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Meath
County Meath · Leinster

About Kells

Kells, Ceanannas in Irish, is a town in County Meath, 59 km north-west of Dublin, with 6,602 people at the 2016 census. It stands on the M3, N3 and N52. The map gives it 5,820 buildings and 188 named streets, with 401 places named on them in 137 kinds, and 268 things to see in and around it. By the number of buildings on the map it is the 4th largest of the 52 settlements this site covers in County Meath.

Population
6,602 at the 2016 census
Where
59 km north-west of Dublin
Position
53.7272° N, 6.8768° W, 66 m above sea level
Roads
M3, N3, N52, R147, R163, R164, R941 and L2813
Governed
Meath County Council, in the province of Leinster
Twinned with
Torre San Patrizio, Italy
On the model
5,820 buildings, 188 streets, 401 named places in 137 kinds
Kells Abbey, Kells, MeathMonasterio de Kells
Kells Abbey, Kells, MeathMonasterio de Kells·Sitomon, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Our swankiest post box ever? (9682531809)
Our swankiest post box ever? (9682531809)·National Library of Ireland on The Commons, no restrictions via Wikimedia Commons

County Meath since 1841

Every census of the county, which is the only way to see what happened to rural Ireland: the fall from the Famine runs for a century, and the recovery is recent.

220,82661,405183,82818412022

Source: Central Statistics Office, table F1001 'Population at Each Census', read through the PxStat API, read 2026-09-20.

What to see

Closest to the centre first, with how far each one is.

All 268 things to see

Getting around

By road

The map records the M3, N3, N52, R147, R163, R164, R941 and L2813 running through Kells. 20 car parks on the map.

By bus or train

14 lines call at 16 stops here. Plan a journey for the day and time you are going.

Schools and services

8 school or colleges on the map.

Questions people ask

Where is Kells?
In County Meath, in the province of Leinster, 59 km north-west of Dublin and 59 km from Dublin, on the M3, N3 and N52.
How big is Kells?
6,602 people at the 2016 census. On the map it is 5,820 buildings and 188 named streets.
What is there to see in Kells?
268 things the map records in and around it, the closest being The Market Cross, Market Street and Our Lady.
How do you get to Kells?
14 bus and train lines call at 16 stops here in the published timetable, run by Bus Éireann, McCaffrey Coaches and Royal Breffni Tours.
Has County Meath grown or shrunk?
The census counted 183,828 people in the county in 1841 and 220,826 in 2022.
5,820
buildings on the model
188
named streets
401
named places
137
kinds of place

Buildings, streets, places, roads and position are OpenStreetMap, counted by this site rather than quoted from anywhere. Population, elevation, area and twinning are structured claims on Wikidata (item Q917848). County population is the Central Statistics Office. Journeys are the National Transport Authority’s published timetable. Every sentence on this page is written from those numbers; none of it is copied from a description of the place.

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