Introduction to Louth
Louth is Ireland's smallest county and is known as ³The Wee County². Small but beautiful is Louth.
A Brief History of Louth
This is a county steeped in myth, legend and history, going back to the pre-historical days of the Táin Bó Cúailnge (Cooley Cattle Raid, see Cúchulainn). Later it saw the influence of the Vikings as seen in the name of Carlingford Lough.
In the early fourteenth century the Scottish army of Edward Bruce (brother of Robert of Bannockburn fame) was defeated in the battle of Faughart near Dundalk, Edward losing not only his claim to the High Kingship Of Ireland, but also his life. The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries featured many skirmishes and battles involving Irish and English forces. Oliver Cromwell attacked Drogheda in 1649 slaughtering the Royalist garrison (Siege of Drogheda).
Towards the end of the same century the armies of the warring Kings, James and William, faced off in North Louth during the build-up to the Battle of the Boyne - the battle takes its name from the river Boyne which reaches the sea at Drogheda.
Areas of Interest in Louth
St Laurence's Gate
Parts of the town walls dating to the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries still survive. Most notable of the remains is St. Laurence's Gate, regarded as the finest example of a barbican or fortress gate still to be seen in the country. Consisting of twin pillars four stories high, its imposing edifice dominates the western approaches to the town.
St Mary's Bridge
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.
County Museum Dundalk
The Exhibition contains original artifacts 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, touch screen interactives, film and graphics to tell the story of the development of industry in Louth from 1750 to the present day. An extensive programme of temporary exhibitions, films, concerts, lecture and recitals has been developed to offer the visitor a wide variety of events to choose from. Talk books giving a detailed account of the museum and its main exhibitions are available on request in Spanish, Italian, French and German. The Museum offers adequate car parking at the rear and good quality lunches are available from a number of small outlets in the immediate vicinity.
Old Mellifont Abbey
In the tranquil valley of the River Mattock, a subsidiary of the Boyne, lie the noble ruins of Mellifont, the first Cistercian monastery to be established in Ireland. Founded in 1142 by St. Malachy, the monastery was consecrated amidst great pomp and ceremony in 1157 at a great national synod attended by seventeen bishops and the High King. The new monastic order was successful in re-introducing discipline into what has become a very lax Irish Church. Over forty other Cistercian monasteries were opened in Ireland following the success of Mellifont. The monastery is also poignantly remembered in Irish history for a more tragic happening; it was here, following his defeat at the Battle of Kinsale, that the great Hugh O' Neil formally surrendered to Mountjoy in 1603, a surrender that marked the deathknell of the Gaelic civilisation which can be tracked back to centuries before the time of Christ.
The Magdalene Tower
The Magdalene Tower crowns the highest point in the northern part of the town and is a landmark for many miles around. It was the belfry tower of the once extensive Dominican friary founded here about 1224 by Lucas de Netterville Archbishop of Armagh. The tower appears to be of 14th century construction and was possibly a later addition to the monastery. It springs from a fine Gothic Arch above which there are two further storeys connected by a spiral staircase, the entrance to which is a considerable distance from the ground on the north side. The roof of the arch is groined from the angles, each groin being supported by a cherub's head carved in stone. The walls of the tower are perforated by eight windows, two in eachside with cut stone facings. The battlements were damaged by Cromwell's cannon during the siege of 1649. In the Millmount Museum may be seen a variety of 14th century flooring tiles, found here during excavations for a house foundation some years ago.
Proleek
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.
Traditional Music and Craic in Louth