards the top and through the barrel-vault at the top of the stairs. It is believed also to have acted as a look-out tower during the Elizabethan Wars with Spain (1585–1603) to give warning of approaching enemy ships. Publicly accessible until the mid-1990s, when a metal grill was installed in the raised doorway, the tower was vandalised in 2003 when the metal grill was removed. A solid metal door was subsequently erected by the owners, blocking entry to the tower.
There are various folk stories about the tower and pillar. One, where a faithful lady, awaiting the return of her husband, falls from the tower when an incorrect flag on his returning ship mistakenly signalled his death, echoes the fate of Aegeus the father of Theseus. The lady's finger was then supposedly built by the returned husband in memory of his wife.
In 1819, a strange old woman who had lived abroad for many years took up residence at the top of the tower. She spent her time at her spinning wheel under a makeshift sail roof set up by local fishermen. She developed a reputation as a local hermit, donating her spinning work to the local church and having refused to give her name became known simply as the 'lady of the tower'. In the severe winter of 1821 she had to abandon the tower and died soon after in a charitable institution in Drogheda.
Beside the Maiden Tower is the former RNLI Lifeboat station, in operation between 1872 and 1926. A dwellinghouse until at least the late-1950s, it was subsequently derelict and roofless until 2003 when it was restored as a residence. In 2018 it was put up for sale in conjunction with the surrounding 31 acres of sand dunes on which a deepwater port had been proposed. The boathouse is a Protected Structure (ID No. MH021-123) in the Meath County Development Plan.
In 2015, Harvey Keitel filmed part of an insurance commercial at the tower.
Fisheries and River Boyne
Mornington was traditionally a fishing village on the River Boyne based on salmon fishing and mussel dredging, however the nature of the area and fishing livelihood changed significantly at the time of "The Boom". By tradition St. Patrick blessed the fishermen at Inbhear Colptha, were the Colpe (Colptha) stream enters the Boyne in Mornington, as they gave him salmon when he asked for something to eat, in contrast to those on the Ainge, or Nanny Water whom he had cursed for being inhospitable. He said then the Mornington fishermen would always have fish. The fishery was known as the lord's fishery by the early Stuart period and in 1603 King James granted Sir George Carew, vice-Chamberlain of the Queen "the tithes of the fish of Mornanston in the parish of Colpe". Drogheda was given and confirmed in its control of the Boyne and fisheries in 1609 (See above). One of the rights attached to holding the monastic lands of Beabeg under the grant at the time of King John (1199–1216) was the 'liberty of keeping a boat on the Boyne with fishing rights and rents out of Marinerstown (Mornington)'. This right passed to subsequent owners.
The fishing by draft nets was done from around 1416 perches are shown on the 1907 OSI 25 inch map set stations and "Boyne salmon fishermen had a particular method of working which involved two men. One man stayed onshore holding a rope attached to the net, while the other rowed out into the river with the other end of the net. Once the whole net was spread out, the boatman rowed back to shore and the two men pulled the net to shore, trapping fish as it went".Leo Boyle, Salmon Fishing on the Boyne River, A Brief Synopsis of the Boyne River Salmon Fishery, www.patburnsphotography.net, accessed 16/4/2014 quoted at http://www.whytes.ie/i6Main.asp?Auction=20140526&Lot=60 The salmon boats had a particular stern platform for holding the net. Fishing took place from February to August. In 2006 amid concerns of dwindling spawning salmon numbers, the decision was taken to ban draft net fishing. Of the 50 fishermen then with licenses only 14 remained on and "they came to an agreement with the Inland Fisheries Ireland to take part in a scientific experiment that tags fish caught in the nets, under the eye of fishing inspectors. They are then released, allowing them to head back upstream".Drogheda Independent 08/08/2012 Accessed at http://m.independent.ie/regionals/droghedaindependent/news/salmon-back-in-boyne-27168968.html Licences in former times were passed from father to son, with the equipment going with the licence. However current licences now run only for the life of the holder making them without commercial value and given the age profile of licence-holders and the delay in the resumption of fishing will inevitably lead to a situation where there are none left to resume the tradition.
The tradition of mussel fishing, which existed for about 300 years,Boyle, Leo. In "Remembering the Future: A Meath Coast Miscellany" edited by Brian Langan (Meath East Community Association, 2007), has also been suspended since 2006. An initial halt took place in 1998, as the river channel was to be dredged, and while the beds were re-seeded the year afterwards with the expectation of harvesting in 2003 re-establishment was poor. Then in 2006, the Drogheda Port Company undertook a second silt dredging this time from Tom Roe's Point deepwater berth to the viaduct at Drogheda. The fishing involved a particular currach-style boat or punt (also called a pram,Smylie, Mike. "Working the Irish Coast" (Nonsuch Ireland, 2009), , p. 226. or more commonly locally, a canoe) and a mussel rake with a twenty-foot pole, dredged by hand similar to that on the River Conwy in North Wales. Mussels were originally used as a food source in the Mornington–Baltray areas and became a commercial fishery only about 1902–1903.Leo Boyle reported in Drogheda Independent, 8 September 2000. https://www.independent.ie/regionals/droghedaindependent/news/local-coastwatch-meeting-highlights-boyne-estuary-27124173.html The season ran over the winter from October to April and raking took place about two hours before and after low tide. The collected mussels then were shovelled through a sieve to remove stones and seaweed and bagged in Hessian sacks which were sent to a processing factory in Wexford. Most were afterwards packed and exported to France.