Believe it or not, we may yet have a second interpretative centre on the Boyne, apart from the project for the Neolithic tomb sites. It will be the Battle of the Boyne centre if a local committee's plans come to fruition. The sponsors of the idea are the Donore/Rosnaree Community Committee. They point out that the Battle of the Boyne had major European significance, yet people who arrive on the site "wander aimlessly about in disarray, reminiscent of the fleeing Jacobite forces." Visitors need to know, they say, where the two armies were camped, whether it was the tactical ingenuity of William, or a series of blunders by James that settled the outcome of the day. Then how many nationalities were present, and many other aspects of that struggle. Some people of course, claim to see the hand of God in it all, and march to sustain the idea every July.
Anyway, the committee insists that it is a prestigious European Battle site, and it is essential to provide a focal point or epicentre. In particular for "our northern and European brethern." They suggest the old churchyard at Donore, which provided the station for James's war council, out of reach of William's artillery, should be the centre, with an annexe, where an audio display and guided tour could be provided. They have other plans, including restoration of the Boyne Navigation to Rosnaree, a picnic area and a nature walk.
To deal with the Battle. Sir William Wilde's Beauties of the Boyne shows an engraving of an obelisk to the battle below Oldbridge. Same with the Halls's Ireland. It looks like the Wellington monument in Phoenix Park, Dublin, but it's hard to tell the scale. Not there today. The Halls give much battle detail, notably an account of the death of the Duke of Schomberg, who, in his eighty second year died from a shot which, in a state of confusion, was fired from behind, exiting through his right temple.
The Halls wrote just before the Famine. They say such a figure with such a wound can be seen in a tapestry of the battle in what was then the House of Lords, now, of course, the Bank of Ireland.
In the Halls' time, too, Schomberg's skull still survived. Does it today? We have now many learned military historians to answer that and other questions. Who blew up the obelisk? And when? A couple of slabs still remain, says a learned friend.