churches historical louth

The Protestant Parish Church of St. Mary's erected in 1807 in the grounds of an ancient monastery founded by the townspeople for mendicant Carmelite friars some years prior to the Norman Invasion. When the town walls were built in the 13th century they were extended, at this point, to enclose the monastery within their compass. It was here, at the south east corner of the churchyard, that Oliver Cromwell, with cannon mounted on the heights, on the opposite side of the deep declavity known as...

St. Peter's Church, a splendid edifice in modern Gothic style. As it is set well back from the street alignment, at the top of a double flight of wide steps, an excellent view can be obtained of the imposing front and spire. The exterior walls and dressings, elaborately decorated, are all in local limestone, while the interior walls are of Bath stone with polished granite pillars. Outside the main door, mounted on a modern pedestal and plinth, and now used as a holy water stoup, stands a small...

In Palace Street, are many fine brick houses of late 18th and early 19th century construction. The terrace on the east side is further enhanced by the insertion of the Presbyterian Church erected in 1827. Its facade, rather unusual for an ecclesiastical building, is due to the two slightly projecting turrets which were added as a gift from the Corporation in office at the time of its erection. Palace Street and its continuation, King Street, follow the line of the town wall, and were together...

The town was founded by the Norse in 911, and the Normans made it into one of their important strongholds. A number of Parliaments met here in the Middle Ages. The saddest episode in the town's history was when Cromwell took the town in 1649, massacred 2,000 of its defenders, and sent many captives from it to the Barbadoes. It surrendered to King William after the Battle of the Boyne. There are still a number of medieval remains in the town.
Magadlene Tower:
This is the onl...

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...

The church was built late in the 17th century. The east window, dating from the 15th century, comes originally from another church and was inserted here; the heads above the window on the outside may date to 1691, when the church was built. The other windows were inserted in the 19th century. A baptismal font from this church is now in Ardee....

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 remarkable ancient ruin in which the western gable wall has jumped and now stands two feet inside of its foundations. Tradition relates that this phenomenon took place in order to exclude from the church area the grave of an excommunicated person who had been buried within its walls....