carlingford county louth
Carlingford History
A medieval town fossilised in its past. One has to go back eight hundred years to find the origins of this settlement — to the foundation of a stone castle on a rocky outcrop by the Norman Knight, Hugh deLacy.
From this fortress there developed the town— a linear settlement with typical medievalpatters, burgage plots, defensive walls,narrow streets. Friary and Urban Tower Houses.
The 14th. 15th and early 16th century was theera of its greatest prosperity, Carlingford being ranked with Colraine, Carrickfergus
and Dundalk as one of the main trading ports on the east coast. This is witnessed today by the surviving town houses of a rich merchant class such as Taaffes' Castle and the Mint.
The many charters, five in all, ranging fromthe first in 1326 during the reign of Edward II to the last in 1619 by James I, record it's importance in this period.
However from the 17th century Carlingford declined as a medieval centre of importance and by 1744. as recorded in the Journal of Isaac Butler, the town was in a state of ruin.
During thes e years it had suffered the ravages of war as in the 1640 rebellion and, later, during the Williamite wars of the 1690's.
Ownership of the burgage plots had also passed from the older Anglo-Norman families such as Dartas, Dowedale and Whyte to the new English with names such as Stannas.Hamilton and Moore. The corporation granted under the 1619 charter was dissolved
shortly after the Act of Union. Its other major source of wealth, the herring shoals, had abandoned the Lough and moved to the open seas by the early 18th century. So its economic demise was complete.
However, the paradox today in the economic revival of the town is exactly that, its demise.Its failure to attract industrial growth which would have destroyed its remaining medieval fabric, was indeed fortuitious. This fabric still remains with us today, fossilised in its past, unlike neighbouring towns such as Dundalk where all visible traces of its medievaldefences were removed by the first half of the 18th century, while all remains of Newry's Cistercian Abbey were gone by 1788.
The noted Irish scholar, Laurence Murray, wrote of Carlingford at the beginning of the century, "Carlingford itself is a gold mine to the antiquarian. Though not a handsome town — it is narrow, hilly, angular and gloomy — there is a medieval suggestiveness about it
which carries one back many centuries and fills the mind with vaquc dreamings".
We invite you now to go out and explore these ancient remains and allow the mind to sample the medieval flavour and dreamings of an era long gone.
GHAN HOUSE
Ghan House is an L-shaped Georgian house
built by William Stannus and later acquired
by the Rutherford family who were agents
to Lord Anglesey. Interesting features of
the building is the vaulted basement.
Carlingford being the Medievel capital of Ireland is a must see, there are quaint streets full of charachter, it is recommended to do the hill walk around Carlingford to see the most of this historical town.
