Meath heritage sites among the country’s top 10
Trim Castle and Brú na Bóinne were among the top ten most popular paid for heritage sites in the country last year according to visitor figures released by the Office of Public Works (OPW).
Trim Castle came in 7th with 110, 913 visitors during 2022, while Brú na Bóinne had 109,439 visitors, finishing just behind in 8th place. Figures are well up on 2021 figures which would have continued to be impacted by Covid 19 restrictions.
Trim Castle visitor numbers almost doubled from 56,315 in 2021 to 110,913 last year, while Brú na Bóinne's numbers more than trebled from 30,119 to 109,439. Nationally Kilkenny Castle was the most popular paid for attraction at over 1.4m visitors last year.
For the OPW's free access sites, the Battle of the Boyne/Oldbridge Estate was the only site in the top ten after recording 415,016 visitors last year. This figure was down on 2020 figures from 509,876 when restrictions were in place and outdoor amenities saw a surge in popularity.
Other local sites on the free access list included the Hill of Tara which had 169,488 visitors last year, down slightly on 2021 figures of 182,781.
Loughcrew, another free local site, recorded 14,286 visitors last year, up from 13,810 in 2022. Visitor numbers for the Battle of the Boyne, Hill of Tara and Loughcrew are based on counter mechanisms. Visitors to Dowth went from 15,459 in 2021 up to 19,852 last year. Nationally, the number of recorded visitors to OPW heritage sites last year exceeded 15 million, up by 2.3 million on 2021, an increase of 18 per cent.
The OPW manages and maintains the most important of Ireland’s historic buildings and heritage with responsibility for 780 heritage sites of which 70 have visitor services
The major parks, such as the Phoenix Park, St Stephen’s Green and parklands around Castletown House, Doneraile Court and Kilkenny Castle, have remained top of the list for free access sites, continuing the trend as magnets of natural beauty and as places for recreational use.
Minister of State with responsibility for the OPW, Patrick O’Donovan, TD, said: “These figures clearly indicate that there is an enormous interest in heritage tourism and that an increasing number of tourists and domestic visitors regard Ireland’s heritage sites as great places to visit.”