drogheda town fortifications and churches

The town was founded by the Norse in 911, and the Normans made it into one of their important strongholds. A number of Parliaments met here in the Middle Ages. The saddest episode in the town's history was when Cromwell took the town in 1649, massacred 2,000 of its defenders, and sent many captives from it to the Barbadoes. It surrendered to King William after the Battle of the Boyne. There are still a number of medieval remains in the town.
Magadlene Tower:
This is the only remnant of an old Dominican church founded in 1224 by Luke Netterville, Archbishop of Armagh, and dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene. It was in this priory that Richard II received the submission of four Irish kings in 1394. The tower was probably inserted in the 15th century at the place where nave and transepts met. Further south, in Old Abbey Lane off West Street, are the shabby remains of another medieval abbey, that of the Augustinians which was founded in 1206, though much of the present building is probably 15th century in date.
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