Archaeological Heritage

While the construction of the continental-style monastery at Mellifont predates the more intense effort to ‘Europeanise’ Ireland that began in 1169, most of the county’s mediaeval remains owe their origin to the arrival of Normans from Britain.
All the county’s major towns, like Ardee, Carlingford, Drogheda (originally two separate towns) and Dundalk are Norman foundations, though some of the other Norman boroughs (11 in total) have faded to nothing (for example Castle Roche and Castle Ring).