These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
Dún Bleisce· Irish · main form
Doon· English · main form
Place & story
A small village in a large parish
Samuel Lewis distinguished Doon's village population of 178 from the much larger parish population in 1837. The parish extended across the Limerick–Tipperary boundary and included agricultural land, mountain and bog. Freestone quarrying supplied building material to Limerick and other towns, with stone also shipped abroad. A new Catholic chapel was then nearing completion on a hill above the village. Lewis described its setting as overlooking the Doon and Galtee mountains, placing a substantial new public building within a largely rural landscape.[2]
Folklore & tradition
Saint Fintan and the promised fortress
In his Ordnance Survey letter of 18 August 1840, John O'Donovan recorded Saint Fintan's well in Kilmoylin Lower, within the parish. He also cited a verse preserved in the Leabhar Breac in which Saint Comgall foretells that his pupil Fintan will obtain the fortress of Dún Bleisce and establish a place of sanctuary there. This religious tradition associates the local saint with both protection and settlement. O'Donovan noted 3 January as Fintan's commemorative day, connecting the written account with the parish's devotional calendar.[3]
From garden classes to boarding education
The Sisters of Mercy arrived from Kinsale on 7 February 1865. Their foundation followed a bequest of a farm and house by Doon's parish priest, Patrick Hickey. Early teaching took place through Sunday classes in the convent garden. A school opened in 1868, and boarding accommodation followed a decade later for pupils who could not travel daily. The Christian Brothers also established schooling for boys. These institutions made education a major part of village life, drawing pupils from beyond the immediate settlement.[4]
Both counts use the 2016 settlement boundary, allowing like-for-like comparison. CSO supplies the 2022 count on this older boundary for comparison only. The official 2022 Built Up Area has different boundaries.
View population figures
Doon — Census 2016 settlement footprint — census population
These are the historical areas published in the 2006 census report. Boundaries may differ between censuses and from modern settlements. Legal towns, environs and suburbs are shown separately; none has been combined into a modern settlement total.
View population figures
Doon, Limerick — Census town, CSO 2006 report — census population
These are the historical areas published in the 1996 census report. Boundaries may differ between censuses and from modern settlements. Legal towns, environs and suburbs are shown separately; none has been combined into a modern settlement total.
View population figures
Doon, Limerick — Census town, CSO 1996 report — census population
Figures cover the historical town area printed in the 1986 report. Boundaries may have changed between censuses. Legal town, environs and suburb totals remain separate and differ from modern settlement boundaries.
View population figures
Doon, Limerick — Census town, CSO 1986 report — census population
These figures use different area definitions. Read the boundary note before comparing them.
Doon, Limerick
Published census settlement populations
516people · 2016
Settlement boundaries changed during this period. Differences may reflect boundary changes as well as population change. Where a 2011 legal-town-and-environs count is shown, it has not been recalculated onto the 2016 settlement boundary.
placenames
