History of Trim

f Trim. Trim developed as a market town for the productive agricultural hinterland. Some small-scale local industries were developed including envelope, and leather product manufacturing. Trim was also chosen as location for the Timoney Engineering company to make Fire Tenders. However in the main the town continued to mainly be a service centre for its immediate area.

During the Irish War of Independence, local companies of the Irish Republican Army took Trim RIC Barracks, a large structure located on the current site of the Castle Arch Hotel, secured the arms from the barracks and then burnt down the Barracks. A large part of the town was burned as a reprisal by the British Crown forces on 26 September 1920. The local members were drawn from Trim, Longwood, Ballivor and South Meath in general. The Lalor brothers form Castle St. were prominent members as well as the Duignans from High St and the Proctors. Records of the adventures of the Lalors rest in Navan library and recount the tales of one of the Bothers hiding in the recently dug grave of Fr. woods in the church yard. Local memories remember the townspeople sheltering down by the Boyne for a few nights as the Black 'n' Tans and Auxiliaries burnt out prominent business and the Town Hall. Footage of the burning of J&E Smyth can be viewed on the 'Pathe' website. Many of the townspeople were traumatised for the rest of their lives; many children in Trim were not allowed play with guns; memories of the B'n'Ts dangling grenades outside their windows as the Town Hall burnt and peeled the paint off their doors at Castle St. remained for a long time. The