SNIPPET: Louth, in the province of Leinster, is the smallest Irish county, lying on the border of the Republic and Northern Ireland. The area around the picturesque village of Omeath was Gaelic-speaking into the beginning of the last century, the last indigenous outpost of the ancient tongue in eastern Ireland. The beautiful fishing port of Carlingford, where the Slieve Foye Mountain tumbles into the sea, is known for its local oysters and prawns which are washed down with Guinness or Harp lager from a brewery in the county town of Dundalk. At Monasterboice, ornate Celtic crosses and round tower are some of the remains of a monastery founded by St. Buithe in the 5th century. This ruined monastery is visit-worthy - the ornately carved high crosses are some of the best in Ireland. In the Dark Ages, these crosses, illustrated from top to bottom with Bible stories, gave monks a teaching tool as they preached to the illiterate masses. Today, Monasterboice, basically an old graveyard, is always open and free. The 18-foot tall Cross of Murdock (Muiredach's cross, A. D. 923) was named after an abbot. The carved sandstone's center panel shows the Last Judgment, with Christ under a dove symbolizing the Holy Spirit. Those going to heaven are on Christ's right, and the damned are being ushered away by devils on the left. Other scenes depict the Magi, Moses, scenes from the life of David, Adam, Eve, and Cain slaying Abel. St. Brigid, the patroness of Ireland, born at Faughart, four miles (6.5 km) north of Dundalk, founded the great abbey of Kildare and comes after St. Patrick and before St. Columba in the hierarchy of patron saints of the Irish. She is remembered throughout Ireland in the form of an irregular cross made from rushes, known as St. Brigid's cross, which hangs on the walls of many an Irish living room. In the 12th century, Drogheda's strategic position near the mouth of the Boyne was not wasted on the Anglo-Norman colonists who set up a castle and a bridge here, and by the Middle Ages, Drogheda, along with Dublin, was one of the most important English towns in Ireland. There was even a parliament which passed an Act, in 1465, for the setting up of a Drogheda University. Although Drogheda's significance would diminish over the centuries, there are still some magnificent architectural examples extant of the town's former splendour. The most impressive of these is St. Lawrence's Gate, a magnificent barbican complex at the junction of St. Lawrence Street and Palace Street, with its pair of great circular towers linked by double arches and topped by a battlement The southern part of Co. Louth has its seaside resorts and its historic connotations, centered mainly on the town of Drogheda where the River Boyne completes its journey to the sea. Down river on the north bank from the town is Baltray, home of one of the finest golf links in Ireland. Drogheda itself is remembered historically for the lack of quarter given to its residents by its most unpopular tourist, Oliver CROMWELL, in 1649. At that time Sir Arthur ASTON held Drogheda for King Charles I against the Roundheads, and on the 10th of September the town fell to CROMWELL's third assault. CROMWELL, a symbol of democracy in most parts of the world, was a man of his time, an era when the line between progress and barbarity was thinly drawn. He ruthlessly avenged the murder of Protestants by Catholic rebels in 1641 with the sacking of Drogheda and Wexford. He ordered the execution of some 2,000 of Drogheda's defenders, including ASTON, and many of the survivors were transported to the West Indies. .