milmount

Originally erected, according to legend, for a son of Milesius (the man responsible for leading the Milesians (Celts) from Spain to Ireland), the hill was later used as a meeting place by the Vikings and as a defensive stronghold by the Normans. The barracks, which was stormed by Cromwell in 1649, was later used as a prison during the tensions of 1916 and was severely shelled during the Civil War in 1922. Today it has been converted into a fine craft centre and museum, incorporating a restaurant and other facilities for visitors. From atop Millmount one can see that Drogheda is a town of churches and religious sites, both mediaeval and modern. The Boyne splits the town, the northern sector being in the Archdiocese of Armagh, the southern sector in the Diocese of Meath. The mediaeval churches of St. Peter's and St. Mary's existed on the sites of the present Protestant churches. With the towers of St. Mary's D'urse, the remaining tower of the Dominican church and the various nineteenth-century examples of the Gothic Revival (culminating in the triumphalist style of St.