Sir John Oldcastle of Martyrs". Oldcastle was also a minor character in the early Elizabethan history play the "Famous Victories of Henry V" (c. 1586?), which is generally thought to have been one of Shakespeare's sources for his plays on Henry IV and Henry V. The genesis of "Sir John Oldcastle" is crucially linked to the fact that when Shakespeare's "Henry IV" plays premiered on stage in 1597–98, the character Sir John Falstaff was called Sir John Oldcastle. This is indicated by abundant external and internal evidence. The change of names, from "Oldcastle" to "Falstaff," is mentioned in seventeenth-century works by Richard James
Oldcastle, County Meath of Laurence Gilson, a native of Oldcastle Parish. A statue of him was unveiled in May 2011. Gilson donated money to the town of Oldcastle in 1810 for the establishment of a multi-faith school. The Show Hall in Oldcastle is located near the church. It hosts bingo, show dances, show bands and Le Chéile concerts annually. Oldcastle railway station, at the end of a branch line from Navan, opened on 17 March 1863 and for many years provided a source of revenue and income for local farmers as well as other industries in the area by allowing local goods and