Carlingford Heritage Centre
About
The heritage centre occupies the restored medieval church of the Holy Trinity in the middle of the village, with its battlemented tower still standing over the graveyard, and it has kept its original function as a place of assembly: it is a heritage exhibition, a venue and, in practice, the organisation that runs Carlingford's guided tours. The town tour, which explores what survives of the Norman walled settlement, runs Monday to Friday at 11am, and the castle tour runs daily at 2pm through the season, which the operator's own castle page gives as March to October. The centre also holds the local heritage record from the 13th century to the present and has been involved in the conservation of the Tholsel through the Heritage Council and the Irish Walled Towns Network. Start here rather than at the castle if you want to understand what you are looking at in the streets outside.
Photos
Highlights
- ✓A medieval church with a battlemented tower, restored and still in use as a place of assembly
- ✓The starting point for the guided walking tour of the Norman walled town
- ✓Local heritage from the 13th century to the present
- ✓A quiet graveyard in the middle of the village that most weekend visitors walk straight past
Tips
- →Town tours run Monday to Friday at 11am and there is a minimum-numbers rule, so ring ahead; they meet at the tourist office at Station House on the Greenore road rather than at the centre itself. Adults, seniors and students €10, children €4, family of four €25.
- →The centre itself is open Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm year round, per its own site. Admission for the exhibition is still not published, so ask when you ring.
- →This is the sensible first stop if you have a couple of hours and want the medieval buildings to make sense.
Best Season
More Attraction Activities
King John's Castle (Carlingford Castle)
The Norman castle above the harbour, begun around 1190 and named for King John's 1210 visit, reopened for guided tours in season after a long Office of Public Works conservation programme.
Taaffe's Castle
An early 16th-century fortified merchant's townhouse on the seaward side of the village, probably built as a trading depot. A National Monument, viewed from the street.
The Mint
A 15th or 16th-century limestone tower house named for a 1467 minting licence, with five carved ogee windows showing a horse, a bust, a bird, a snake and Celtic interlace.