THE Irish government and a consortium of Orangemen are about to re-enact the Battle of the Boyne. But while the set-to in 1690 was a turning point in Irish history, all that’s at stake this time is which side has the most authentic tourist attraction.

A consortium led by Lord Laird has bought a 27-acre slice of the Boyne battlefield just as the Irish government prepares to invest €30m in a separate 500-acre site.

The government plans to re-create the battle for visitors using lasers, computer graphics and actors, but Laird’s group claims its stretch of river bank is the real heart of the battlefield, situated between a monument known as the metal bridge and the shore.

The owner of the 27-acre site is Kevin Cahill, author of Who Owns Britain. He said “money has changed hands” with Laird’s consortium, but he is retaining a 10% share in the site. His wife, Rosalind, is a descendant of the Duke of Schomberg, William of Orange’s second-in-command who died fording the river.

“The green grassy slopes of the Boyne that Orangemen sing about are mainly on my land,” said Cahill. “The battle ranged far and wide, but it is on this field that the bulk of the Williamite forces entered the water and where Schomberg was cut down. There is even an obelisk commemorating him.”

Laird said his consortium gave the venture a cross-border dimension and will encourage the Irish government to speed up its plans.

“It has been promising this development for years and now we hope to meet the Office of Public Works (OPW) to see how we can work together,” said Laird. “We want to plug into what they are doing, we hope to be a catalyst.”

The Irish government and Laird’s consortium believe the battlefield will become one of the top 10 tourist attractions in Ireland. The OPW estimates it will attract 100,000 visitors a year.

Eugene Keane, an OPW project director, said it would be part of a Boyne valley culture trail that includes established attractions such as the megalithic passage tombs at Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth.

The OPW plans to start work by the end of this year on an interpretive centre, including laser displays of the battle on a giant 3D model of the landscape. It will also reconstruct key events using actors in period costume, and build walkways and displays on the battlefield.

“We will have a depiction of the strategies, the armies, where they came from and the whole campaign of the day. The model will be exceptional,” said Keane. “It will be 3D with an overlay of the battle at the time and will also pick up modern geographical points from which you can view the battlefield.”

He expects planning permission to be granted in early autumn, allowing work to start later this year. The Irish government’s plan is centred on Oldbridge house, an 18th-century mansion.

On the day of the battle, William’s 36,000 soldiers outnumbered the 23,500 Jacobites. Between 1,500 and 2,000 were killed, a low casualty figure by the standards of the day.

Both groups plan to present the battle in its European context. Irish Catholics backed James and the Williamite wars reinforced the division between Protestants and Catholics. But on the European stage, William was allied with Pope Alexander VIII and the Orange victory was celebrated with a mass in the Vatican.

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