Donacarney (Irish: Domhnach Cearnaigh or Domhnach Cairnigh) is a village in the area known as East Meath in County Meath, Ireland, close to Drogheda and the border with County Louth. It contains one church, two estates, two schools, and one pub.[citation needed] Although it includes the townlands of Donacarney Great and Donacarney Little, most locals would never use those terms in describing Donacarney. The remains of a late-medieval tower house (see picture to right) is sited close to Donacarney Cross. It is described in the Civil Survey (1654-56) as ‘an ould Castle’. It appears in this state on a map of 1771. Blackhills Crescent, Donacarney, takes its name from the area known as the Black Hills or Black Hill Lands north of the crossroads and the castle, the old name of which was Croc a’ Searra in Irish.
For census purposes, Donacarney is combined with a number of other local towns to form the census town of Laytown-Bettystown-Mornington-Donacarney, with a total population of 11,872 at the 2016 Csnsus.