placenamesBallymanus
Baile Mhánais
Records for Ballymanus near Castlepollard preserve evidence of older settlement, eighteenth-century landholding and population change during the Famine decade.
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 Mhánais · Irish · main form · validated name
- Ballymanus · English · main form
Place & story
Ringforts in the townland
The national Register of Historic Monuments records three ringforts at Ballymanus in County Westmeath. One entry covers a pair registered in the 1970s; a separate entry records another in 1982. These earthwork sites establish an archaeological history for the townland beyond its later documentary records, although the register alone does not identify their occupants or supply individual construction dates. [2]
A ninety-nine-year lease in 1710
A deed preserved among the Earl of Wicklow papers records a ninety-nine-year lease of Ballymanus lands in the barony of Demifore. Robert Clements granted it to James Tuite on 24 October 1710. The National Library's catalogue describes three surviving items relating to the transaction. This is a specific record of landholding at Ballymanus; it does not establish that either party lived in the settlement. [3]
The Famine decade in census figures
The 1851 census report places Ballymanus within Rathgarve parish in the barony of Fore. It records 158 residents in 1841 and 118 in 1851, a decline of forty people over the decade. Inhabited houses fell from twenty-four to twenty-two. These figures describe the townland rather than a separately enumerated village, and do not by themselves distinguish deaths, emigration or moves to neighbouring places. [4]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Westmeath
- Barony
- Fore
- Civil parish
- Rathgarve
- Within
- Ballymanus
- Coordinates
- 53.73151, -7.28777 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 1413756 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Ballymanus. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Register of Historic Monuments,Westmeath entries2758–2759 · National Monuments Service
- Earl of Wicklow papers,MS38,586/10(1),p.105 · National Library of Ireland
- Census of Ireland1851,County Westmeath:Rathgarve parish · Census Commissioners of Ireland; Central Statistics Office archive
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.