Drogheda’s most strategic location

The Millmount Martello Tower is Drogheda’s most dominant feature. Legend says it is the burial place of Amhairghin, a mythical Celtic poet and it has recently been suggested that this site may have been a large passage grave similar to Newgrange. The original fortifications here were built by Norman Hugh De Lacy in 1172. It later featured as part of the main defense against Cromwell during ‘the Siege of Drogheda’ in 1649. The defenders inside the fort attempted to surrender to Cromwell’s troops but were massacred after they gave themselves up. Millmount Tower was built in 1808 but saw no real action until it was considerably damaged by Free State forces during the Irish Civil War of 1922. It has since been fully restored by Drogheda’s town council and is now a military museum.