National Monument The site is now a National Monument in the ownership of the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht (Nat. Mon. no. 623). Conservation work was carried out on the buildings, including the laying down of gravel on the floor of the nave and chancel and paved footpaths through the site. There was also some reconstruction of masonry, the reopening of windows and doorways and the delineation of the original walls of the complex. Unfortunately, weathering has deteriorated some of the more ornate features of the stonework, especially the carved head on the outside of the east window.

Documentary evidence suggests that the priory owned a watermill; to the east of the present site (but outside of the National Monument) are the ruins of a watermill over the mill-race that flows there. This was in use as a corn mill until the eighteenth century. It is believed that the mill-race follows the outline of what would have been an earlier defensive ditch when the priory was within the precincts of the town.

Further reading J. Bradley with contributions by H. King 1985 County Louth

Urban Archaeological Survey. Unpublished report, Office of Public Works, Dublin. V.M. Buckley and P.D. Sweetman (eds) 1991 Archaeological

Survey of County Louth. The Stationery Office, Dublin. Carlingford Lough Heritage Trust 1992 Medieval town trail of

Carlingford. Carlingford Lough Heritage Trust, Carlingford. H. O’Sullivan and R. Gillespie 2011 Irish Historic Towns Atlas No.

23: Carlingford. Royal Irish Academy, Dublin.

Above: View of the surviving portion of the priory’s domestic buildings, which would have extended northwards to join the chancel. A tower-house-like addition is located on the right of the domestic gable. Right: Location map. Cover: The impressive scale of the large, pointed east window, viewed from the east.

Credits and acknowledgements Guide series editors—Tom Condit and Gabriel Cooney Tex t—Tony Canavan Photographs—National Monuments Service and Chris Corlett Text editor—Emer Condit Layout—Wordwell Ltd Circulation manager—Una MacConville Date of publication—March 2019 With thanks to Tony Roche and John Lalor of the Photographic Section, National Monuments Service, Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. To order this guide please contact: Archaeology Ireland, Unit 9, 78 Furze Road, Sandyford Industrial Estate, Dublin 18. Tel. 01 2933568. Design and layout copyright Archaeology Ireland. Text copyright the author 2019. ISSN 0790-982X

This guide has been generously supported by the Office of Public Works.