The Grand Canal shaped Robertstown's waterfront, supported its great hotel and later became the setting for an inventive campaign to preserve the waterways.
Illustration, Grand Canal at Robertstown, County Kildare
⊕Recorded locationRobertstown53.26959° N · 6.81948° WInteractive map supplied by OpenStreetMap.
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
Baile Riobaird· Irish · main form · validated name
Robertstown· English · main form
Place & story
A village facing the water
Robertstown grew with the construction of the Grand Canal in the 1780s. Its centre developed along the southern bank, with streets branching from a T-junction and short terraces facing the water. The canal gives the village its long open frontage: Binns Bridge closes the view at the western end, while the hotel forms a conspicuous landmark to the east. This arrangement preserves the relationship between a waterway, a working settlement and buildings intended to serve people travelling through the midlands.[2]
The hotel and its changing occupants
The canal hotel was built between 1799 and 1801, opened in 1801 and expanded in 1804. Its three-storey frontage has a central pediment and granite details, with progressively smaller windows towards the upper floor. Competition from railways and falling revenue contributed to its closure in 1849. Designs signed by Enoch Trevor Owen in 1869 record its adaptation as a constabulary barracks. During the Emergency it acquired another temporary population: Bord na Móna repurposed the building in 1942 as accommodation for workers producing turf for the Dublin market.[3]
People & connections
Agnes Bernelle on the canal
The first Grand Canal Festival took place in Robertstown in 1965. The following year's opening survives in an RTÉ report broadcast on 31 July 1966. Its most striking spectacle was performer Agnes Bernelle water-skiing in period costume, drawn along the canal by a galloping horse. The festival supported canal boating and raised funds for repairs to the hotel, then used to display historical objects, maps and books. An extraordinary performance thus formed part of a practical local effort to give the waterway and its buildings a new recreational life.[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
Robertstown — Census 2016 settlement footprint — census population
Robertstown, Kildare — Census town, CSO 2006 report
2002–2006: census town
621people · 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
Robertstown, Kildare — Census town, CSO 2006 report — census population
Robertstown, Kildare — Census town, CSO 1996 report
1991–1996: census town
206people · 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
Robertstown, Kildare — Census town, CSO 1996 report — census population
Robertstown, Kildare — Census town, CSO 1986 report
1981–1986: census town
259people · 1986
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
Robertstown, Kildare — Census town, CSO 1986 report — census population
These figures use different area definitions. Read the boundary note before comparing them.
Robertstown, Kildare
Published census settlement populations
707people · 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.
Grand Canal at Robertstown, County Kildare illustration: based on a The Grand Canal at Robertstown by Eirian Evans. AI-assisted watercolour and ink adaptation; cream paper margins added, incidental clutter omitted and fine details simplified. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
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