A reliable full-name meaning has not been established here. The recorded Irish and English forms are given without an unsupported translation.
Recorded forms
An Obair· Irish · main form · validated name
Nobber· English · main form
Place & story
The motte and Saint John’s cemetery
A Norman motte survives at the northern end of Nobber. Discover Boyne Valley associates it with Gilbert de Nangle and the development of the medieval settlement. Saint John’s Cemetery preserves a different set of records in stone: High and Latin crosses, a surviving medieval bell tower and a tomb slab for Gerald Cruise and Margaret Plunkett. Cruise is depicted in armour, with spurs and a sword. These remains offer distinct traces of religious life, family status and military lordship.[2]
The former church becomes a cultural centre
The later Church of Ireland building at Saint John’s dates from 1771. It became the George Eogan Cultural and Heritage Centre, named for the Nobber archaeologist associated with the excavation of Knowth. President Michael D. Higgins opened the centre on 5 July 2016. The converted building gives the old ecclesiastical site a community cultural role alongside the cemetery and its monuments.[2][3]
People & connections
Remembering Turlough O’Carolan
Turlough O’Carolan was born near Nobber in 1670, before his family moved to Ballyfarnon when he was fourteen. Comhaltas records the patronage of the MacDermott Roe family, his loss of sight through smallpox and the musical training that preceded his travelling career. His compositions survive widely in melody. Nobber’s association belongs to his origins, while his later working life connected him with patrons across Ireland.[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
Nobber — 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
Nobber, Meath — 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
Nobber, Meath — 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
Nobber, Meath — Census town, CSO 1986 report — census population
These figures use different area definitions. Read the boundary note before comparing them.
Nobber, Meath
Published census settlement populations
344people · 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.
Turlough O'Carolan monument, Nobber illustration: based on a Nobber, O'Carolan by Wanfried-Dublin. AI-assisted watercolour and ink adaptation; cream paper margins added, incidental clutter omitted and fine details simplified. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.
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