1901 Census Research for Feighcullen, Co. Kildare

Feighcullen Electoral Division Population Changes 1841 to 1901

The Electoral Division of Feighcullen consists of eight townlands and 2,716 acres, the largest being the townland of Punchersgrange with 705 acres. The area includes the small village of Milltown, the location of the first bridge over the Grand Canal feeder from the adjacent Pollardstown fen. 

The area was sparsely populated with only 216 residents present on Census night, March 31^st 1901, an average of one person for every 12.6 acres or one household for every fifty-five acres. Twenty of the houses are in the village of Milltown, (1841: 40), and if one were to look at the townlands, the townlands of Baronstown and Canonstown have a single dwelling each, the former down from nine houses in 1841. There are four houses in each of Grangecommon and Wheelam, five in each of Blakestown and Christianstown and only nine in Punchersgrange (1841: 29) 

Between 1841 and 1901 the population declined 66% from 644 residents to 216. The population has recovered to 646 residents in 2022 according to that census. 

Feighcullen’s Main Landlords in 1854

Griffith’s Valuations tell us that the main landlords in this area around 1854 were:

1. Blakestown: George P. Neill was leasing the land to Elizabeth White;
2. Canonstown: The Duke of Leinster was leasing the land to Daniel Dunne;
3. Christianstown: Samuel Neale holding twenty-five acres himself and was leasing the rest separately to Joshua F. Russell and Sarah E. Neale. The Neale family were Quakers who were present in Christianstown as far back as 1719, and in 1901 the family is still present in Christianstown (House 3) but they give  religion as “Irish Church”, i.e. Church of Ireland;
4. Milltown: The properties were leased by the Duke of Leinster. 
5. Punchersgrange: Oliver Dowell John Grace was leasing the land separately to Robert Hanagan, John Loughlin, Thomas Nolan and Patrick Flood.
6. Wheelam: Rev. Robert C. Cooper was leasing the property to William C. Cooper.

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 66% between 1841 and 1901.

The population decrease of 66% between 1841 and 1901 is like surrounding areas but higher than that endured in South Kildare. There were 110 houses in 1841 housing 644 residents, an average of 5.6 people per house. By 1901 only ninety-eight houses were occupied, housing just 356 residents, an average of 5.9 per household.

During the famine decade, the population declined by 117 (18%) between 1841 and 1851, with sixty-nine of this decline occurring in Milltown. The decline in Punchersgrange was only 7% and this townland was owned by Olver Dowell James Grace (1791-1871). He was a Roman Catholic MP for Roscommon and a substantial landlord in that county also, and it would appear tenants on his Roscommon holdings fared much better than in adjacent estates during the famine, something that appears to have repeated in Punchersgrange, although the population declined significantly in the 1850’s, and again in the last twenty years of the 19th century. 

In Baronstown, the number of houses decreased from 9 in 1841 to a single household by 1881. Only three residents were recoded there in 1891, but this increased to eleven by 1901. This was the home of the Barrett family, 60-year-old Cork baker James and his Kildare born wife Mary. Three generations of the same family were now living under the one roof in this four-roomed 2nd class house and it is clear two daughters have returned from England with their children. Daughter Rose Anna Evans is now widowed and home with two English born children, while a second daughter, Mary McGarry, is also home with her three English born children. Their return home may have been due to their British army husbands being shipped to the Boer War which only broke out in October 1899 and would continue until 1902. But what is particularly interesting is that census records the West Indies as the place of birth for both daughters, Rosa Anna (27) and Mary (26), yet daughter Gertrude (28) was born in Kildare it seems.

Murphy was the most common surname in Feighcullen in 1901

There were thirteen residents in the Feighcullen ED with the surname Murphy in 1901, followed by Dunne with twelve, Wilson with eleven, and ten each of Feeny, Cleary and Behan.