by A gracious friend road tripped me up through Louth County today to find a fisherman. So near to where I have been staying and unbelievable I had yet to see. The Mountains of Mourne greeted us as we capped over the hill upon entering Clogherhead. There lied the Irish Sea.
The fishing village of Clogherhead, forming a natural bay has drawn man since landing on the east coast of Ireland. The stone out croppings along the coast are believed to be the source of stone for the Neolithic chambers dotting the Boyne Valley.
Robert the Bruce, landed with over 6000 men in order to help the Irish defeat the English, to no avail. In 1649 Cromwellian soldiers tragically executed local priests in the cliff side cave. The area of Louth county also lost numerous Catholic Churches and glorious monastery s and abbeys to the religious genocide of the English forces of the 17th century priests. But despite all the harsh history, Clogherhead and Lough County have some of the most beautiful views and prosperous estate houses in the country.
The Port of Oriel at Clogherhead, boasts the latest in modern Irish ports and is home to a large Fishermans Co-op made up of small and large fishing vessels searching the Irish Sea clear to Wales for some of the worlds leading sources of prawns, shrimp and cod. Ireland’s fishing industry exported over €415 billion last year ! Most of which landing in France and Spain.
A lovely morning out, my only regret is that it wasn’t a warm Irish summer day so I could go out on the beach and dig up my own fresh mussels.
