{{short description|Village in County Meath, Ireland}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2015}} {{Use Irish English|date=July 2015}} {{Infobox settlement |name = Rosnaree |native_name = {{lang|ga|Ros na Rí}} |native_name_lang = ga |settlement_type = Village |image_skyline = Church of the Nativity, Rossnaree, Co. Meath - geograph.org.uk - 455564.jpg |image_caption = Church of the Nativity Rossnaree, built c.1820<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.buildingsofireland.ie/niah/search.jsp?type=record&county=ME®no=14402605 | publisher = National Inventory of Architectural Heritage | website = buildingsofireland.ie | title = Rossnaree Roman Catholic Church, County Meath | accessdate = 6 July 2019 }}</ref> |coordinates = {{coord|53|41|18|N|6|29|55|W|region:IE-MH_type:city_source:kolossus-dewiki|display=inline,title}} |pushpin_map = Ireland |pushpin_label_position = |pushpin_map_caption = |subdivision_type = Country |subdivision_name = Ireland |subdivision_type1 = Province |subdivision_name1 = Leinster |subdivision_type3 = County |subdivision_name3 = County Meath |established_title = |established_date = |unit_pref = Metric |area_footnotes = <ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.townlands.ie/meath/lower-duleek/knockcommon/painestown/rossnaree/ | publisher = Townlands Ireland | website = townlands.ie | title = Rossnaree Townland, Co. Meath | accessdate = 6 July 2019 }}</ref> |area_blank1_title = Townland |area_blank1_km2 = 2.8 |population_as_of = |population_footnotes = |population_total = |population_density_km2 = auto }} '''Rossnaree''' or '''Rosnaree''' ({{Irish place name|Ros na Rí|wood of the kings}}; Old Irish ''Ros na Ríg'' or ''Ros na Ríogh'')<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.logainm.ie/38699.aspx | publisher = Irish Placenames Commission | website = logainm.ie | title = Ros na Rí / Rossnaree| accessdate = 3 July 2019 }}</ref> is a small village and townland in County Meath, Ireland, 10 km west of Drogheda. The village is on the south bank of the River Boyne, and the Brú na Bóinne complex of Neolithic monuments is nearby, on the north bank of the Boyne. Rossnaree commands a ford that was used by the Williamites at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.irishtimes.com/news/revisiting-the-battle-of-the-boyne-1.503120 | publisher = Irish Times | website = irishtimes.com | title = Revisiting the Battle of the Boyne | date = 8 October 2005 | accessdate = 6 July 2019 }}</ref> The walls of the mill at Rossnaree once contained a Sheela na Gig, although this has been removed for safekeeping and is in private possession.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.meathheritage.com/index.php/archives/item/me01204-rossnaree-sheela-na-gig | publisher = MeathHeritage | website = meathheritage.com | title = National Monuments - ME01204 - Rossnaree - Sheela-na-gig | accessdate = 6 July 2019 }}</ref>
==Legends== The legendary High King of Ireland Cormac mac Airt is reputedly buried at Rossnaree, having refused to be buried at a pagan site across the river after converting to Christianity.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10097a.htm |title=Meath |publisher=The Catholic Encyclopedia |accessdate=2009-05-02 |date=1911 }}</ref> In the Ulster Cycle tale ''Cath Ruis na Ríg'' ("the Battle of Rosnaree"), it is the site of a battle between Conchobar mac Nessa, king of the Ulaid, and his son-in-law Cairpre Nia Fer, king of Tara, during which the Ulaid hero Cú Chulainn kills Cairpre with a spear thrown from a distance, and then decapitates him before his body hits the ground.<ref>E. Hogan (ed & trans), ''Cath Ruis na Ríg for Boinn'', Todd Lecture Series, 1892</ref><ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.academia.edu/23094021 | website = academia.edu | title = Cath Ruis na Ríg for Bóinn: history and literature in twelfth-century Ireland | author = Patrick Wadden }}</ref>
==Namesakes== Rossnaree House, a mid-19th century manor house, takes its name from the area in which it is sited.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/the-manor-boyne-1.1153453 | publisher = Irish Times | website = irishtimes.com | title = The Manor Boyne | date = 14 August 2004 | accessdate = 7 July 2019 }}</ref> It is suggested by Elizabeth Hickey to be the original location of the House of Cletty (''Tech Cleitech''),<ref>{{cite book | first = Elizabeth | last = Hickey | title = The House of Cleitech | work = Ríocht na Midhe | volume = 3, pt3 | date = 1965 | pages = 181–185}}</ref> where Cormac mac Airt died after choking on a salmon bone and Muirchertach Macc Ercae reputedly died a threefold death.
''Ros na Righ'' was also the name of a small steam launch which brought day-trippers along the Boyne Navigation in the early 1900s.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.independent.ie/regionals/droghedaindependent/opinion/we-protest-most-vigorously-in-a-passive-silent-kind-of-way-29338682.html | publisher = Independent News & Media | website = independent.ie | title = We protest most vigorously... in a passive, silent kind of way | date = 12 June 2013 | accessdate = 7 July 2019 }}</ref>
The Rosnaree Hotel outside Drogheda was the location of an IPLO-INLA shooting incident in 1987. It is now the Moorehall Lodge nursing home.
==References== {{reflist}}
Category:Towns and villages in County Meath
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