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
An Chrois Dhearg· Irish · main form · validated name
Redcross· English · main form
Place & story
Cattle fairs and petty sessions
In 1837 Samuel Lewis recorded forty-eight houses and 280 inhabitants in Redcross village. Cattle fairs were held on 6 May, 5 August and 1 November, while petty sessions met on alternate Tuesdays. The village also had a constabulary station. A dispensary, established in 1834, extended its service through a branch at Dunganstown. These details show Redcross providing trade, justice and medical care for a farming district whose land Lewis described as chiefly arable and pasture.[2]
A church and a new parish
Lewis dated the creation of Redcross's Church of Ireland parish to 1829, drawing territory from Kilbride, Dunganstown and Castlemacadam. The church was erected that year through subscriptions and assistance from the Board of First Fruits. The Earl of Wicklow supplied the site and churchyard without charge and contributed £100. Lewis described a modest building without a tower or spire. Its establishment gave the village a new institutional centre at the same time as the parish boundaries were being redrawn.[2]
When Redcross named the Catholic parish
The Catholic parish history follows a different geography. The Archdiocese of Dublin identifies its earliest register, dating from 1777, as a register of the Parish of Redcross. The present Avoca parish combines several earlier parishes, including Ballidonnell, now Redcross. When the new parish church at Avoca opened in 1862, Avoca became the principal centre. Redcross's appearance in the older records thus reflects its former role within a wider parish whose centre subsequently shifted.[3]
Milk from Chapel to Monkstown
Fourteen milk-production forms in Wicklow County Archive preserve a detailed glimpse of farming at Chapel, Redcross, in 1955–56. Completed by Thomas Kavanagh, they record supplies sent to Suttons, or Tel-el-Kebir Dairies, at Monkstown in Dublin. Monthly sales ranged from 339½ to 619½ gallons. The records were kept under the milk-supply regulations and now form the Kavanagh Collection. Their daily entries connect one Redcross-area farm with the organised supply of milk to the growing Dublin market.[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
Redcross — 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
Redcross, Wicklow — Census town, CSO 2006 report — census population
These figures use different area definitions. Read the boundary note before comparing them.
Redcross, Wicklow
Published census settlement populations
278people · 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