Magdalen Tower, Medieval tower in Drogheda, Ireland

Magdalen Tower is a Gothic structure in Drogheda featuring a pointed arch base and several stories connected by an internal spiral staircase. The masonry shows the solid construction typical of medieval defensive buildings from this period.

Lucas de Netterville, Archbishop of Armagh, founded the Dominican friary here around 1224; the tower itself was built in the 14th century. At the end of that century the Ulster chiefs O'Donnell, O'Hanlon, McMahon and O'Neill submitted to Richard II at the friary. In 1649 Cromwell's cannon badly damaged the battlements during the siege of Drogheda.

The tower's name comes from a Magdalene house, and the friary it belonged to stood just inside Drogheda's northern walls, near the now-demolished St Sunday's Gate. In 1412 its abbot, Father Bennett, mediated between the people on either side of the River Boyne, which led to the uniting of Drogheda.

The site can be visited as part of exploring Drogheda's medieval landmarks, alongside the surviving town walls and gates in the area. Walking through the streets around the tower helps you understand how the medieval town was laid out and defended.

The tower is the last standing part of a Dominican friary founded around 1224 by Lucas de Netterville, Archbishop of Armagh. Its battlements were badly damaged by Cromwell's cannon during the siege of 1649, and the friary itself later disappeared as the Reformation measures took its lands for the Crown.