MEATH, a maritime co. of the province of Leinster, Ireland, bounded on the e. by the Irish sea and the county of Dublin; area, 906 sq.m., or 580,083 acres, of which 547,391 are arable. about 30,000 waste, bog, etc. Pop. '51, 140,748; '61, 110,575: '71, 95,558, of whom 89,140 are Roman Catholics, 5,826 Protestant Episcopalians, the rest Protestants .of other denominations. The surface is for the most part an undulating level, forming the eastern extremity of the great limestone plain of Ireland, and rising slightly towards the n. and north-west. No minerals of any importance are found. The soil is a rich loam, and extremely fertile; but it has long been devoted almost entirely to pasture; the total extent under crops in 1876 being only 140,720 acres. ID the same year the cattle amounted to 170.349, the sheep to 217,065, and the pigs to 17,085. The chief rivers are the Boyne and Blackwater. The principal towns are Trim, 'Cavan, and Kells, in the first of which the assizes are held. Meath possesses abundant means of communication, being intersected by numerous roads and several railways, also by the royal canal. The coast-line, about 10 m., has Do port of importance, even as a fishing-station. The occu pation of the people is almost wholly agricultural. The number of children attending the national schools in 1875 was 16,972. Anciently, Meath,which included West Meath,
and probably portions of several other adjacent counties, formed one of the kingdoms into which Ireland was divided, the royal seat being the celebrated Temor or " Tara of the kings," the scene of the first preaching of Christianity under St. Patrick. After the English invasion, Meath was early occupied by Strougbow, and was erected into a county palatine by Henry II., who conferred it on Hugh de Lacy. From this time forward, it was the scene of many conflicts. In the end of the reign of Henry VIII. it was sepa rated into e. and w. Meath. Few Irish counties present so many interesting relics of Irish antiquities of all the various periods. Celtic remains abound along the Boyne and Blackwater. The earthworks of the ancient royal seat at Tara are still discernible, aud some valuable and highly characteristic gold ornaments were there discovered. John's castle at Trim is one of the most extensive monuments of English rule in Ireland. The round tower and sculptured crosses of Kells are singularly interesting; and almost every parish in the county contains soine relic of the feudal or ecclesiastical structures which formerly covered the land. Meath returns two members to parliament.