It is situated on Ireland's fertile central plain. The chief rivers are the Blackwater and the Boyne.
Livestock raising is the economic mainstay, and there is some farming of grains and potatoes.
Light industry, limited to the larger towns, includes textiles and furniture. It was chartered as a county in 1296. Newgrange is the site of one of the largest of the prehistoric passage graves in the Boyne valley. Around the outside of the mound stood a circle of standing stones, of which 12 now survive. The stones of the passage and of its entrance curbstone were ornamented with spiral and other designs characteristic of megalithic art in the Atlantic region of prehistoric Europe.