Ireland (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Fionn Davenport [481]
History
This bend in the fertile Boyne Valley has been desirable right back to 910, when the Danes built a fortified settlement here. In the 12th century, the Normans added a bridge and expanded the two settlements on either side of the river. They also built a large defensive motte and bailey on the southern side at Millmount. By the 15th century, Drogheda was one of Ireland’s four largest walled towns and a major player in Irish affairs.
The 17th century brought devastation, however, when in 1649, Drogheda was the scene of Cromwell’s most notorious Irish slaughter (Click here). Things went from bad to worse in 1690 when the town backed the wrong horse at the Battle of the Boyne and surrendered the day after the defeat of James II.
Despite a boom in the 19th century, when Drogheda became a textile and brewing centre, the town never really hit its stride and suffered a century-long torpor. Today, new money and an influx of commuters have spruced things up with plenty of new developments along the riverfront.
Orientation
Drogheda sits astride the River Boyne, with the principal shopping area on the northern bank along West and Laurence Sts. South of the river is Millmount mound and the best of the trendy new developments. Traffic in town is always slow, but there are small car parks scattered everywhere.
Information
Post office (West St)
Talk & Net ( 041-984 9838; 1 Dominic St; per hr €1.60; 10am-10pm) Internet access.
Tourist office ( 041-983 7070; www.drogheda.ie; Mayoralty St; 9am-5pm Mon-Fri, 9am-4.30pm Sat) On the northern side of the river, just off the docklands.
Wise Owl Bookshop ( 041-984 2847; Laurence Centre; 9.30am-6pm Mon-Sat, to 7.45pm Thu & Fri) A large store with good local books and maps.
Sights
ST PETER’S ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH
The shrivelled little head of the martyr St Oliver Plunkett (1629–81) is the main draw at the 19th-century Catholic church (West St), which is actually two churches in one: the first, designed by Francis Johnston in classical style and built in 1791; and the newer addition, built in the Gothic style visible today. Plunkett’s head – from which the rest of him was separated at his hanging in 1681 – is in a glittering brass-and-glass case in the north transept.
ST LAURENCE’S GATE
Astride the eastwards extension of the town’s main street is St Laurence’s Gate, the finest surviving portion of the city walls. This imposing pile of stone is not in fact a gate but instead a barbican, a fortified structure used to defend the gate, which was further behind it.
Dating from the 13th century, the structure was named after St Laurence’s Priory, which once stood outside the gate; no traces of it now remain. The barbican consists of two lofty towers, a connecting curtain wall and the entrance to the portcullis. When the town walls were completed in the 13th century, they ran for 3km around the town, enclosing 52 hectares.
HIGHLANES GALLERY
This impressive gallery ( 041-980 3311; www.highlanes.ie; Laurence St; admission free; 10am-6pm Mon-Sat, to 8pm Thu, noon-5pm Sun) is set in a beautifully converted 19th-century monastery. All the visual arts can be found here, as well as a good permanent collection of paintings. There are regular special exhibitions and the entire complex is worth a look – as is the view down to the Boyne. Attached is a well-stocked shop featuring the best of Louth craftwork.
MILLMOUNT MUSEUM & TOWER
Across the river from town, in a villagelike enclave amid a sea of dull suburbia, is Millmount, an artificial hill overlooking the town. The mound may have been a prehistoric burial ground along the lines of Newgrange, but it has never been excavated. Legend has it that it is the burial place of Amergin, a warrior-poet who arrived in Ireland