millmount fort

One of many legends regarding the origins of the mound says that it is the burial place of Amergin, an early Celtic poet, but it has also been suggested that it was possibly a large passage grave like Newgrange. It was fortified as a motte by the Normans in the 12th century and a castle was later built on its summit. The fort offered Cromwell the strongest resistance he encountered during the siege of 1649, and the Governor of the town, Sir Arthur Aston, was killed here in the course of combat. About 1808, the old fortifications were demolished and the present Martello type tower was erected. The fort was considerably damaged when it was shelled from the town by Free State forces during the civil war in 1922. Surveying Drogheda and the surrounding countryside from its summit, it is not difficult to realise the wisdom of the selection of Millmount as the site for a fort that would also be watchtower, especially in those times when vigilance was vital to the defence of such an important town.