There was another notable in the Forkhill area - besides the often mentioned Squire Jackson - one Captain Alexander, whose original Forkhill House home endured well into the twentieth century. 

Forkhill house had a few owners after Alexander, the last of whom knocked the house down for the lead and oak beams in its roof! 

The adjoining servants’ quarters were left untouched.  It’s believed that the Black and Tans stayed here in the early ‘20’s Troubles. Michael Collins is reputed to have walked around it, studying its lie with an eye to attacking it.

Much later in the Second World War, the de la Salle Brothers stayed in it.

The large field in front of the house used to be the front lawn, surrounded by a terrace walk. An adjoining field was known as the Sundaywells Field.  It had three wells and a mass rock in it. The latter is a large flat stone beside a spring. It is the start of a stream which runs down through neighbouring fields into the Forkhill River.

It is reputed that in penal days, people congregated at the Mass Rock by walking up the track of the frozen stream. There is another field with a borehole in it, that yielded blue clay for pottery and for building bricks. The artificial lake that was the house’s main attraction is now all but gone. In its time it was kept stocked with trout, its attraction for anglers evident.

The mountain beside Forkhill House is called Foxfield Mountain and on its side are the ruins of a ‘turret’ (‘folly’ if you like) or summer house. From this point you have a wonderful view of Dundalk Bay. Near the turret are three large stones, placed there by an ancient giant. This, from its obvious appearance, is known as the Giant’s Chair. 

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