1901 Census Research for Dunmurry, Co. Kildare

Dunmurry Electoral Division Population Changes 1841 to 1901

The Electoral Division of Dunmurry consists of sixteen townlands and 3,966 acres, the largest being the townland of Rahilla Glebe with 506 acres. The division sits on a north/south axis stretching from just south of Rathangan town to just north of Kildare town. Dunmurry Hill, 234m in height, is almost in the centre of the division and is situated in the townland of Dunmurry West. The western slope of Grange Hill, 223m in height, is situated in the twenty-four-acre unpopulated townland of Grangecommon. 

The area was sparsely populated with only 356 residents present on Census night, March 31^st 1901, an average of one person for every thirteen acres or one household for every sixty-three acres. Between 1841 and 1901 the population declined 57% from 714 residents to 309. The population has recovered to 504 residents living in 155 houses in 2022 according to that census,  though that is still 30% less than in the pre-famine census of 1841.

Dunmurry’s Main Landlords in the 1854

According to Griffith’s Valuations of c.1854 the Duke of Leinster, the Fitzgerald dynasty of Maynooth’s Carton House, was the main freeholder in this area.

1. Blackmillershill: The Duke of Leinster leased the land to John Keegan and others;
2. Boherkill: The Duke of Leinster leased most of the land to Alicia Hynes;
3. Carrickanearla: The Duke of Leinster leased most of the land to Michael Dowling;
4. Conlanstown: The Duke of Leinster leased these lands to Michael Doolin and Patrick Keenan;
5. Dunmurry East and West: The Duke of Leinster leased Dunmurry East to Edward J. Medlicott as well as Thomas Morrin. Dunmurry West was owned by Edward J. Medlicott and as well as farming the land himself, he had also leased 128 acres to his son James Medlicott. who was living in Dunmurry House at the time of the 1901 Census;
6. Friarstown: Francis Lee owned the freehold and leased separate parcels of land to Catherine Kelly, Henry Brereton, and John Cranby. The Brereton family (spelt Bearton in the Census) are still there in the 1901 Census;
7. Guidenstown North and South: William Wilson owned the freehold;
8. Kilmoney South: The Duke of Leinster leased separate parcels of this townland to Thomas Loughlin, George Neale, and James Hynes;
9. Rahilla Commons: The Commissioners of Woods and Forests was the Freeholder of this townland. 
10. Rahilla Glebe: Major Cockburn owned the freehold.

Excellent Book published on Farming and Society since 1700 in the barony of Carbury

At the end of 2024, as part of the Maynooth Studies in Local History, The Four Court Press has published an excellent book on this part of Co. Kildare that is worth purchasing. The title is “Farming and society since 1700 in the barony of Carbury, Co. Kildare, by Lesley Whiteside. Detailed farm records from the likes of the Holt family were used when researching this local study, and the book can be purchased from the publisher at this link. 

Population Decreased by 57% between 1841 and 1901.

The population decrease of 57% between 1841 and 1901 is similar to surrounding areas but higher than that endured in South Kildare. In 1841, one hundred and three houses were occupied by 714 residents, an average of 6.9 people per house. By 1901 only sixty-three houses were occupied, housing just 309 residents, an average of 4.9 per household.

During the famine decade, the population declined by 120 (17%) between 1841 and 1851, which is not as bad as in neighbouring divisions. But the slight increases in population in the likes of Blackmillershill and Rahilla Glebe, Killeagh Common and Keeloge, mask the 39% decrease in Boherkill and 34% decrease in Friarstown between 1841 and 1851. 

In Conlanstown, ten people lived in the single house in 1841, which had increased to two houses by 1851. Griffith’s Valuations tell us Patrick Keenan was leasing all this land from the Duke of Leinster, and Patrick was leasing a house and two acres to John Gaynor in 1854. By 1901 the Keenan family is still present and the widowed 70-year-old Margaret Keenan is living with three unmarried sons, Thomas, Laurence, and Daniel. Two servants, Patrick Connell and Rose McGrath were also present on census night, March 31st. 

In 1841, there were eight houses in Dunmurry West, but by 1901, only one house remained, and it was the home of Wexford born gardener John Doyle and his Cork born wife Anne. He was most likely the gardener employed at the Medlicott’s Dunmurry House estate, occupied by Justice of the Peace James Medlicott, his wife Margaret, daughters Helen and Harriet, and sons Stuart, Cecil, and George, together with three staff, Anne Byrne, Mary McGuinness, and James Cleary.

The Quinn family occupied the single house at Loughandys.

Doyle was the most common surnames in Dunmurry in 1901

There were twenty-one residents in the Dunmurry ED with the surname Doyle in 1901, followed by Fitzgerald and Moore with twelve each, and then Kennedy with eleven and Nolan with ten. 

Catherine Butler in house 8 Friarstown was the oldest resident in this division in 1901. She was 89 years old and was born in England c.1812. She lived at home with two unmarried children, her 48-year-old daughter Emma Anne, and her 47-year-old son, retired Militia Colonel Frank Butler. Both children were born in Co. Tipperary, as were their domestic servants, and likely siblings, Kate (24) and Margaret Lonergan (21), who were visited by Cornelius Lonergan (22) a carpenter from Tipperary on census night.