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 ...

County Louth County Louth ( ; ) is a coastal Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of County Meath, Meath to the ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, close to the border with

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. It is roughly midway between

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

and

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

, very near the County Louth and

County Armagh County Armagh ( ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It is located in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and adjoins the southern shore of Lough Neagh. It borders t ...

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 552,261. 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 status in Ireland, city in Northern Ireland, standing on the Newry River, Clanrye river in counties County Down, Down and County Armagh, Armagh. It is near Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border, the border with the ...

. By sea, Omeath's nearest land neighbour is Warrenpoint on the south

coast. Omeath is home to the Cúchulainn Gaels

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

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 in 1876. The town attracted day-trippers from around

and elsewhere, but unlike nearby Warrenpoint, Omeath never became a major residential centre. Smuggling was common, especially around the time of the Emergency (WWII). One mid-19th century source reports that the town had little

arable land Arable land (from the , "able to be ploughed") is any land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops.''Oxford English Dictionary'', "arable, ''adj''. and ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013. Alternatively, for the purposes of a ...

and residents survived mostly by selling

fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

Irish language

Speakers of Irish 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. Omeath railway station 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 as the Dundalk and Greenore Railway in the 1860s to provide a link between the towns in its title and the London and North We ...

, 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 ( ; ) is the county town of County Louth, Ireland. The town is situated on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the north-east coast of Ireland, and is halfway between Dublin and Belfast, close to and south of the bor ...

. 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 motorcycles 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