Description : Navan (/ˈnævən/ NAV-ən; Irish: An Uaimh , meaning "the Cave") is the county town of County Meath, Ireland. In 2016, it had a population of 30,173, making it the fifth largest town in Ireland. Navan is at the confluence of the River Boyne and Blackwater. Navan is a Norman foundation: Hugh de Lacy, who was granted the Lordship of Meath in 1172, awarded the Barony of Navan to one of his knights, Jocelyn de Angulo, who built a fort therefrom which the town developed. Inside the town walls, Navan consisted of three streets. These were Trimgate Street, Watergate St. and Ludlow St. (which was once called Dublingate St.). The orientation of the three original streets remains from the Middle Ages but the buildings date from the Victorian and Edwardian periods. The town’s Post Office on Trimgate Street office was built in 1908 on the site of an earlier post office. In 1990, the post office was relocated to Kennedy Road. The building of a new shopping centre re-oriented the town’s centre. The onetime post office was acquired as the site of the town’s first McDonald’s restaurant. Navan is one of the world's few towns that has a palindromic name. Variants of Navan had been in use since Norman times. It is thought to come from Irish an Uamhain 'the cave/souterrain', a variant of its more common Irish name an Uaimh. In 1922, when the Irish Free State was founded, an Uaimh was adopted as the town's only official name. However, it failed to gain popularity in English and in 1971 the name was reverted to Navan in English.
See on map »