Interesting Facts relating to Drogheda

1. The town of Drogheda was founded by the Normans and given its coat of arms by King  John , Robin Hood’s arch enemy. The star and crescent of Drogheda differs significantly from the ones on a number of nations flags including Turkey
2. St Patrick landed at the mouth of the river Boyne , near Drogheda in 432AD when he arrived in Ireland to introduce Christianity .   
3. Oliver Cromwell did most of his killing in Drogheda on September 11^th 1649 , so the 9-11 date had a significance long before 2001.
4. King James who lost the Battle of the Boyne , was in his younger days “Duke of York and Albany” and when the British took New Amsterdam from the Dutch , they renamed the city New York in his honour and also named the city of Albany ( New York state capital)  in his honour. 
5. The Battle of the Boyne was fought 3 miles up stream from Drogheda on July 1^st 1690 , It is now celebrated on the 12^th due to the change in the calendar , brought in by Pope Gregory
6. Edward Bruce , brother of Robert was the last man crowned High King of Ireland , he attacked Drogheda in 1317 and was later killed at the Battle of Faughart by Drogheda man John Malpas
7. In 1494 Poynings Law was passed in Drogheda , which meant that the Irish Parliament could no longer pass a law without the expressed permission of the English Privy Council
8. Hugh O’Neill and Hugh O’Donnell spent the night in a premises on Peter Street , before  signing the Treaty of Mellifont in 1603.  O’Neill was a Louth man born in Dundalk
9. Famous people born in Drogheda include actor Pierce Brosnan, footballers Steve Staunton, Gary Kelly and Ian Harte, former Ryder Cup golfer Des Smyth ,  Eamonn Campbell of internationally famous folk group the Dubliners and Comedienne Deirdre O’Kane    
10. Three times Eurovision winning singer/songwriter Johnny Logan lived and went to school in Drogheda and played gaelic football for Louth at minor level
11. Mother Mary Martin founded the Medical Missionaries of Mary and based their first hospital in Drogheda . She is buried in St Peter’s Cemetery.
12. Captain William Blyth of Mutiny on the Bounty fame designed the beacons in the Boyne river to guide ships into port
13. John Philip Holland the inventor of the submarine taught at Drogheda Christian Brothers School before moving to New Jersey.  He lived in the building that is now Scholars Hotel
14. United Irishman John Napper Tandy , who is recalled in at least two songs “The Wearing Of The Green” and “The Spanish Lady”  was a freeman of Drogheda , his brother Burton Tandy was Mayor of the town in 1800
15. Ben Dunne,  founder of the Dunnes Stores retail chain,  served his time as an apprentice in Anderson’s of West Street now one of Dunnes Store’s branches
16. Pope John Paul the Second visited Drogheda in 1979 when he addressed over a quarter of a million at Killineer,  just north of the town
17. The famous Tara Broach , now in the National Museum , was found on the beach in Bettystown ,  5 miles east of the town
18. A horse named “Drogheda” won the famous Aintree Grand National in 1898
19. John Boyle O’Reilly , poet , newspaper owner and patriot was born at Dowth , 4 miles from the town in 1844
20. Paul Espinasse , killed as a result of a fall from a horse near the Black Bull in  Drogheda , was the previous tenant of the St James Gate Brewery in Dublin , which after his death was then taken over by Arthur Guinness
21. Evanna Lynch who played Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter film “ The Order of the Phoenix “ is from Termonfeckin near Drogheda
22. Laytown Races is the only official race meeting run on a beach while Bellewstown Races are one of the oldest recorded meetings in the British Isles
23. Irish & British Lions rugby player Shane Horgan is from Bellewstown near Drogheda and played his early rugby with Boyne Rugby Club
24. Oldbridge House, which now houses the Battle of the Boyne Visitor Centre was built Nicholas Coddington. John McCain, the defeated US Presidential candidate , is a direct descendent
25. General Richard Montgomery, the first general killed in the American War of Independence, after whom Montgomery, the state capital of Alabama is named once lived in Beaulieu House