County Meath
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
| County Meath Contae na Mí
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| Area: | 2,342 km² |
| County Town: | Navan |
| Code: | MH |
| Population: | 134,005 (2002) |
| Province: | Leinster |
County Meath (Contae na Mí in Irish) is a county in the Republic of Ireland, often informally called The Royal County. The de facto county town is Navan, where the county hall and government is located, although Trim has a historical significance, including the location of the circuit court, Norman castle and Anglo-Norman parliament. Other major towns include Ashbourne, Dunshaughlin, Ratoath, Dunboyne and Kells with its round tower and monastic past. Slane is well known both for its castle, and the occasional rock concerts. Other less significant places are Athboy, Bettystown, Laytown and Moynalty.
Meath (the "middle") was once a province of Ireland in its own right - see Kings of Mide - but now forms part of Leinster. Historically this province of Meath included all of the current county as well as all of Westmeath and parts of Cavan, Dublin, Kildare, Longford, Louth and Offaly. The High King of Ireland sat at Tara in Meath. The archaeological complex of Brú na Bóinne, including the 5,000-year-old burial site Newgrange, in the northeast of the county, is a UNESCO designated World Heritage Site.
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Geography
- Rivers Boyne and Blackwater
- 16 km of coastline with the Irish Sea
- Bordered by Irish Sea and counties Cavan, Fingal, Kildare, Louth, Monaghan, Offaly and Westmeath
Economy
An increasing proportion of Meath residents commute into Dublin, with a resulting shift to a services based economy in the developing dormitory towns.
Population Change
The population in Co. Meath has been characterised since 1861 as a period of significant decline in population between 1861 and 1936 (67,497 to 71,729) when the population was almost halved (110,373 to 67,497) and stablisation from 1901 to 1971, and an explosion in population since then which has seen the population almost double between 1971 to 2002 from 71,729 to 134,005.
This population growth has seen divergent trends emerge in recent years, with mild depopulation in the north and west of the county being more than offset by large increases in the population of the eastern part of the county, principally due to overspill from Dublin. The county is considered part of the "Greater Dublin Area".
Populatiion by census in Co. Meath since 1861:
- 1861: 110,373
- 1871: 95,558
- 1881: 87,469
- 1891: 76,987
- 1901: 67,497
- 1911: 65,091
- 1926: 62,969
- 1936: 61,405
- 1946: 66,232
- 1961: 65,122
- 1971: 71,729
- 1981: 95,419
- 1991: 105,370
- 2002: 134,005
Source
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Counties of Ireland | .png){kind=small} |
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| Connacht: Galway (~City) | Leitrim | Mayo | Roscommon | Sligo | |||
| Munster: Clare | Cork (~City) | Kerry | Limerick (~City) | Tipperary (North~; South~) | Waterford (~City) | |||
| Leinster: Carlow | Dublin (~City; Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown; Fingal; South~) | Kildare | Kilkenny | Laois | Longford | Louth | Meath | Offaly | Westmeath | Wexford | Wicklow | |||
| Ulster: Antrim * | Armagh * | Cavan | Donegal | Down * | Fermanagh * | Londonderry * | Monaghan | Tyrone * | |||
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* denotes counties in Northern Ireland (others are in the Republic of Ireland); italics denotes non-administrative counties; (parentheses) denotes non-traditional counties |
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