Drogheda is an industrial and port town in County Louth on the east coast of Ireland, 56 km north of Dublin. It is located on the Dublin–Belfast corridor on the east coast of Ireland, mostly in County Louth but with the south fringes of the town in County Meath, 49 km north of Dublin. Drogheda has a population of approximately 41,000 inhabitants, making it the eleventh largest settlement by population in all of Ireland. It is the last bridging point on the River Boyne before it enters the Irish Sea. The UNESCO World Heritage Site of Newgrange is located 8 km west of the town.
Drogheda was founded as two separately administered towns in two different territories: Drogheda-in-Meath and Drogheda-in-Oriel. The division came from the twelfth-century boundary between two Irish kingdoms, colonised by different Norman interests, just as the River Boyne continues to divide the town between the dioceses of Armagh and Meath. In 1412 these two towns were united, and Drogheda became a 'County Corporate', styled as 'the County of the Town of Drogheda'.