The Irish army of King James II, after leaving Dundalk, made Ardee their headquarters for a time in 1689, the artillery bastion may have been constructed in anticipation of an encounter with the Williamites. However, on the approach of William’s forces in the autumn before the battle of the Boyne, James II and his army retreated to Drogheda.
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The earliest detailed depiction of the town is Richardson’s map of 1677 and the sense of enclosure is particularly strong in this image. It indicates that the town had four gates: Bridge Gates to the south: and unnamed gate to the west (which is called Ash Walk Gate), Head Gate to the north and Cappock’s Gate to the east.
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Ardee, an incorporated market and post-town, and a parish, in the barony of Ardee, County of Louth, and province of Leinster, 10 miles (SW by W) from Dundalk, and 34 miles N by NW from Dublin; containing 6181 inhabitants, of which number, 3975 are in the town. This place, anciently called Atherdee or Athirdee, derives its name from its situation on the river Dee.
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The Taaffe family came from nearby Smarmore Castle, having arrived from Wales in the early 1300s. Successive generations of Taaffes continued to make Smarmore Castle their main residence in Ireland until the mid-1980s when the property was sold.
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