Ireland Guide
Louth, Monaghan and Cavan
County Louth
County Louth is easily accessible from Dublin via the main N1/M1 road and Belfast railway line. Its most historic and intriguing town is Drogheda, bisected by the River Boyne, and forever associated with Cromwell's arrival in Ireland. His New Model Army besieged the town in 1649 and, once its walls were breached, zealously massacred not only the Royalist garrison, but numerous citizens as well. As well as being home to the most important megalithic remains in the whole country at Brú na Bóinne and site of the Battle of the Boyne, the fertile Boyne valley also boasts major religious sites at Monasterboice.
The countryside of Louth also plays a major role in the greatest of Irish mythological epics, the Táin Bó Cúailnge (Cattle Raid of Cooley), especially the Cooley Peninsula, where many of the saga's events took place.