Introduction The town of Carlingford is situated on the sea lough of the same name between counties Louth and Down. Although there is evidence of earlier occupation, the town is associated with the Vikings. The name is derived from the Irish and Norse languages, being a combination of Cairlinn (Irish) and fjord (Norse). The present town, however, owes its origins to the Normans, who arrived here in the twelfth century. Hugh de Lacy is credited with building the castle that overlooks the town and its harbour (traditionally called King John’s Castle after he visited Carlingford in 1210).
The present-day Trinity Visitor Centre, formerly the Holy Trinity Church of Ireland church, has evidence of medieval construction, and the town consisted of a linear development between it and the castle. The urban medieval outline can still be appreciated today, reinforced by the survival of a tholsel (gatehouse), three tower-houses (known as the Mint, Taaffe’s Castle and the Watch House) and the remnants of a town wall.
The town of Carlingford was an outpost of English settlement in Ireland and for a period was the northern limit of the Pale (the area of Ireland under English control). It thrived as a port in the Middle Ages but had declined by the eighteenth century, thanks to the ravages of war and the rise of the town of Newry, Co. Down, as a port and commercial centre.
Above: Image extracted from Robert O'Callaghan Newenham's Picturesque views of the antiquities of Ireland.Drawn on stone by J.D.Harding,from the sketches of R.O'C.Newenham (London, 1830), vol. 1, p. 185. Above right: Part of Down Survey map of 'barony of Dundalke', c. 1657 (in private ownership).
History Carlingford Priory, popularly referred to as an abbey, is said to owe its origins to Richard de Burgo, who in 1305 invited the Dominican Order to establish a priory in the town. The Irish Historic Towns Atlas records, however, that the Dominican priory was endowed by the merchants of Carlingford in 1352.
The priory, dedicated to St Malachy, was established along the general plans for such institutions across Europe: a church, a cloister and domestic buildings such as dormitories, kitchen and refectory. It is likely that the nearby watermill (in ruins) to the east and the mill-race that flows alongside the priory also date from this period.
Originally the priory was situated inside the town’s precincts; later, however, the town’s defences were moved inward as its population shrank in the wake of the Black Death, leaving the priory outside the town. As a result of the constant warfare on the frontiers of Ulster, the buildings were fortified with battlements in 1423. In 1540, after Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries, Carlingford Priory was officially dissolved. A survey conducted at that time described the priory as a ‘strong mansion in need of no expenditure on repairs’ and on ‘every side strongly fortified’, with seven tenements on the site.