Shinrone’s surroundings preserve rare evidence of seventeenth-century glassmaking, while its churches and memorials record later communities and individual lives.
Illustration, Annebrook House, Shinrone
⊕Recorded locationShinrone52.98483° N · 7.92656° WInteractive map supplied by OpenStreetMap.
A reliable full-name meaning has not been established here. The recorded Irish and English forms are given without an unsupported translation.
Recorded forms
Suí an Róin· Irish · main form · validated name
Shinrone· English · main form
Place & story
The furnace at Glasshouse
Archaeological investigation near Shinrone examined an unusually well-preserved wood-fired glass furnace dating to the early or middle seventeenth century. The researchers associate its operation with French Huguenot glassmakers, probably members of the de Hennezel family, while allowing for the involvement of other families. Excavations in 1999–2001 and scientific dating helped establish the period of its last firing. The site lies southwest of the village in Glasshouse townland. Its importance comes from the surviving industrial structure and excavation evidence, rather than from treating a probable family attribution as certain.[2]
Two churches dedicated to Saint Mary
Shinrone has both Church of Ireland and Catholic churches dedicated to Saint Mary. The architectural inventory dates the Church of Ireland building to 1821 and describes its nave, tower and pointed openings. The Catholic church is a later T-plan building, dated approximately to 1860, with a small burial ground for former parish priests. Its entrance is flanked by carved holy-water fonts. Distinguishing the two buildings matters when following family records or photographs: the shared dedication does not mean that references to Saint Mary's always identify the same church.[3][4]
People & connections
John Cecil Kenny’s memorial
A survey of Offaly's Church of Ireland war memorials records a marble tablet in Saint Mary's, Shinrone, commemorating Lieutenant John Cecil Kenny. It identifies him as a son of Harry and Elizabeth Kenny of Clyduffe House, Roscrea, and records his death near Saint-Quentin in France on 24 March 1918. The tablet places one family's wartime loss within the church's local commemorative landscape. Its location establishes where he was remembered, while the inscription supplies separate information about his family home and the place of his death.[5]
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.
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Shinrone — 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.
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Shinrone, Offaly — 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
Shinrone, Offaly — 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
Shinrone, Offaly — Census town, CSO 1986 report — census population
These figures use different area definitions. Read the boundary note before comparing them.
Shinrone, Offaly
Published census settlement populations
645people · 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