Omeath (; or ''Uí Meth'') is a village on the

Cooley Peninsula The Cooley Peninsula (, older ''Cúalṅge'') is a hilly peninsula in the north of County Louth on the east coast of Ireland; the peninsula includes the small town of Carlingford, the port of Greenore and the village of Omeath. Geography T ...

County Louth County Louth ( ; ga, An Lú) is a coastal county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of Meath to the south, Monaghan to the west, Armagh to the north and Down to the ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, close to the border with

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. It is roughly midway between

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

and

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

, very near the County Louth and

County Armagh County Armagh (, named after its county town, Armagh) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the southern shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and ha ...

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...

border. As of the 2016 census, Omeath had a population of 603, up from 439 during the 2006 census. It is approximately from Carlingford and about from

Newry Newry (; ) is a city in Northern Ireland, divided by the Clanrye river in counties Armagh and Down, from Belfast and from Dublin. It had a population of 26,967 in 2011. Newry was founded in 1144 alongside a Cistercian monastery, althoug ...

. By sea, Omeath's nearest land neighbour is

Warrenpoint Warrenpoint ( ga, An Pointe) is a small port town and civil parish in County Down, Northern Ireland. It sits at the head of Carlingford Lough, south of Newry, and is separated from the Republic of Ireland by a narrow strait. The town is beside t ...

on the south

coast. Omeath is home to the Cúchulainn Gaels

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional ...

club.

Name

It is named after ''Muireadheach Méith'' (''méith'' meaning 'the fat') and was originally called ''Uí Méith Mara'', by the sea, to distinguish it from another Ó Méith named after the same man.

History

Omeath was a village that sprung up around the old

Omeath railway station Omeath railway station was a railway station in County Louth, first opened by the Dundalk, Newry and Greenore Railway, which ran a service to the port at Greenore. From Greenore, ferries ran to Holyhead in Wales, and onward trains to London Eus ...

in 1876. The town attracted day trippers from around

and elsewhere, but unlike nearby

, Omeath never became a major residential center. Smuggling was common, especially around the time of the Emergency (WWII). One mid-19th century source reports that the town had little arable land and residents survived mostly by selling

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

Irish language

Speakers of

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

existed in Omeath until the middle of the 20th century. The last native speaker of Omeath Irish was Anne O'Hanlon, who died in 1960 aged 89. Although the dialect is now extinct, recordings have been made by German linguist Wilhelm Doegen for the Royal Irish Academy.

Transport

The town is located on the R173 regional road.

was on the

Dundalk, Newry and Greenore railway The Dundalk, Newry and Greenore Railway (DNGR, DN&GR) was an Irish gauge () railway in Ireland. It was conceived in the 1860s to provide a link between the towns in its title and the London and North Western Railway port at Greenore, fro ...

, which opened on 1 August 1876 and finally closed on 1 January 1952. A regular bus service runs through the village and links the village with

and

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is h ...

town. Bus Éireann Route 161 operates Monday to Friday, and Halpenny Travel operate a service on Sundays with journeys to Dundalk and Newry. In the summer months a regular foot passenger ferry service operates between Omeath and Warrenpoint County Down. Bikes and small motor cycles can also use this service during the summer months.

References

{{County Louth Towns and villages in County Louth

Name

History

Irish language

Transport

See also

References