What is recorded here

Castle of Comfort, a vanished tower house at the foot of the Boyne hill, may have been a brutal border guard or a merciful refuge for drowned travellers. The name itself is a contradiction: comfort suggests warmth, while castle suggests a cage. Perhaps both are true, a place where mercy and violence shared one room.

Probable tower house, commonly called the Old Tholsel or Castle of Comfort (D'Alton 1844, vol. 1, 100-1), lay at the foot of the hill on the Meath side of the River Boyne and is shown on Newcomen's map of 1657 (D'Alton 1844, vol. 1, 285). No visible surface trace. The above description is derived from both the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Louth' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1986) and the 'Archaeological Survey of County Louth' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1991). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 17 July 2007

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