The population (76,111 in 1891; 67,497 in 1901) suffers a large decrease, considerably above the average of Irish counties, and emigration is heavy. Nearly 93% are Roman Catholics. The chief towns are Navan (pop. 3839), Kells (2428) and Trim (1513), the county town. Lesser market towns are Oldcastle and Athboy, an ancient town which received a charter from Henry IV. The county includes eighteen baronies. Assizes are held at Trim, and quarter sessions at Kells, Navan and Trim. The county is in the Protestant dioceses of Armagh, Kilmore and Meath, and in the Roman Catholic dioceses of Armagh and Meath. Before the Union in 1800 it sent fourteen members to parliament, but now only two members are returned, for the north and south divisions of the county respectively. _History and Antiquities._--A district known as Meath (Midhe), and including the present county of Meath as well as Westmeath and Longford, with parts of Cavan, Kildare and King's County, was formed by Tuathal (c. 130) into a kingdom to serve as mensal land or personal estate of the Ard Ri or over-king of Ireland. Kings of Meath reigned until 1173, and the title was claimed as late as the 15th century by their descendants, but at the date mentioned Hugh de Lacy obtained the lordship of the country and was confirmed in it by Henry II. Meath thus came into the English "Pale." But though it was declared a county in the reign of Edward I. (1296), and though it came by descent into the possession of the Crown in the person of Edward IV., it was long before it was fully subdued and its boundaries clearly defined. In 1543 Westmeath was created a county apart from that of Meath, but as late as 1598 Meath was still regarded as a province by some, who included in it the counties Westmeath, East Meath, Longford and Cavan. In the early part of the 17th century it was at last established as a county, and no longer considered as a fifth province of Ireland.