George R.
Yelp
Carlingford is currently the home of President Joe Biden's Irish cousins. Great people. Just 8 miles away.
Carlingford is also a fine example of a medieval walled town, built at the time of the Normans in the 12th century.
The Vikings had invaded Ireland in the 9th Century and historical records establish that they occupied Carlingford Lough. The name Carlingford is Scandinavian translating into 'Fjord of Carlinn'.
The Normans arrived in Ireland in 1169 as allies of Irish King Dermot MacMurrough. By 1184 they had reached Carlingford.
A Norman Knight, Sir John de Courcy claimed this part of Louth for himself.
Sir John was a busy beggar. He arrived in Ireland in 1176 and by the time of his expulsion in 1204, he had conquered considerable territory, endowed religious establishments, built abbeys for the Benedictines (yes the monks that created champagne and benedictine), the Cistercians and he also built strongholds at Dundrum Castle in County Down and at Carrickfergus Castle in County Antrim.
The very first historical reference to Carlingford dates to 1184 when Sir John gave the rights of the ferry at Carlingford to the Abbot of Downpatrick indicating that the harbour was in use as a ferry point.
However, the town of Carlingford only developed after the castle known as King John's Castle was built.
The castle today is a ruin, but it's still obvious what it was nearly a thousand years ago - a place of defence.
As for its creator Sir John De Courcy, well he returned to Ireland, sailing across the Irish sea from the Isle of Man in July 1205 with Norse soldiers and a hundred boats.
John and his army landed at Strangford and laid siege to Dundrum Castle in vain, because the defences he himself had made were too strong.
King John then had John de Courcy imprisoned and he spent the rest of his life in poverty so the clerics he was so generous toward left him broke. He was subsequently released when he "crossed himself" to go on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
De Courcy died in obscurity just outside what is now Craigavon - I suppose anyone who dies there still departs in obscurity as the best thing about Craigavon, even a thousand years later, is still the road out of it.
