St Laurence Gate

St Laurence Gate is not the gate itself but the barbican that stood in front of it - a defensive outwork of two four-storey drum towers joined by a wall with an arch between, built into Drogheda's town wall in the thirteenth century. The actual gate stood behind and is gone. Very few medieval barbicans survive anywhere at this scale, and this is among the most complete in Europe, which is a stronger claim than the town's low profile suggests. Drogheda's walls enclosed a large and wealthy medieval port, and sections of them survive elsewhere in the town. Until 2019 the main road ran directly through the arch, with buses and lorries squeezing under a structure eight hundred years old; it has since been pedestrianised, which was overdue. The interior is not open and the structure is viewed from the street.

What you actually see

• The barbican - two drum towers and a linking arch from the thirteenth century.
• The completeness - among the best-surviving of its type in Europe.
• The town wall - fragments elsewhere in Drogheda's streets.
• The pedestrianised street - traffic removed from under the arch in 2019.

When to go

Any time - it stands on a public street. Evening lighting shows it well. It takes twenty minutes unless you walk the wall fragments elsewhere in the town.

Honest expectations

Exterior only; there is no access inside the towers. It is a single structure on a town street with minimal interpretation - a short stop rather than a visit.

Nearby

Millmount and the Highlanes Gallery are in Drogheda; Monasterboice and Mellifont are north.