Drogheda Travel Guide

1 St Peter's, West Street A92 A068, ☏ +353 41 984 5355. M-Th Sa 9AM-4PM, F 9AM-2PM, Su noon-4PM. This church was completed in 1793 in an era when Roman Catholic assemblies were barely tolerated: at its foundation, the town corporation turned up in full municipal fig to warn that a "Popish chapel" would not be tolerated within the town walls. In the 1880s it was greatly extended in French Gothic style, with a striking tower. However it's best known for its shrine to St Oliver Plunkett (1625-1681). He was Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, but exiled in Rome during the height of the persecution of Catholics. He returned in 1670 in an era of tolerance and established a Jesuit college in Drogheda, but the wind changed and he became a wanted man. A show trial for treason collapsed in Dundalk so he was transferred to London and condemned by another rigged trial. He was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn: thereafter his body parts undertook something of a Grand Tour of Europe. Those parts were re-divvied up when he was made a saint in 1975, and his severed head and assorted bones got to enjoy their first ride in a helicopter to their present home. (updated Jan 2026)
St Peter's Church (Church of Ireland) is the Anglican version, a block north on Peter Street. There are traces of church buildings going back to the 13th century. In 1649 it was the scene of a massacre: Cromwell had breached the town walls and some 100 Royalist soldiers took refuge in the steeple. The Parliamentarians set fire to it and 30 died in the blaze, while another 50 were slain as they tried to flee. A new church was needed, and this opened in 1753. It was re-modelled in the 19th century, suffered an arson attack in 1999 but was restored.
Our Lady of Lourdes Church, north by the hospital, is modern but charming.
3 Magdalene Tower is a 14th-century belfry, all that remains of a Dominican friary. It's a striking structure, with two storeys teetering above a Gothic arch, on the top of the rise north of town centre. Here was the north entrance to the walled town, St Sunday's Gate, which has disappeared.
4 Saint Laurence Gate is a 13th-century Barbican: two towers and a walled thoroughfare. It stood outside the town's east gate, which has disappeared. It's occasionally possible to climb the tower interior.
5 Millmount Fort, Barrack Street A92 VFH3, ☏ +353 41 983 3097. M-Sa 10AM-5PM. The prominent hillock just south of the river is artificial: it was probably built over a Neolithic passage tomb, but has never been excavated. It became fortified with a motte-and-bailey in Norman times then by a stone castle. Here in 1649 the defenders of the town made their last stand before surrendering to Cromwell, but an earlier demand for surrender had been spurned, so Cromwell reckoned he was within his rights to slaughter them. In the 18th century a barracks was built around the hillock, and in 1808 it was capped by a Martello Tower. The last military action came in the Civil War of 1922: the fort was occupied by forces resisting the Anglo-Irish Treaty, so they were shelled and dislodged by Irish government troops. The museum displays the town's turbulent history, and admission includes the Martello Tower, with great views (and artillery positions) on its terrace. There's a cafe in the barracks yard. (updated Jan 2026)
Buttergate is on the west flank of Millmount opposite the bus station. When a town councillor declared that they "couldn’t be preserving all the old dumps all over the place" he especially had in mind this crumbling stretch of medieval masonry. The puzzle is, no historic town street ever led to it, so it can't have been a gate in the town walls. The western entrance was nearby St John's Gate, so probably this wall was "the buttress to the gate". It's been tidied up a bit, giving the brambles the Cromwell treatment, but "old dump" is still a fair description.

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