DROGHEDA, a seaport, market-town, and municipal and parliamentary borough of Ireland, in the province of Leinster, about 4 miles from the mouth of the Boyne, and 31⅜ miles north of Dublin by rail. Though situated on the borders of Louth and Meath, it belongs to neither, as the town and surrounding district constitute a county of a city, with an area of 9 square miles, or 5780 acres. It occupies both banks of the river; but the northern division is the larger of the two, and has received greater attention in modem times. The ancient fortifications, still extant in the beginning of the century, have almost completely disappeared; but of the four gateways, one named after St Lawrence remains comparatively perfect, and there are considerable ruins of another. Great improvements have been effected in the town since 1840, under the encouragement bestowed by Benjamin Whitworth, M.P., who built a townhall at his own expense in 1865, and furnished half the funds necessary for the construction of the water-works which now supply 800,000 gals, daily. Among the public buildings are a mansion-house or mayoralty, with a suite of assembly rooms attached; the “Tholsel,” a square building with a cupola; a corn-market,the old linen-hall, an infirmary, a workhouse, and a prison; five Protestant churches, five Roman Catholic chapels, three friaries, and four nunneries. St Peter’s Chapel formerly served as the cathedral of the Roman Catholic archbishopric of Armagh; and in the abbey of the Dominican nuns there is still preserved the head of Oliver Plunkett, the archbishop who was executed at Tyburn in 1681 on an unfounded charge of treason. There was at one time an archiepiscopal palace in the town, built by Archbishop Hampton about 1620; and the Dominicans, the Franciscans, the ...Augustinians, the Carmelites, and the knights of St John had monastic establishments. Of the Dominican buildings there still exists the stately Magdalen tower; the Franciscan friary is a striking ruin; and there are traces more or less distinct of the Augustinian priory, the priory of St Lawrence, and the hospital of St Mary. At the head of the educational institutions is a classical school endowed by Erasmus Smith; and among the public charities are an almshouse for twenty-four aged widows, and a foundation providing houses and annuities for thirty-six clergymen’s widows. There is also a blue-coat school, founded about 1727 for the education of freemen’s sons. The present building was erected by T. P. Cairnes in 1870. The industrial establishments comprise a large cotton factory, erected by Mr Whitworth in 1864, four extensive sawmills, three flax-mills, six flour-mills, eight tanneries, five salt-works, four soap works, two extensive breweries, two newspaper offices, chemical manure works, and a large engineering factory for the making of steam-engines, iron - bridges, Ac. A brisk trade is carried on, especially with Liverpool (which is distant 133 miles due east), and with Glasgow. The harbour has been greatly improved by the commissioners, and vessels of 400 tons can discharge at the quays. In 1873, 707, with a burden of 115,673 tons, entered the port; and the harbour receipts in 1871 were £3627. The tide reaches 2∣ miles above the town to Oldbridge; and barges of 50 tons burden can proceed 19 miles inland to Na van. The river is crossed by a bridge for ordinary traffic, and by a splendid railway viaduct. Assizes, quarter sessions, and petty sessions are held in the town; the parliamentary borough returns one member to Parliament; and the municipal borough is governed by a mayor, 6 aidermen, and 18 councillors. The population of the municipal borough (area, 454 acres) was 17,365 in 1831, 16,845 in 1851, 14,740 in 1861, and 13,510 in 1871. The whole population, with the exception of about 1100, are Roman Catholics. The inhabitants of the parliamentary burgh, which has an area of 5785 acres, numbers 16,165.
In the earliest notices the town of Drogheda is called Inver-Colpa or the Port of Colpa; the present name signifies “The Bridge over the Ford.” In 1152 the place is mentioned as the seat of a synod convened by the papal legate, Cardinal Paparo; in 1224 it was chosen by Lucas de Netterville, archbishop of Armagh, for the foundation of a Dominican friary; and in 1228 the two divisions of the town received separate incorporation from Henry III. But there grew up a strong feeling of hostility between Drogheda versus Uriel, and Drogheda versus Midiam, in consequence of trading vessels landing their cargoes in the latter or southern town, to avoid the pontage duty levied in the former or northern town. At length, after much blood had been shed in the dispute, Philip Bennett, a monk residing in the town, succeeded by his eloquence, on the festival of Corpus Christi, 1412, in persuading the authorities of the two corporations to send to Henry IV. for a new charter sanctioning their combination.
Drogheda has always been considered by the English a place of much importance. In the reign of Edward III. it was classed along with Dublin, Waterford, and Kilkenny, as one of the four staple towns of Ireland. Richard II. received in its Dominican monastery the submissions of O’Neal, O’Donnell, and other chieftains of Uls ter and Leinster. The right of coining money was bestowed on the town, and parliaments were several times held within its walls. In the reign of Edward IV. the mayor received a sword of state, and an annuity of £20, in recognition of the services rendered by the inhabitants at Malpus Bridge against O’Reilly; the still greater honour of having a university with the same privileges as that of Oxford remained a mere paper distinction, owing to the poverty of the town and the unsettled state of the country; and an attempt made by the corporation in modern times to resuscitate their rights proved unsuccessful'. In 1495 Poyning’s laws were enacted by a parliament held in the town. In the civil wars of 1641 the place was besieged by O’Neal and the Northern Irish forces; but it was gallantly defended by Sir Henry Tichboume, and after a long blockade was relieved by the Marquis of Ormond. The same nobleman relieved it a second time, when it was invested by the Parliamentary army under Colonel Jones. In 1649 it was captured by Cromwell, after a short though spirited defence; and nearly every individual within its walls, without distinction of age or sex, was put to the sword. Thirty only escaped, who were afterwards transported as slaves to Barbados. In 1690 it was garrisoned by King James’s army; but after the decisive battle of the Boyne,—the site of which, about 2⅛ miles to the west, is marked by an obelisk 150 high,—it surrendered to the conqueror without a struggle, in consequence of a threat that quarter would not be granted if the town were taken by storm. Its subsequent history is purely of local interest.
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