Editing Drogheda (section)

===Hinterland===
{{Historical populations|state=collapsed
|1811|15590
|1813|16123
|1821|18118
|1831|17365
|1841|17300
|1851|16810
|1861|14722
|1871|13510
|1881|12297
|1891|11873
|1901|12760
|1911|12501
|1926|12716
|1936|14494
|1946|15715
|1951|16779
|1956|17008
|1961|17085
|1966|17908
|1971|20095
|1981|23615
|1986|24681
|1991|24656
|1996|25282
|2002|31020
|2006|35090
|2011|38578
|2016|40956
|2022|44135
||footnote=<ref>See http://www.cso.ie/census {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050309005718/http://www.cso.ie/census/ |date=9 March 2005 }} and http://www.histpop.org {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160507023856/http://www.histpop.org/ |date=7 May 2016 }} for post 1821 figures, 1813 estimate from Mason's Statistical Survey. For a discussion on the accuracy of pre-famine census returns see J.J. Lee "On the accuracy of the Pre-famine Irish censuses", ''Irish Population, Economy and Society,'' eds. J.M. Goldstrom and L.A. Clarkson (1981) p.54, and also "New Developments in Irish Population History, 1700–1850" by Joel Mokyr and Cormac Ó Gráda in ''The Economic History Review,'' New Series, Vol. 37, No. 4 (Nov. 1984), pp. 473–488.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url = https://citypopulation.de/en/ireland/towns/louth_meath/10009__drogheda/ | website = City Population | title = Drogheda (Ireland) Agglomeration | access-date = 12 July 2023 }}</ref><ref name="tableF1015census2022"/>}}

The town is situated in an area which contains a number of archaeological monuments dating from the Neolithic period onwards, of which the large [[passage tomb]]s of [[Newgrange]], [[Knowth]], and [[Dowth]] are probably the best known.<ref>Stout, G. 2002 ''Newgrange and the Bend of the Boyne''. Cork University Press.</ref> The density of archaeological sites of the prehistoric and early Christian periods uncovered in the course of ongoing developments, (including during construction of the Northern Motorway or 'Drogheda Bypass'), has shown that the hinterland of Drogheda has been a settled landscape for millennia.<ref>Bennett, I. (ed) 1987–2004 ''Excavations : Summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland''. Bray.</ref><ref>The Hidden Places of Ireland 190443410X David Gerrard – 2004 -"Two minutes from the centre of Drogheda. in the old townland of Mell."</ref>