Drogheda

Sister cities

• Saint-Mandé
• Kuşadası

History

{{Historical populations|state=collapsed |1811|15590 |1813|16123 |1821|18118 |1831|17365 |1841|17300 |1851|16810 |1861|14722 |1871|13510 |1881|12297 |1891|11873 |1901|12760 |1911|12501 |1926|12716 |1936|14494 |1946|15715 |1951|16779 |1956|17008 |1961|17085 |1966|17908 |1971|20095 |1981|23615 |1986|24681 |1991|24656 |1996|25282 |2002|31020 |2006|35090 |2011|38578 |2016|40956 |2022|44135 ||footnote= The density of archaeological sites of the prehistoric and early Christian periods uncovered in the course of ongoing developments, (including during construction of the Northern Motorway or 'Drogheda Bypass'), has shown that the hinterland of Drogheda has been a settled landscape for millennia. Despite local tradition linking Millmount to Amergin Glúingel, in his 1978 study of the history and archaeology of the town, John Bradley stated that "neither the documentary nor the archaeological evidence indicates that there was any settlement at the town prior to the coming of the Normans". The results of a number of often large-scale excavations carried out within the area of the medieval town appear to confirm this statement. It was completed in 1234 as the west wall of the first castle guarding access to the northern crossing point of the Boyne. A later castle, circa 1600, called Laundy's Castle stood at the junction of West Street and Peter's Street. On Meathside, the Castle of Drogheda or The Castle of Comfort was a tower house castle on the south side of the Bull Ring. It served as a prison, and as a sitting of the Irish parliament in 1494. The earliest known town charter is that granted to Drogheda-in-Meath by Walter de Lacy in 1194. In the 1600s, the name of the town was also spelled "Tredagh" in keeping with the common pronunciation, as documented by Gerard Boate in his…