There were many ancient 'Celtic' monasteries in County Louth. Some of these, with their high crosses and round towers, are still well worth a visit, including Monasterboice, Dromin. Dromiskin and Louth. Faughart hill is the reputed birthplace of Saint Brigid of Kildare.
Louth County Council, together with the Office of Public Works and the National Monuments Service of the DEHLG have had a Conservation Study produced for Monasterboice. This is currently available on public consultation (see 'News').
Monasterboice is also listed on Ireland's Tentative List of potential nominees to the World Heritage List, as part of the "Early Medieval Monastic Sites" grouping.
Many of these monastic sites have souterrains, ancient 'fall-out shelters' or 'panic-rooms'. Louth has one of the highest concentrations of these in Ireland, especially in the area between the Fane and Castletown rivers. People in this area must have lived under constant threat of attack. One of these monuments, at Donaghmore, is a National Monument and can be visited, with care!
