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 Caisleán Nua· Irish · main form · validated name
Newcastle· English · main form
Place & story
The new castle of Newcastle Lyons
The name Newcastle recalls a castle established after the Anglo-Norman occupation. South Dublin County Council also records the older name Lymerhin and the distinguishing form Newcastle Lyons. By the sixteenth century the settlement contained six castles, indicating its importance within the defended agricultural country west of Dublin. The council associates its earlier religious history with St Finian, whose name continues in the village’s churches.[2]
St Finian’s layered church
The Church of Ireland church incorporates the tower and chancel of a fifteenth-century building into a later church of about 1775. Its roofed nave, unroofed eastern portion and medieval burial ground preserve different stages of use together. The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage identifies its former role as parish church of the royal manor. Cusp-headed windows and surviving tracery make it a particularly distinctive village landmark.[3]
Newcastle also has a Catholic church dedicated to St Finian, built in 1813. The present Catholic parish was constituted from Saggart in 1974. These are separate buildings and histories sharing the same local dedication.[4]
People & connections
Lady Aberdeen and nearby Peamount
Outside the village, Peamount brought Newcastle’s district into the national campaign against tuberculosis. Lady Aberdeen’s Women’s National Health Association developed the sanatorium with county councils. A parliamentary question in July 1912 examined the purchase of the estate and the public grants supporting it. The episode connects this rural setting with a major change in Irish healthcare: organised treatment outside crowded urban homes. The association belongs to Peamount in Newcastle’s surrounding district.[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.
View population figures
Newcastle — Census 2016 settlement footprint — census population
Newcastle, South Dublin — Census town, CSO 2006 report
2002–2006: census town
1,506people · 2006
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
Newcastle, South Dublin — Census town, CSO 2006 report — census population
Newcastle, South Dublin — Census town, CSO 1996 report
1991–1996: census town
1,289people · 1996
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
Newcastle, South Dublin — 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
Newcastle, Dublin — Census town, CSO 1986 report — census population
These figures use different area definitions. Read the boundary note before comparing them.
Newcastle, South Dublin
Published census settlement populations
3,093people · 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 Finian's Church of Ireland, Newcastle, County Dublin illustration: based on a Newcastle Dublin 5564w by Sarah777. AI-assisted watercolour and ink adaptation; cream paper margins added, incidental clutter omitted and fine details simplified. Licence: Public domain (author release).
placenames
