placenames1901 census
47People recorded
10Households recorded
Most frequent surnames in this year’s matched records
- Kearney 8
- Wogan 7
- Bailey 6
- Gillis 5
- Connor 4
Ballyroan
Baile Uí Ruáin
The older townland has a history of estate divisions and changing uses of a house that became Sancta Maria College.
Recorded locationBallyroan53.28562° N · 6.30376° WInteractive map supplied by OpenStreetMap.
Recorded place location · Logainm.ie
The name
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
- Baile Uí Ruáin · Irish · main form · validated name
- Ballyroan · English · main form
Place & story
Two similarly named houses
Kieran Swords's study of Ballyroan distinguishes two nineteenth-century properties whose similar names can obscure their separate histories. In 1848 Jacob Poole sold just under thirty-nine acres to Henry Frances Burroughs. That holding became known as Ballyroan and eventually passed to the Sisters of Mercy; another portion retained the name Ballyroan House. Swords also records the townland straddling civil-parish and barony boundaries, unlike the wider modern district sharing its name. [2]
A house given to the Mercy Sisters
The McCabe family gave their home and lands to the Mercy Sisters in 1932, according to Sancta Maria College's institutional history. Known as St Mary's Convent, the house initially accommodated holidays for working women. In 1942 it was converted into a preventorium for children considered at risk of tuberculosis. The building's use therefore changed before its later development as a school. [3]
The school opens in 1960
Sancta Maria College opened on 8 September 1960 with boarding and day pupils as well as a junior school. Its senior section began with twenty-three boarders and twelve day girls; the junior section had thirty-five children, both boys and girls. The senior teaching staff comprised three Mercy Sisters and a lay teacher. These opening figures document the conversion of an earlier residential and preventive-health institution into an educational establishment. [3]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Townland
- County
- Dublin
- Barony
- Uppercross
- Civil parish
- Rathfarnham
- Civil parish
- Tallaght
- Coordinates
- 53.28562, -6.30376
- Mapped area
- 0.51 km²
- Logainm ID
- 1412092 ↗
People & family history
Census figures refer to the matched historical census area for each year. Boundaries and spellings can change over time.
1911 census
34People recorded
7Households recorded
Most frequent surnames in this year’s matched records
- Gillis 7
- Connor 5
- Horan 5
- McCabe 4
- OSullivan 4
1926 census
No verified place match is available for this year. This does not indicate a population of zero.
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Ballyroan. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Ballyroan Townland: Delineation and Decline · Kieran Swords, reproduced by Chapters of Dublin
- History of Sancta Maria College · Sancta Maria College
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2024-06-28. How this page was prepared.