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Meath (An Mhí in Irish) is a county in the Republic of Ireland, the county is often informally called The Royal County. Area: 2342 km² (904 square miles). The de facto county town is Navan, where the county hall 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, Laytown/Bettystown, and Kells with its round tower and monastic past. Slane is well known both for its castle, and the occasion rock concerts.
Meath has experienced divergent population trends 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.
Meath (the "middle") was once a province of Ireland in its own right, but now forms part of Leinster, historically this province 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 5,000-year-old burial site Newgrange (Brú na Bóinne), in the northeast of the county, is a "World Heritage" designated site. The county included all of present day Westmeath until 1543, when the latter was created as a county in its own right.
Geography
Economy
An increasing proportion of Meath residents commute into Dublin, with a resulting shift to a services based economy in the developing dormitory towns.
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