Free entry for everyone at present: Oldbridge House is closed and OPW shows the Battle of the Boyne exhibition free, self-guided, in the adjoining stable yard for a limited time; the grounds and walled garden are free in any case. When charging resumes the printed prices are adult €5.00, senior or group €4.00, child or student €3.00 and family €13.00, free for English Heritage members showing a valid card from the first year of membership.
The Trust's page does not say how parking is charged.
Drive in through the estate gates past the cannon to OPW's car park about 110 m north of Oldbridge House, with coach and bicycle parking; steps or a ramped walkway lead up to the house and stable yard. OPW publishes no charge for it. From May to September the park and car park close at 7pm. By car: exit 9 on the M1 or through Donore village, signposted from the M1, the N51 and the N2; the estate is on the south bank of the Boyne 3 km north of Donore. TFI Local Link route 163 (Athboy to Drogheda, eight times a day) stops at the visitor centre. The Boyne Greenway from Drogheda, about 4.5 km, ends at the estate for walkers and cyclists.
Driving pin: the centre of the estate car park, 286 m from OPW's pin, which sits in the parkland east of the house.
On 1 July 1690 King William III met his father-in-law James II on the River Boyne at Oldbridge, each commanding in person, with 36,000 Williamite and 25,000 Jacobite troops, the largest number ever deployed on an Irish battlefield. At stake were the British throne, French dominance in Europe and religious power in Ireland; William won, James fled to France, and the war dragged on to Aughrim and Limerick the next year. OPW's visitor centre stands on the battleground itself in Oldbridge House, a restored eighteenth-century mansion, with original weapons, an audio-visual show in six languages and a laser model of the battlefield. The house is closed at present and the exhibition is shown free in the adjoining stable yard. Around it the free Oldbridge Estate offers self-guided walks across the battlesite and along the Boyne, cannon in the yards, a walled garden and a tea pavilion, with dogs on leads welcome in the parkland. Reviewers come for the walks and picnics and warn that the battlefield track can be muddy.
Battle of the Boyne's Visitor experience access point is currently through the Stable yard. Oldbridge House remains closed, the Battle of the Boyne experience is in adjoining Stable yard to Oldbridge House. We are offering free entry to all visitors via Stable yard.
Prices, non-members
Open all year. January to April: daily 9am to 4pm; May to September: daily 10am to 5pm, gardens close 5.30pm, park and car park close 7pm; October to December: daily 9am to 4pm. Last admission one hour before closing; the walkway gate closes half an hour before the site. Oldbridge House is closed at present and the exhibition is in the adjoining stable yard with free entry for all; OPW gives no reopening date. Allow 45 minutes for the exhibition and an hour for the self-guided walks. Groups of 10 or more book in advance. In winter the centre may not open in bad weather, so phone +353 41 980 9950 before setting out.
Contact the centre in advance if you need special assistance. The centre, tea pavilion and toilets are accessible, with a wheelchair-accessible toilet; the parkland is uneven and the battlefield walk can be muddy, so wear suitable footwear, and the river and canal are deep water. The exhibition has an audio-visual show in six languages, original weapons and a laser model of the battlefield; the tea room sells snacks, lunch, books and souvenirs. Costumed living history with musket firing on summer weekends. No cycling on the walkways, no fires, camping or barbecues; card payments accepted.
Dogs: Dogs on a lead are welcome in the grounds but not in the walled garden; whether they may enter the stable-yard exhibition or tea room is not confirmed. Dogs on a lead are welcome throughout the free battlefield parkland and its walkways; no ticket is needed.
Photo: The grey stone front of Oldbridge House, home of the Battle of the Boyne visitor centre, with a field cannon on either side of the door. Sheila1988, CC0 1.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oldbridge_House,_Battle_of_the_Boyne_Museum.jpg. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.
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Free self-guided walks of about an hour through the battlefield parkland and along the Boyne from the estate car park during opening hours (park and car park to 7pm in summer); maps from reception, fingerposts and panels; no cycling on the walkways; uneven, muddy in places; deep water by the river and canal; the walkway gate closes half an hour before the site.
