2 Best Sights in Navan, Dublin Environs

The best views of town and the surrounding area are from the top of the Motte of Navan. This grassy mound is said to be the tomb of Odhbha, the wife of a Celtic king who, the story goes, died of a broken heart. It's more likely that the 50-foot-high mound is a natural formation. In the 12th century, D'Angulo, the Norman baron, adapted it into a motte and bailey (a type of medieval Norman castle), but there are no structural remains here from this period.

Built in 1839, St. Mary's Church has a late-18th-century wood carving of the Crucifixion, the work of a local artist, Edward Smyth. At the time he was the greatest sculptor Ireland had produced since the Middle Ages. On Friday, the Fair Green, beside the church, hosts a bustling outdoor market.