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 Riabhach· Irish · main form · validated name
Castlerea· English · main form
Place & story
The Sandfords' demesne
The Sandford family owned Castlerea's estate from the seventeenth century until the early twentieth. Their residence, Castlerea House, stood in the area known as the Demesne, beside the site of an older O'Conor residence. After the last family member left in 1914, the lands passed into a trust. The town's familiar demesne landscape therefore preserves the setting of a former landlord's house and a later arrangement intended to manage its lands beyond the family's departure.[2]
Clonalis and the O'Conor papers
Clonalis House, dating from 1878, continued as an O'Conor family home and a repository of historical material. Its correspondence, heirlooms and portraits preserve several centuries of family history. The library contains thousands of volumes. The late Victorian Italianate building stands in wooded parkland, giving this neighbouring estate a different character from the former Sandford demesne. Its importance rests as much in its surviving collections as in the architecture of the house.[2]
People & connections
William Wilde on his father's rounds
William Wilde was born in Castlerea in 1815, where his father Thomas practised medicine. The family house faced Barrack Street. RCSI's heritage account describes William accompanying his father on visits to patients in the countryside, encountering local healing customs and country lore. He later trained as a surgeon and specialised in eye and ear medicine, while maintaining wide antiquarian interests. Thomas Wilde's grave in the nearby Church of Ireland cemetery provides a surviving local link with the physician's family.[3]
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
Castlerea — Census 2016 settlement footprint — census population
Castlerea, Roscommon — Census town, CSO 2006 report
2002–2006: census town
1,873people · 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
Castlerea, Roscommon — Census town, CSO 2006 report — census population
Castlerea, Roscommon — Census town, CSO 1996 report
1991–1996: census town
1,790people · 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
Castlerea, Roscommon — Census town, CSO 1996 report — census population
Castlerea, Roscommon — Census town, CSO 1986 report
1981–1986: census town
1,840people · 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
Castlerea, Roscommon — Census town, CSO 1986 report — census population
These figures use different area definitions. Read the boundary note before comparing them.
Castlerea, Roscommon
Published census settlement populations
1,992people · 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