County Dossier
Louth
A small county of coasts, passes and early monasteries.
Louth is Ireland's smallest county, lying on the east coast between the Boyne estuary and Carlingford Lough. Despite its size, it contains varied landscapes including the Cooley Peninsula, open lowland and old monastic districts.
At a glance
Louth at a glance
A small county of coasts, passes and early monasteries.
- Ireland's smallest county
- County by the medieval period
- Cooley, Boyne mouth and Carlingford Lough
- Area: 319 sq miles / 826 sq km
- Population: 122,897
- County Top: Slieve Foy (1,932ft / 589m)
County Geography
Louth meets Armagh to the north-west, Monaghan to the west, Meath to the south, Down across Carlingford Lough and the Newry side to the north, and the Irish Sea forms the county’s eastern edge. The county is shaped by the Cooley heights, the Boyne estuary, the Carlingford inlet, and the narrow belt of low country between them.
Louth is easy to recognise through Cooley, Carlingford, the Boyne mouth, and the east-coast plain.
Map Reference
View Louth on the map
Louth is the county. The map shows its boundary, places, and neighbouring counties.
The county.
The county boundary.
Nearby counties and places.
Places and routes
Dundalk, Drogheda, Ardee, Carlingford, and Monasterboice show the county from its two main towns and inland crossing point to its north-coast harbour and early monastic centre.
Connections
The county’s routes have long run north from Drogheda to Dundalk, branched inland through Ardee, and turned toward Carlingford and the Ulster approaches. Movement follows the same coastal corridor, plain, and peninsula pattern.
Names
- Louth
- County Louth
- County of Louth
Lú is the Irish form of Louth. County Louth is the formal historical style, the county name is linked to the older place-name of Louth and the god Lugh, and the older background reaches into Uriel or Oriel and the Airgíalla side of the north-east.
Louth was a county by the medieval period, and its compact strip between Boyne and Carlingford still reads as one clear historic county.