County Meath

A great part of this maritime county is occupied by valuable pasture grounds, divided by verdant banks and the general aspect of the country may be described as that of an undulating, rich, and highly cultivated plain. The farms are often very extensive, but the farm houses, except when they belong to large proprietors, are in general wretched huts; and the houses of the humbler classes are nothing but mud hovels. Yet the mansions of the nobility and gentry are numerous throughout every district, and in several instances are spacious and splendid. The ecclesiastical structures of past ages, venerable and picturesque in all the varied stages of decay, abound in nearly every part of the county; and in their vicinity are still remaining several ruinous crosses of elaborate workmanship.