Concerns over final port of call for uncovered medieval boat

A new "Battle of the Boyne" is looming over plans to put what is believed to be a medieval boat on display in the National Museum…

A new "Battle of the Boyne" is looming over plans to put what is believed to be a medieval boat on display in the National Museum in Dublin and not in Drogheda, where it was found.

The results of radiocarbon dating are due later this month on the timber wreck of the vessel, which was found on the bed of the river Boyne during dredging operations last November by Drogheda Port Company.

Excavations indicate it is the hull of a 12m single-mast clinker-built boat which was carrying a cargo - possibly salted fish - in wooden barrels when it sank.

It is believed it could be a vessel that regularly plied a route between Drogheda and the west coast of Britain around 800 years ago, when Drogheda was a major trading and shipbuilding port with links to England, Iceland and Poland.

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Louth county councillor Frank Maher (FF) has urged that the boat remain locally: "If the vessel is raised it will take years to complete conservation and restoration work. When this is finished there is talk of the boat being put on display in the National Museum.

"This must not happen - it is part of the heritage of Drogheda and the Boyne Valley and must remain here . . . I want it to form the centrepiece of a museum to celebrate and record the rich maritime history of the area."

The excavation is being managed by the National Monuments Service of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government in partnership with Drogheda Port Company and the National Museum of Ireland.