BOUNDARIES AND DIMENSIONS
Louth, a maritime county in the province of Leinster is the smallest county in Ireland. It is bounded on the north by counties Armagh and Down, on the east by the Irish Sea, on the south and west by county Meath and also on the west by county Monaghan. Its greatest length from near Drogheda to near Ravensdale is about 30 miles and its greatest breadth is about 15 miles.

NAME AND FORMER DIVISIONS
The ancient form of the name is Luganhagh, but its origin is uncertain. The portion of the county between Drogheda and Dundalk was the ancient Murthemné, the possession of the great hero Cuchullin. This was the scene of the most ancient “Cattle Drive” in Irish history, known as the “Tain Bo Quelné”, and celebrated in the famous epic poem of that name. The cattle raid eventually resolved itself into a seven years war between Ulster and Connaught, of which Cuchullin was the hero. Quelné (Irish = Cuailnge) was the Carlingford district. Cuchullin’s habitation was about 2 miles west of Dundalk, now the moat of Castletown and formerly Dundalgan, from which Dundalk derives its name. In this county, there are two famous groups of ecclesiastical ruins, namely Monasterboice, 5 miles north-west of Drogheda, and Mellifont Abbey, 5 miles south west of that town. The former was founded by St. Boethius about the beginning of the 6th century and the latter was built six hundred years later.

PHYSICAL FEATURES
The Cooley Mountains lie in the Cooley peninsula. The higest points being Carlingford Mountain (1,935’), Anglesea (1,349’), Clermont Carn (1,674’) and Barnavave ((1,142’). There are no mountains to speak of in the southern part of the county.

Rivers: The Boyne coming in from county Meath, flows through the county and forms its boundary with Meath for about 10 miles. Three miles above Drogheda was fought the Battle of the Boyne, in which the army of William of Orange defeated the Irish army of King James. The Mattock forms the boundary of the county with Meath for almost all of its whole course. The Kilcurry, Cully and Castletown Rivers flow united into Dundalk Bay, as does the Fane. The Glyde flows by Castlebellingham, the Dee flows by Ardee and the White River by Dunleer.

Bays, Harbours and Headlands: Carlingford Bay lies between counties Down and Louth, Dundalk Bay is about nine miles in length and the same in depth, and contains Dundalk Harbour. Greenore Point is east of Carlingford. Ballagan Point is the extremity of the Carlingford peninsula, south-west of this is Cooley Point, and then along the coast are Dunany Point at Dundalk Bay and Clogher Head.

ANALYSIS OF THE CENSUS FOR COUNTY, 1821-1926

 

Families and Houses in 1926
The number of families in the county was 13,595 the average number in each family being 4.4. The number of inhabited houses was 13,699, showing an average of 4.6 persons to each house. The special inhabitants of public institutions are omitted from these calculations.

There were in the county 10,387 Occupiers or Heads of Families, who were in occupation of less than five rooms, being 76.3% of the total for the county. Of these 482 or 3.5% of the families in the county occupied one room; 3,057 or 22.5%, two rooms; 3,122 or 22.9%, three rooms; and 3,726 or 27.4%, occupied four rooms.

There were in the county 184 tenements in which the room had only one occupant; 224 cases where the room had 2-4 occupants, 66 cases in which there were 5-7 occupants and 8 cases where the occupants of one room exceeded 7 in number, including one case where ten persons occupied the same room.

Birthplace of Inhabitants
Of the population in 1926, 79.85% were born in the county, 12.6% in other counties in Saorstat Eireann. 4.75% in Northern Ireland, 2.31% in Great Britain, and 0.49% were born abroad.

Education:
In 1911 there were in the county 52,541 persons aged 9 years and upwards; of these 44,813 or 85.3% could read and write; 2,065 or 3.9% could read only and 5,663 or 10.8% were illiterate. As this census is the starting point where the age was raised from 5 years to 9 years; no comparison can be made with previous figures from other censuses. The report states that the percentage of those of 5 years and upwards who were unable to read and write was 21.3% in 1891, 15.8% in 1901 and in 1911 had fallen to 13.3%.

IRISH SPEAKING (1861-1911)

RELIGIONS, 1871-1926 (% of population)

 

EMIGRATION (1861-1911)

 

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©Jane Lyons December 2003