Ireland Travel Search: Leinster: County Louth Tourism Information Directory for Visitors to Ireland


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Ireland > Leinster > County Louth

County Louth (pronounced "Leish") shares the Boyne valley with County Meath alongside it, and the region is famous for the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, where William of Orange defeated Charles 2nd force of French and Irish troops. It features undulating vistas with handsome old houses on great country estates, with horse breeding and training now an important industry.

North of the county, the heather clad slopes of the Cooley and Carlingford peninsula are spectacular in spring and summer, and east, the rugged coastline of Clogherhead is also quite spectacular. Rich also in Neolithic ruins, this area is now a major commuting area for Dubliners.

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The ancient and historic town of Drogheda (pronounced "draw-da") is situated on the River Boyne, which at this point separates the counties of Louth and Meath. In 1649, Drogheda was the scene of Oliver Cromwell's most notorious massacre. About 3000 inhabitants, including children, were horrifically butchered by Cromwell's victorious New Model Army, with the few survivors shipped in chains to *Montserrat and Barbados in the Caribbean as plantation slaves. (*An interesting follow up on this can be found in Irish author Pete McCarthy's great new book "The Road to McCarthy" (Hodder & Stoughton 2002) where he investigates the Irish roots of the islands to find that the 1678 census of Montserrat revealed an English population of 761, Scots 52, and Irish 1,869!)

St Peter's Church dominates Drogheda. Exhibited inside this gothic edifice is the head of St Oliver Plunkett, executed by the English in 1681 on suspicion of involvement in a Popish plot. (The accusation was revealed as a fabrication the next day.) Plunkett was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn in London (the gallows stood where Marble Arch now rests) and his remains were publicly burned by the executioner's henchmen, as was the custom in old England. Bold friends of Plunkett managed to snatch his head from the fire and make off with it. The scorch marks are still visible on the head, which is lovingly preserved a glass case. Plunkett's head travelled around Europe before arriving in Drogheda; pity he was never so well travelled in his live lifetime.

The Omeath district is entered at the townland of Ballyonan, stretches along the Lough shore to Cornamucklagh, and then ranges back from the shore along the northern slopes of Sliabh Foy (1,935 feet) to the Long Womans Grave and the northern slopes of Carnwaddy, Clermont, and Flagstaff Hill standing high above Narrowwater on the west. This area and its counterpart kingdom of Mourne on the north shore was almost certainly the site of the Viking settlement in Carlingford from where it gets its name Carlinn Fjord. Later re-taken by the Irish the lands were re-apportioned, the northern side to the Mughdorna (Mourne) and the southern side to the Ui Meith (Omeath) both of the O' Carrall kingdom of the Oirghialla.

King John's Castle - Carlingford. Construction began on the castle in or around 1210, and it was built by John De Courcy, however it is claimed that the commission came from King John himself. King John stayed here for three days in 1210. The semicircular western half of the castle was probably built before King John's visit. This curving wall, which enclosed an open courtyard, had two-storey buildings leaning against its inner face; the entrance, on the west side, was flanked by two rectangular towers (only parts of the northern tower remain) and at the south-western corner there is another rectangular tower. The high dividing wall, and the whole of the eastern half of the castle was added in 1261. Here there are two floors above a basement (now largely filled up). There were a number of rooms on the ground floor; the entrance to this part of the castle was through a door in the first floor, and here was probably situated the great hall of the castle. Probably conquered by Sir Henry Tichbourne in 1642, it was compelled to surrender to Lord Inchiquin in 1649, however in the following year it was delivered to Sir Charles Coote. In 1689 it was fired upon by the retreating Jacobite forces, and General Schomberg later used it as a hospital.

Also in Carlingford and worth visiting is the Carlingford Mint: Situated in a narrow street just off the Square, this is a 15th century town tower-house with an extended turret over the door. The exterior is remarkable in having mullioned windows, which are decorated with some pre- Norman Celtic motifs such as interlacing, as well as a horse and a human head. The stonework has a number of decorative motifs pocked on it and is said to have been the site of a mint which was set up in 1467. Further down the street is an old town gate, above which is a small room, the "Tholsel", where the elders of the town met.

South of the town lies the Dominican priory dedicated to St. Malachy of Armagh, and said to have been founded by Richard de Burgo, Earl of Ulster in 1305. A stone head carved on the exterior east window may be of 13th or 14th century date. However, the blocking up and absence of other windows makes dating difficult, as much of the surviving structure may be the result of work carried out after 1423, when an amount was granted for repairs to the church 'after damage by enemies and robbers'.

County Museum Dundalk contains original artefacts from farms, local industries, the railway and the port. Items such as ploughs, shoes, tobacco, linen, beer and newspapers are combined with models, audio visual presentations, interactive touch screen presentations, and film and graphics to tell the story of the development of industry in Louth from 1750 to the present day. An extensive program of temporary exhibitions, films, concerts, lecture and recitals has been developed to offer visitors a wide variety of events to choose from.

Monasterboice: Though little more than half a mile to the west of the busy Dublin road, there is an air of detachment and antiquity about this celebrated place. The monastery came into existence in the sixth century but little is known of its founder, St Buite. Its fame rests chiefly on its exquisitely sculptured High Crosses, notably the South Cross, now generally called Muiredach's Cross after an abbot whose name is inscribed on the base. The cross is remarkable for the variety and organisation of its scriptural themes and the superb quality of the carving, executed in the early decades of the tenth century. Not far away, beside the Round Tower (now capless but still over 90 feet high), is the slender and beautiful West Cross, also called the Tall Cross, from its exceptional height of 21 feet. It has suffered from weathering and not all of its panels are identifiable. In another corner of the graveyard, partly obscured by trees and sometimes missed by visitors, is the North Cross. Though not as elaborate as the other two it is nevertheless a fine specimen, decorated with unusual spiral motifs.





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