Carlingford is underrated, writes Hugh Oram. It's one of the most striking medieval towns in Ireland, in a magical setting on the southern shores of Carlingford Lough, backed by Slieve Foye and facing across the water to the Mountains of Mourne; yet somehow it doesn't have the same tourist rating as somewhere like Kinsale, which it deserves.
The largest of its historic buildings is King John's Castle, which dates from around 1200, while the town also still has its medieval Tholsel and some of its old walls. Yet another ancient building is Taaffe's Castle, built in the 16th century. Carlingford Mint dates back to the 15th century, but even though the town was given the right to mint its own coinage in 1467, the mint was never used for this purpose.
The ruins of the Dominican friary another important part of the town's heritage.The former Holy Trinity Church in the town, again with medieval origins, was turned into the local heritage centre in the early 1990s and is a splendid repository of local history.
The town also features a memorial to one of its most famous sons, Thomas D'Arcy McGee, who achieved much fame as a journalist and poet, then as a politician in Canada in the 19th century. Another key historical figure was Fr Laurence Murray, who was largely responsible for starting the Gaelic revival movement. He once described Carlingford as a "gold mine to the antiquarian".
But while the historic buildings of Carlingford survive, many other aspects of life in the town have changed dramatically. Much of the town's commercial life centres around the ancient Market Square, but many of the old shops there have vanished, places where you could buy groceries, hardware and drapery.
Chequins was one of those stores, selling groceries in one part, drapery in the other; eventually, the building became a high-class boutique. What was a newsagent's shop, once a popular gathering place in Newry Street, is now home to an ATM machine.
Carlingford's ancient edifices are surrounded by new buildings, among them the Four Seasons Hotel, which has the local nickname of "the wedding warehouse" because of the number of receptions held there. One of the big local issues is the rezoning of more land for housing development. Yet many of the new houses being built are second homes for owners from Belfast and Dublin.
It's a familiar story all over the country - conservation versus progress - yet in few other Irish towns is the conflict so acute. In the past few years, the pressure of development has become ever more insistent.
When the railway came here in the 1870s, linking Greenore, Carlingford and Omeath with Dundalk and Newry, Carlingford started to blossom as a Victorian holiday resort. One of the results of that first flush of tourism was the imposing Carlingford Hotel, which traded for years as a temperance hotel, but closed after the tourist trade faded in the 1920s. The place was taken over by the Sisters of Mercy, who used it as a holiday home for its nuns. In those far-off days, the bathing places for men and women on the seashore were over a mile apart. A few years ago, the building was demolished and replaced by an apartment block.
Some old traditions have been revived, such as the annual Carlingford Oyster Festival. Carlingford Lough once had a great store of native oysters, whose decline led eventually to restocking with foreign oysters, so that the trade has made something of a comeback. The town also once had a great fishing tradition - in the late 19th century, the then new harbour often had up to 100 fishing boats from as far away as Arklow and the Isle of Man. In those days, Carlingford could claim three hotels, 13 pubs, eight grocery shops, two draperies, two shoemakers, two blacksmiths and a photographer, all for a population that was then around 500.
Certain families continue to play a key role in the town, such as the McKevitts, of Village Hotel renown, right in the centre of town. Ghan House, an early 18th-century house, has become noted for its luxurious accommodation, fine restaurant and cookery school, run by the Carroll family. In recent years, tourism has been much revived, with bistros and restaurants galore.
Carlingford and the Cooley peninsula have had to contend with many difficulties over the year, not least the partition of Ireland, which cut it off economically from Newry, the closure of its railway service in 1952, and in latter years the dark effects of the Troubles. But now the area is rightly claiming its place at tourism's top table and another scheme that's on the cards could help.
After years of haggling and pleading, it finally looks as if a bridge is going to be built across Narrow Water, which will link the northern and southern sides of Carlingford Lough, to the benefit of both areas.
The famous Fr Murray said, nearly a century ago, that Carlingford wasn't a handsome town because it was "narrow, hilly, angular and gloomy" - but that it had a medieval suggestiveness that could carry one back many centuries and fill the mind with vague dreamings.
Despite the rash of recent developments, you can still dream there, but in much more comfort these days.