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Dundalk. |
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| (Dún Delgan) Dundalk is the county town of Louth, it is situated on the river Castletown near its outlet to the Irish Sea. The town is situated at the western side of Dundalk bay which is shallow and sandy. On the north side of the town is a harbour importing timber, grain and general cargo. A small fleet of trawlers and inshore fishing boats, are based in the harbour. The main industries are light engineering and the manufacture of footwear, tobacco, foodstuffs. Many new industrial estates and retail parks have grown up around the town in recent years. The town was granted to Bertram de Verdon by Prince John in 1186, Verdon built a castle and a settlement grew up around it, taking its modern name from Dún Delgan a prehistoric fort close to the town, which early Irish literature refers to as the home of mythical hero Chulainn. Four miles north of the town is Faughart supposedly the birth place of St Brigid . There are the remains of an old church on the site of a monastery attributed to her, near the west corner of the church is the grave of Edward Bruce (Brother of King Robert Bruce of Scotland), Edward seized control of a considerable part of Ireland from the English before being defeated and killed at the Battle of Faughart on 14th October 1318 by an army led by John de Birmingham, an Anglo Norman Lord.
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