County Louth


County Louth is a county in the Republic of Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Mid-East Region. It is named after the village of Louth. Louth County Council is the local authority for the county. According to the 2016 census, the population of the county was 128,884.

Geography

County Louth is colloquially known as 'the Wee County' as it is Ireland's smallest county by area. It is the 18th-largest in terms of population. It is the smallest of Leinster's 12 counties by size and the sixth-largest by population.
With its fairly average total population and its small size, Louth is the second-most densely populated county in Ireland, behind Dublin, and the fourth-most on the island of Ireland.

History

County Louth is named after the village of Louth, which in turn is named after Lugh, a god of the ancient Irish. Historically, the placename has had various spellings; "Lugmad", "Lughmhaigh", and "Lughmhadh". Lú is the modern simplified spelling.
The county is steeped in myth, legend and history, and is a setting in the Táin Bó Cúailnge. Later it saw the influence of the Vikings, as seen in the name of Carlingford Lough. They also established a longphort at Annagassan in the ninth century. At this time Louth consisted of three sub-kingdoms, each subject to separate over-kingdoms: Conaille ; Fir Rois ; and, the Fir Arda Ciannachta. The whole area became part of the O'Carroll Kingdom of Airgialla early in the 12th century under Donnchad Ua Cerbaill. At the same time, the area was removed from the diocese of Armagh and the episcopal see of the Diocese of Airgíalla or Clogher was transferred to Louth c. 1130–1190.
A number of historic sites are in the county, including religious sites at Monasterboice, Mellifont Abbey and the St Mary Magdalene Dominican Friary.
The Normans occupied the Louth area in the 1180s, and it became known as 'English' Oriel, to distinguish it from the remainder which remained in Irish hands. The latter became the McMahon lordship of Oriel of County Monaghan.
In the early 14th century, the Scottish army of Edward Bruce was repulsed from Drogheda. Edward was finally defeated, losing his claim to the High Kingship of Ireland along with his life, in the Battle of Faughart near Dundalk, by a chiefly local force led by John de Bermingham.
In 1189, a royal charter was granted to Dundalk after a Norman nobleman named Bertram de Verdun erected a manor house at Castletown Mount. Later in 1412, a royal charter was granted to Drogheda. This charter unified the towns of Drogheda-in-Meath and Drogheda-in-Uriel as a County in its own right, styled as ‘the County of the town of Drogheda’. Drogheda continued as a County Borough until the setting up of County Councils, through the enactment of the Local Government Act 1898, which saw all of Drogheda, including a large area south of the River Boyne, become part of an extended County Louth.
Until the late 16th century, Louth had been a part of Ulster, before being included as part of Leinster after a conference held at Faughart between the Chiefs of Ulster, on the Irish side, and the Archbishop of Cashel and the Earl of Ormonde on that of the English.
The 16th and 17th centuries featured many skirmishes and battles involving Irish and English forces, as Louth was on the main route to 'the Moiry Pass' and the Ulster areas often in rebellion and as yet uncolonised. Oliver Cromwell attacked Drogheda in 1649 slaughtering the Royalist garrison and hundreds of the town's citizens. Towards the end of the same century, the armies of the warring Kings, James II and William of Orange, faced off in south Louth during the build-up to the Battle of the Boyne; the battle was fought 3 km west from Drogheda. Drogheda held for James under Lord Iveagh, but surrendered to William the day after the battle of the Boyne.
In 1798, the leaders of the United Irishmen included Bartholomew Teeling, John Byrne, and Patrick Byrne, all from Castletown; Anthony Marmion from Louth Town and Dundalk, Anthony McCann from Corderry; Nicholas and Thomas Markey from Barmeath, and Arthur McKeown, John Warren, and James McAllister from Cambricville. They were betrayed by informers, notably a Dr. Conlan, who came from Dundalk, and an agent provocateur called Sam Turner, from Newry. Several leaders were hanged.
The priest and scientist Nicholas Callan was from Darver.

Demographics

County Louth is the 18th largest county in terms of population, but it is the most densely populated county in Ireland outside Dublin, with a population density of 160 people per km2, almost double the national average. The majority of the county's population lives in the two main towns of Drogheda and Dundalk, also the overall 6th- and 8th-largest urban areas in Ireland respectively.

Towns and settlements (2011 census)

AreaLegal Town LimitInc. EnvironsInc. Rural
Dundalk31,14937,81663,429
Drogheda30,39338,57838,578
Ardee4,5544,9277,418
Blackrock3,0003,0003,000
Clogherhead1,9933,0263,026
Dunleer1,7862,3402,340
Termonfeckin1,4431,4431,443
Tullyallen1,3581,3581,358
Dromiskin1,1151,1151,115
Carlingford1,0451,0451,045
Castlebellingham1,0351,0351,035
Louth715715715
Tallanstown673673673
Knockbridge583583583
Omeath503503503
Tinure456456456
Jenkinstown323323323
Beaulieu221221221
Annagassan180180180

Population by religion

Towns and villages

Louth County Council

The local authority is Louth County Council, offices in Dundalk, which provides a number of services including planning, roads maintenance, fire brigade, council housing, water supply, waste collection, recycling and landfill, higher education grants and funding for arts and culture.
Since the implementation of the Local Government Reform Act 2014 on 1 June 2014, County Louth has been subdivided into four Local Electoral Areas for elections to Louth County Council and three Municipal districts for local government, which are:
CouncilAreaDistrict
LEA
Councillors
Louth County Council ArdeeYY6
Louth County Council DroghedaYY10
Louth County Council DundalkY13
Louth County Council Dundalk CarlingfordY6
Louth County Council Dundalk SouthY7

Key:

Louth Dáil constituency

For elections to Dáil Éireann, Louth is represented by the five member Louth constituency which takes in the entire county of Louth and two electoral divisions in County Meath.
the Electoral Act 2009 merged the electoral divisions of St.Mary's and Julianstown, collectively known as "East Meath" in County Meath with County Louth to form one Louth Dáil constituency.
The Report on Dáil and European Parliament Constituencies 2007 outlined;
"by extending the constituency southwards from, and in the environs of, Drogheda and taking in electoral divisions which have extensive linkages with the town. This will allow the inclusion of the town of Drogheda and hinterland areas in a single constituency."
This merger allowed the areas of the Greater Drogheda area in County Meath and their combined population of 20,375 to be merged with Drogheda and County Louth.
Following the 2011 general election, the constituency elected two TDs for the Fine Gael party, and one touchdown each for Fianna Fáil, the Labour Party and Sinn Féin.

Irish language

The area of Omeath was Irish-speaking until the early 20th century. A native dialect of Louth Irish existed there until about 1930 but is now extinct, although recordings have been made.
34.07% of the population of County Louth are Irish speakers, with 790 people who use Irish on a daily basis and 2,276 people who use Irish on a weekly basis outside the education system, according to the 2016 census.

People

Entertainment

Freedom of the County

The Following People and Military Units have received the Freedom of County Louth.