Drogheda

More ancient sites around Drogheda.
Monasterboice
Ruins of ancient monastery with HUGE round tower, built to keep a look out for marauding Vikings & Anglo-Norman's.
Now a beautiful quiet peaceful cemetery with beautifully decorative high crosses on each side with carved 'pictures' where the gospels were explained to the people by the local priests.
Drogheda's Millmount Martello Tower was where Cromwell met his strongest resistance when he laid seige to the town in 1649.
He had first attacked Mellifont Abbey & Moore House just outside the town.
Mellifont was where the English Moore family from Beneden in Kent England  had been given a huge land grant.
They became the Earls & Viscounts of Drogheda from late 1500s. Mary Moore the daughter of the 3rd Earl Sir Charles married Hugh Montgomery in 1648 at Mellifont. He was the grandson of Hugh Montgomery, the Scottish Lord who co-led the Plantataion of Ulster (1607); & son of Hugh Montgomery & Jane Alexander.

When my brother Brian Moore, did his Y-DNA test all his top (going back 3-4 DNA generations) matches were with Montgomery & Alexander before any Moore's appeared!! When I contacted his top & closest Montgomery match, he said his DNA & Brian's were almost identical & there was no way they weren't cousins!!
How this fits in with our 'little tenant farmers from County Tyrone, who would know!

Drogheda also 'famous' for the Battle of the Boyne (river that flows throughout area) in 1690. Here Protestant William of Orange defeated his Catholic father-in-law, King James II & Protestantism dominated.

I forgot we also visited Kells about 20kms from Duleek. Here St Columba (born very north of Ireland) lived & 'worked at his monastery until late 500s when he 'left' & established monastery on island of Iona (off Scottish coast) & still famous for it's music today. The Mc Collum Clan/Clan Malcolm from Oban area on west coast of Scotland.
Also ruins of Trim Castle, one of Hugh we Lacys from 1147.

All these towns busy little centres where life in all its modernity goes on around the ruins & ancient history!
With no GPS or Google maps or internet it makes finding these places lots of fun....... & frustration!!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Riverside Farm Enniskillen

When we were here 6 years ago we stayed in the self-contained cottage on Riversidd Farm, 2 miles out of Enniskillen the main town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. I had been told about it by Vi Wiggins the very active lady on the Fermanagh Gold (genealogy) Interest List I belonged to. Molly & son Mark Fawcett who own the farm, B&B, caravan park, marina & are the most wonderfully warm & welcoming people. We stayed for 2 months on the farm in 2015 so coming back was like coming home! MOST of my Irish families lived within 15 miles of Enniskillen. We arrived on a Saturday afternoon just before my 'newly found' American (Boston) family! Carol is my 2nd cousin. She & husband Arthur & 3 adult children Paul, Cheryl & David were spending a week in Ireland seeing all they could! Carol's great-grandfather Patrick was my g-g-grandfather, Robert Collum's younger brother. When 8 of Robert's siblings went to America they changed their name to...
Read more

The other Collums

When I started researching my g-greatfather Robert Collum, I found another Robert S. Collum who was the Honorary Consul for Portugal who lived in various Sydney (posh!) addresses - all called 'Enniskillen' where my Collum's came from! He ended up living on a poultry farm in Herring Road Marsfield/Eastwood where I grew up! He married Emily Suttor, daughter of the Bathurst MP & there is a photograph on them in Freeman's Journal in the Mitchell Library. His father was Dr Robert Collum, born in 1814 in Enniskillen, who married Flora Nightingale  SANDEMAN from Scotland. The Sandeman's were a very (wealthy) influential family whose descendants were huge 'multi companies' of importers & exporters throughout the world eg tea plantations in (Ceylon) Sri Lanka, wine in Europe, spices Far East. Dr Robert & Flora had 15 children who all had SANDEMAN as their middle name (according to Scottish tradition). Dr Robert was in the British Army then Physician fo...
Read more

Last day in England

Image
A last day to get everything 7before the cruise & see some more of the places nearby. Over the weekend we'd looked up Podiatrists so Warren could get histoenails cut!!! Wondered about how to get there, appointments & the like. So we set off at 8.45 & walked to the end of our block. Across the road was the Royal Nail Salon with a youngish Chinese guy standing outside. Warren said to him 'do you cut toenails?'   Yes.  Can you cut mine? Now?  Yes! In we go - & out 5mins later with cut & filed nails - £5!!! Bargain! We walked the easy mile walk into the town centre. HUGE Maison Dieu grey stone building that takes up a whole block. Now Town Hall & Creative Arts Centre. It was founded by St Augustus in 9oos as a Monastery & Hospice. At Clarke's shoe shop Warren bought  pair of sandals. I got more lozenges, eye drops & Panadol for my 2nd cold of the trip! We then bought a Day Tripper bus ticket. First we went to Canterbury (34 m...
Read more