| Louth - Heritage / Historical | ||
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Here's a selection of Louth heritage / historical, if you want the full list, Click on the "Go to ALL" link on the right. |
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| Louth - Heritage / Historical | ||
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Here's a selection of Louth heritage / historical, if you want the full list, Click on the "Go to ALL" link on the right. |
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| 1.Abbeys | Go to ALL Abbeys in Louth |
| Old Mellifont Abbey Co. Louth Please quote reference number 11893 when making a Reservation. |
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| 2.Bridges | Go to ALL Bridges in Louth |
| St Mary's Bridge Co. Louth Please quote reference number 11896 when making a Reservation. |
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| While it was scarcely ever possible to ford the river here, it would still have been feasible to span it even with a primitive bridge at an early date. The river, entering the town from the west is almost 600 feet wide, narrowing at this point to only 110 feet, before expanding again to 450 feet in the docks area. The town grew around this crossing, which opened up a transport route north and south, and the Harbour below was developed to accommodate seaborne trade. The early Bronze Age settlers in the Boyne Valley, and the later groups of Celtic peoples who populated the areas surrounding Drogheda around 900 BC probably entered Ireland by this route. Ptolemy, the Egyptian geographer, delineated with fair accuracy the course of the Boyne, which he called Buvinda, in his map of Ireland drawn up around the end of the 2nd century AD. The Vikings who made a settlement here on the south bank had, in 837 AD, according to the Annals of the Four Masters "60 of their ships in the Boyne mouth that year". The maritime trade of the town developed rapidly under Norman occupation, especially in the export of corn and cloth to Britain and the import of wines from the continent. According to Custom Lists of the late 17th century, Drogheda merchants in their own ships were trading as far away as the Canary Islands and the West Indies. The port, whose long and colourful history has yet to be written, while no longer as important in the life of Drogheda as it once was, is nevertheless still quite a busy one. | |
| 3.Cairn | Go to ALL Cairn's in Louth |
| Aghnaskeagh Cairns Aghnaskeagh, Co. Louth Please quote reference number 11854 when making a Reservation. |
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| Tow cairns, 50 yards apart. One is egg-shaped, with three legs of a roofless portal dolmen in the east end, which contained four cremated bodies and some Late Stone Age/ Early Bronze Age pottery and a glass bead. The west end contained Early Bronze Age burials (c. 1500 B.C), and many centuries later a furnace was placed beside the north end of the cairn. The other cairn was round in shape and had four box-like graves in the eastern part of the cairn containing Stone Age pottery, and one later burial belonging to the early centuries of the Christian era. | |
| 4.Castles (Historical) | Go to ALL Castles (Historical) in Louth |
| Hatch's Castle Co. Louth Please quote reference number 11911 when making a Reservation. |
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| 5.Churches (Historical) | Go to ALL Churches (Historical) in Louth |
| Old Saint Mary's Church (Site of Celtic Monastery) Co. Louth Please quote reference number 11916 when making a Reservation. |
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Show me all the details for Old Saint Mary's Church (Site of Celtic Monastery) |
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| 6.Crosses (Historical) | Go to ALL Crosses (Historical) in Louth |
| Dromiskin round Tower Co. Louth Please quote reference number 11874 when making a Reservation. |
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| the church is alleged to have been founded by St. Patrick, but it is more likely that it was his disciple Lughaidh (died 515-16) who founded the monastery. St. Ronan, who cursed Suibhne Geilt and caused him to go mad, was abbot here and died of the great plague in 664. The High King, Aedh Finnlaigh, died here in 876. The monastery was plundered by the Irish in 908, by the Danes in 978 and again by the Irish in 1043. The Round Tower and a High Cross still survive from the old monastery. The round Tower and a High Cross still survive from the old monastery. The Round Tower, which is 55 feet high, has a round-headed doorway which originally has columns supporting the arch. The two rectangular windows at the top as well as the conical roof are modern, dating to 1879. To the east of the tower are the remnants of a High Cross which has been re-erected in modern times on a granite base and shaft. There is a Celtic whirl on the west face of the cross. The east face has a central square panel at the intersection with a knot out of which grow beasts who devour others; to the left is a hunting scene, to the right a scene perhaps of David bringing the head of Goliath to Jerusalem. Nearby are the remains of what was probably a medieval parish church. The east gable of the church probably dates to the 13th century; the present 2 light east window was inserted in the 15th century into the earlier 3-light window. | |
| 7.Dolmens | Go to ALL Dolmens in Louth |
| Proleek Co. Louth Please quote reference number 11920 when making a Reservation. |
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| A splendid 'tripod-dolmen', 12 feet in height, standing at the edge of a field near a ruined gallery-tomb. It is reached by a signposted path from the grounds of Ballymascanlon Hotel. It has long been called 'The Giant's Load' since, from a certain viewpoint, it resembles a huge figure bowed under the weight of a heavy burden - in this case a rounded granite capstone weighing in excess of 30 tons. This well known landmark has often been illustrated. As early as 1742 an engraving of it appeared in Thomas Wright's Louthiana, wherein he states that 'the native Irish tell a strange story about it, relating how the whole was brought all at once from the neighbouring mountains, by a giant called Parrah Boug M'Shagjean, and who they say was buried near this place.' Unlike other antiquarians of his day, Wright recognised the sepulchral purpose of these monuments and dismissed as fantasy the idea that they were Druid's alters. Visitors to Proleek will notice that the top of the capstone is dotted with pebbles; throw one up, runs the legend, and if it remains on the convex surface the person who cast it will marry before a year has elapsed. | |
| 8.Forts (Historical) | Go to ALL Forts (Historical) in Louth |
| Garret's Fort Co. Louth Please quote reference number 11927 when making a Reservation. |
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| A Celtic hill fort, sometimes called Hacklim Cave, a low earthen mound where, according to legend, Gearoid Iarla (Garret the Earl of Kildare) and a troop of his warriors sit in an enchanted sleep. | |
| 9.Heritage Centres | Go to ALL Heritage Centres in Louth |
| Holy Trinity Heritage Centre Co. Louth Please quote reference number 11864 when making a Reservation. |
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| 10.Hills (Historical) | Go to ALL Hills (Historical) in Louth |
| Dun Dealgan Castletown, Co. Louth Please quote reference number 11865 when making a Reservation. |
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| A mound rising over 60 feet high that is said to be the birthplace of the legendary hero Cuchulain.. On the summit is the ruin of a house built in 1780.. | |
| 11.Homes (Historical) | Go to ALL Homes (Historical) in Louth |
| Chantry College Co. Louth Please quote reference number 11932 when making a Reservation. |
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| 12.Interpretative Centre | Go to ALL Interpretative Centre's in Louth |
| County Museum Dundalk Jocelyn St, Co. Louth Please quote reference number 11868 when making a Reservation. |
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| Winner 1994 Townscape Award, Winner 1995 Gulbenkian Museum of the Year Award, winner 1995 Gold Award for Best Commissioned Display, Winner 1995 Design Award for Best Graphics and Animation. | |
| 13.Monastery | Go to ALL Monastery's in Louth |
| Old Mellifont Abbey Co. Louth Please quote reference number 11893 when making a Reservation. |
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| 14.Monastic Sites | Go to ALL Monastic Sites in Louth |
| St. Peter's Church of Ireland Co. Louth Please quote reference number 11914 when making a Reservation. |
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| 15.Motte (Historical) | Go to ALL Motte (Historical) in Louth |
| Dun Dealgan Motte and Bailey Co. Louth Please quote reference number 11869 when making a Reservation. |
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| Although the site is associated with the legendary hero CuChulainn, the present earthworks are a Norman motte and bailey built possibly by the de Verdons in the last 30 years of the 12th century. The walls of the square bailey are well preserved. The castle on top is a folly built by Patrick Byrne - a well-known pirate - in 1780, and as a wooden tower once crowned the motte, the tower gives some of what a motte with a tower must have originally looked like. | |
| 16.Museums | Go to ALL Museums in Louth |
| Milmount Tourist Office , Co. Louth Please quote reference number 11909 when making a Reservation. |
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| Originally erected, according to legend, for a son of Milesius (the man responsible for leading the Milesians (Celts) from Spain to Ireland), the hill was later used as a meeting place by the Vikings and as a defensive stronghold by the Normans. The barracks, which was stormed by Cromwell in 1649, was later used as a prison during the tensions of 1916 and was severely shelled during the Civil War in 1922. Today it has been converted into a fine craft centre and museum, incorporating a restaurant and other facilities for visitors. From atop Millmount one can see that Drogheda is a town of churches and religious sites, both mediaeval and modern. The Boyne splits the town, the northern sector being in the Archdiocese of Armagh, the southern sector in the Diocese of Meath. The mediaeval churches of St. Peter's and St. Mary's existed on the sites of the present Protestant churches. With the towers of St. Mary's D'urse, the remaining tower of the Dominican church and the various nineteenth-century examples of the Gothic Revival (culminating in the triumphalist style of St. Peter's), Drogheda can be seen as a religious centre worthy to be associated with, and hold the remains of, St. Oliver Plunkett. From Drogheda the Boyne widens into its estuary before finally entering the open sea near Baltray. For those who have followed its course from its source at Trinity Well (County Kildare), the journey through the depths of time now comes to a close. For thousands of years the Boyne Valley was the centre of civilisation in Ireland and today hundreds of thousands of visitors are still captivated by the surviving monuments to past glories. | |
| 17.Stones (Historical) | Go to ALL Stones (Historical) in Louth |
| Hurlstone Standing Stone Co. Louth Please quote reference number 11940 when making a Reservation. |
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| 18.Towers (Historical) | Go to ALL Towers (Historical) in Louth |
| The Tholsel Co. Louth Please quote reference number 11959 when making a Reservation. |
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| Tholsel which stands at the junction of West Street and Shop Street. This is a fine builiding of local limestone, surmounted by a tower, which houses a large four-faced clock. Erected in 1770 on the site of the old mediaeval wooden Tholsel, it was for almost 130 years the centre of municipal authority, until the Corporation moved its offices and Council Chambers to the then newly-erected Courthouse in Fair Street in 1889. It is now occupied by the Bank of Ireland Group, who keep the building in excellent condition. The Tholsel has been for countless generations a local trysting place, and before the advent of radio and television, with their constant time checks, Drogheda's clocks and watches were set by its dependable old time-piece. Barnaby Gooche's "Map of Drogheda 1574" shows a market cross standing in the open space before the Tholsel, no doubt that same cross which the Corporation ordered to be pulled down in 1666. | |
| 19.Towers (Round) | Go to ALL Towers (Round) in Louth |
| Dromiskin round Tower Co. Louth Please quote reference number 11874 when making a Reservation. |
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| the church is alleged to have been founded by St. Patrick, but it is more likely that it was his disciple Lughaidh (died 515-16) who founded the monastery. St. Ronan, who cursed Suibhne Geilt and caused him to go mad, was abbot here and died of the great plague in 664. The High King, Aedh Finnlaigh, died here in 876. The monastery was plundered by the Irish in 908, by the Danes in 978 and again by the Irish in 1043. The Round Tower and a High Cross still survive from the old monastery. The round Tower and a High Cross still survive from the old monastery. The Round Tower, which is 55 feet high, has a round-headed doorway which originally has columns supporting the arch. The two rectangular windows at the top as well as the conical roof are modern, dating to 1879. To the east of the tower are the remnants of a High Cross which has been re-erected in modern times on a granite base and shaft. There is a Celtic whirl on the west face of the cross. The east face has a central square panel at the intersection with a knot out of which grow beasts who devour others; to the left is a hunting scene, to the right a scene perhaps of David bringing the head of Goliath to Jerusalem. Nearby are the remains of what was probably a medieval parish church. The east gable of the church probably dates to the 13th century; the present 2 light east window was inserted in the 15th century into the earlier 3-light window. | |
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Copyright Touchtel 1995 - 1998 |
A smaller, but older, medieval tower house than Ardee Castle. It was given by Cromwell to the Hatch family. It is still used as a residence and contains two eighteenth century cannons at its entrance.
The present nave and chancel are of nineteenth century date but incorporates many medieval fragments. The church stands on the site of an ancient celtic monastery which, at one stage, housed the shrine of Saint Patrick. In 1315 Edward Bruce, who had been crowned High King of Ireland, herded all the townspeople of Ardee into the church before burning it to the ground. Other medieval fragments in the church grounds, include a medieval market cross and a medieval font.
A beautifully restored medieval church exhibiting Carlingfords development from its Norman origins.
Facilities include:
Guided tours available.
School groups most welcome.
Education packs available.
Built in the early fifteenth century as the residence of the priests who were employed to continuously chant the mass for church benefactors. It is one of the few surviving chantry houses left in Ireland.
It appears to have been a very large building, containing no less than seven chapels: St. Martin's, St. Patrick's, St. Peter's, St. John the Baptist, St. George's and St. Anne's, the principal one supporting two chaplains. The steeple of this church "supposed to be the highest in the world was thrown down by a violent storm at Midnight 27th January 1548", and replaced by a steeple of wood. When, from the end of the 13th century, "The men of English blood or birth" appointed to the Primacy were not accepted by the Irish dean and chapter in Armagh, the Archbishops of the diocese resided in Drogheda and Termonfeckin alternatively. St. Peter's then served as their pro-Cathedral, where important synods were held, clergy were ordained and bishops consecrated. The Ecclesiastical courts of Armagh were regularly convened here.
Around the interior walls are many excellently carved memorial tablets of the 18th and 19th centuries and here also may be seen the late mediaeval baptisimal font from the original church. It is of limestone, octagonal in shape, and richly carved. The Church is usually closed except during services, and application to view the interior must be made to the Rector who resides nearby.
Embedded in the wall at the northeast corner of the adjoining graveyard is a large cadaver tombstone slab, together with the four sides of the tomb itself. This monument is of considerable interest, since it is one of the few examples in Ireland of funerary sculpture emphasising bodily decomposition, a fashion popular in Europe at the end of the 14th century and still common during the 15th and 16th centuries. The origin of this style, with its emphasis on human mortality, lies in the uncertainty and anxiety which prevailed all over Europe following the great plague known as the Black Death (1347-1350), and the subsequent epidemics of this fatal disease, which recurred during the late middle ages.
While standing stones are among the commonest field monuments in Ireland, stones that are holed in this fashion are quite rare. In the Tain Bo Cuailnge a story is told of Cethern , half out of his wits with pain. His enemies dressed the standing stone with King Ailill's golden shawl, and Cethern, believing it to be the king, rushed at it and drove his sword through it with such ferocity that the sword's pommel and Cethern's fist also went through the stone. The hole is significant in that in ancient times it was used for the taking of oaths.