Upstream from Drogheda, huge, enigmatically-decorated grave mounds (Newgrange, Knowth, Dowth) line the banks of the Boyne as it winds through a fertile and well-wooded landscape. The valley was settled by every era of Irish civilisation, from the High Kings who held court at the Hill of Tara to Saint Patrick who brought Christianity to the region. The early monastic site at Monasterboice bears witness to this early Christianity, as does Old Mellifont. Another significant historic site is that of the Battle of Boyne which opposed Jacobites and Orangemen in 1690.