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
Maigh Nuad· Irish · main form · validated name
Maynooth· English · main form
Place & story
A college founded in 1795
Maynooth College opened in 1795 after legislation provided for the education of Catholic priests in Ireland. Its first home was a recently built house belonging to John Stoyte, the Duke of Leinster’s steward. Stoyte House remains identifiable within the later college complex. The institution grew as continental seminaries were disrupted by the French Revolution.[2]
Pugin, McCarthy and the chapel
A government building grant in the 1840s supported A. W. N. Pugin’s Gothic ranges around Saint Mary’s Square. The chapel was a later project by J. J. McCarthy: its foundation stone was laid in October 1875 and it opened for worship in June 1891. William Hague designed the interior, with carved oak choir stalls made by Connollys of Dublin, an organ by Stahlhut of Aachen and mosaics by Earley Studios. The tower and spire followed after the chapel opened.[2]
People & connections
Nicholas Callan’s electrical workshop
Nicholas Callan entered Maynooth in 1816 and became professor of natural philosophy in 1826, holding the post until his death in 1864. His 1836 experiments produced an induction coil: interrupting a battery current in one winding generated a high voltage in a separate winding. In 1837 he sent a replica to William Sturgeon in London, where it was demonstrated to the Electrical Society.[3]
The college museum preserves Callan’s apparatus, including coils, electromagnets, batteries and the mechanical repeater that interrupted the current. The museum began in 1934; Patrick McLaughlin, appointed curator in 1942, strengthened its scientific collections by transferring Callan’s surviving equipment. The objects connect the college’s architectural setting with the practical work of its nineteenth-century science teaching.[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
Maynooth — 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
Maynooth, Kildare — 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
Maynooth, Kildare — 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
Maynooth, Kildare — Census town, CSO 1986 report — census population
These figures use different area definitions. Read the boundary note before comparing them.
Maynooth, Kildare
Published census settlement populations
14,585people · 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.
Saint Patrick’s College Chapel, Maynooth illustration: based on a reference photograph by Մարի_Ավետիսյան. AI-assisted watercolour and fine ink adaptation; warm cream paper margins; incidental clutter removed and architectural details simplified. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.
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