About County Meath
County Meath is known as the Royal County, seat of the High Kings of Ireland at the Hill of Tara. The Boyne Valley contains some of the most notable prehistoric monuments in the world, Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth predate Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids by centuries. Beneath this ancient landscape runs the fertile soil that made Meath a prize for every successive power that sought to control Ireland.
History
The Hill of Tara was the symbolic centre of Ireland for millennia, High Kings were inaugurated here, and its abandonment marked the end of the ancient Gaelic order. The Battle of the Boyne was fought on Meath's southern border. The county's proximity to Dublin made it the most heavily settled area of Norman Ireland, and its castles and abbeys reflect centuries of Anglo-Norman power.
How Meath families left Ireland
Meath families, with better land and closer proximity to Dublin, emigrated in smaller proportions than western counties. However the Famine still caused significant displacement, and many Meath families are found across the eastern United States, particularly in New York and Pennsylvania.
Places worth visiting in County Meath
- Newgrange, the 5,200-year-old passage tomb aligned with the winter solstice sunrise, one of the world's great prehistoric monuments
- The Hill of Tara, the symbolic seat of the High Kings of Ireland, overlooking the central plain
- Trim Castle, the largest Norman castle in Ireland, its towers rising from the banks of the Boyne
- Loughcrew Cairns, the hilltop passage tombs known as the Hills of the Witch, with sweeping views across Ireland
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