Recommended Restaurants in Annagassan

Annagassan is a village in the townland of Ballynagassan, County Louth, Ireland. It sits where the River Glyde enters the Irish Sea.

It was first mentioned as Linn Duachaill in AD 841 when the establishment of a Viking longphort was recorded.

In 827 the Annals of Ulster record that the Vikings attacked the Ciannachta people of Co. Louth and north Meath. These early raids were sporadic coastal attacks by small seaborne forces, however from the 830s, a ‘new phase’ is characterised by larger fleets, which penetrate up navigable rivers and plunder extensive inland areas. There is a legend that one such Viking was stranded after a raid and settled there. The locals believe this Viking heritage is evidenced by the long-held residence of a seafaring man of mythic proportions and wild Scandinavian appearance and demeanor, known to the villagers as The Bear.

Annagassan was once as important as the Viking settlement at Dubh Linn (The Black Pool). Indeed, today's village settlement is generally believed to be built on what archaologists consider to be a man-made polder structure, constructed to provide shelter for the fijord, as the original settlement was located further upstream, and navigation was considerably easier on the River Glyde in the Ninth Century, not like nowadays, as sediment has built up considerably.