Quick Facts about County Meath

Quick Facts about County Meath

Discover more about County Meath

12 Facts about County Meath

  1. Meath is known as the Royal County because many centuries ago aspiring High Kings of Ireland came to the Hill of Tara in the centre of County Meath to be crowned in elaborate kingship rituals. Tara is an important location in many Irish myths and legends.
     
  2. Meath is home to one of three UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Ireland, The passage tombs of Brú na Bóinne (Newgrange and Knowth) are 500 years older than the Great Pyramids of Giza in Egypt.
     
  3. Meath was once the fifth province of Ireland called Mide which incorporated what is now Westmeath and large parts of Cavan and Longford, stretching from the Shannon to the sea.
     
  4. Trim Castle is Ireland’s largest Anglo-Norman castle. It is also the place where parts of the movie Braveheart were filmed.
     
  5. Ireland’s version of the ancient Olympic games, the Great Aonach, took place at Táilteann (Teltown) located half way between Kells and Navan tri-anually for over 3,000 years. Young warriors tested their strength and prowess in a medley of events: racing, wrestling, boxing, chariots races, swimming horses through the river at dawn and sham aquatic fights. There is record of the Táilteann games continuing as late as 1168AD, and a modern version was established by the newly-independent Irish state in 1924. 
     
  6. According to folklore, Samhain, the ancient Celtic Festival that we now call Halloween, originated here in Co. Meath at the Hill of Ward (Tlachtga) near Athboy more than 3,000 years ago.
     
  7. The Boyne Valley is home to the largest concentration of megathlithic carved stone art in Western Europe, and can be best seen at the Loughcrew Cairns and at Brú na Bóinne (Newgrange and Knowth).
  8. The Battle of the Boyne, which took place at Oldbridge in 1690, had the largest number of troops ever deployed on an Irish battlefield.
     
  9. Newgrange (3000BC) is the oldest known deliberately orientated structure in the world. It is aligned to dawn at the Winter Solstice, December 21st.
     
  10. Meath is the only county in Leinster which has two Gaeltachts (Irish-speaking regions) Rathcairn and Baile Ghib.
     
  11. It is home to the only official strand races in Europe, which take place on Laytown Beach each year. Racing at nearby Bellewstown has taken place for almost 300 years, with the first recorded race taking place in 1726. Meath truly has a long tradition of horses; horse bones excavated at Newgrange were radio carbon-dated to the Iron Age (2000 years ago).
     
  12. County Meath occupies an area of 234,490 hectares. Meath enjoys a diverse low-lying topography, ranging from extensive rich pastures throughout the Boyne and Blackwater river valleys, some drumlin hills in the north of the county, tracts of peatlands and raised bog in the southwest and a beautiful coastline of 12 kilometres in the east.