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| THE CITY OF DROGHEDA. -Drogheda-in Gaelic, Droich-ead-atha, "The Bridge of the Ford"-is situated on both banks of the river Boyne, in the counties of Louth and Meath, but chiefly in the former county, four miles from the mouth of the stream which divides it. It is one of the most ancient and renowned of Irish cities, and is filled with monastic and historic architectural relics. Of its four venerable gates-erected while it was still a walled town-one yet remains. After the Norman invasion of Ireland, Drogheda became for several centuries a place of great importance within the English pale, ranking with Dublin, Waterford and Kilkenny. It was visited by Richard II. and Henry V., of England, an many parliaments were held within its precincts, the last in the reign of James II. In September, 1649, Drogheda, held by an Anglo-Irish royalist garrison under General Sir Arthur Aston, was stormed, after a stout defense, by the Puritan army of Oliver Cromwell. Of the 3,000 persons within its walls, including soldiers who laid down their arms, women, children, nuns, priests, and other non-combatants, only about thirty escaped the slaughter. That massacre is the darkest spot on the escutcheon of Cromwell. He permitted it in order to "strike terror," and in this he certainly succeeded. In 1690 Drogheda surrendered to William III, after the Battle of the Boyne. |
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