Introduction to Dundalk, Ireland

Although DUNDALK has a reputation as a tough border town, home to uncompromising Republicanism, it still has enough interest to justify a visit. Industrial estates on the outskirts show signs of a burgeoning recent prosperity, a reflection of the town's strategic position economically on the main transport routes from Dublin to Belfast. Starting life in legendary prehistory as a fort guarding a gap in the mountains to the north (Dún Dealga, the "Fortress of Dealga"), it became in turn a Celtic, Norse, Anglo-Norman, Jacobean and finally Williamite stronghold. This defensive tradition seems still to hang over the town, and it never seems a place where you – or for that matter the locals – can feel fully at ease.

As far as sights go, the outstanding one is the nineteenth-century Neoclassical courthouse, whose open Doric portico leads into an airy, classically proportioned interior. In the plaza outside, the Guardian Angel or motherland statue is unequivocally dedicated to "the martyrs in the cause of liberty who fought and died in the struggle against English Tyranny and foreign rule in Ireland" – a far cry from the monument of gratitude in Ardee. St Patrick's Cathedral in Francis Street is also worth a look while you're here: its cornucopia of embellished towers, turrets and crenellated walls is a reasonably successful imitation of King's College Chapel, Cambridge. Inside are some rich mosaics using gold pieces in abundance to depict biblical stories. Louth County Museum (Tues–Sat 10.30am–5.30pm, Sun 2–6pm; €3.80), in a warehouse next to the tourist office on Jocelyn Street, uses a variety of artefacts and documents to tell the stories of local industries, from coopering to cigarettes. The museum is an uneasy mix of high-tech display and poorly labelled exhibits, but there is a wealth of material here. During the 1960s, Heinkel bomber cockpits were sent over to Dundalk to be made into bubble cars – you'll find a 1966 model on the first-floor landing. The top two floors house an exhibition that focuses on the area's rich Stone Age history. Dundalk's oldest building is Kelly's Tower, a four-storey Franciscan bell tower, dating from the middle of the thirteenth century, on the corner of Mill Street and Castle Road. The tower was sacked in 1315 by Edward Bruce and again, in 1538, by Lord Deputy Grey.

Information by Rough Guides

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