Dundalk

Dundalk, a port and parliamentary borough in co. Louth, Ireland, situated in Dundalk Bay, at the mouth of the Castletown river, 50 miles N. of Dublin, and on the North of Ireland Railway. It was a royal city in the reign of Edward II.

Edward Brerce was proclaimed king there in 1315, and was killed in a battle close by. The place was taken by the Irish in 1641, by Cromwell in 1649, and by Schomberg in 1689. The parish church has a curious copper-covered steeple of wood, and the Roman Catholic church has some architectural pretensions. There are the usual public buildings of a county and assize town. The chief trade is in agricultural produce, but flax-spinning, iron-founding, distilling, brewing, and salt-making, are also carried on. The harbour has undergone much improvement, and a railway has been constructed to Greenore on Carlingford Lough, so that regular steam traffic is now maintained, and the exports of grain and live stock are considerably increased.

Dundalk returned one member to Parliament until 1885, but is now merged in the county.