Harristown Station

24/09/2026

I've been quiet online lately, but busy in the background, mainly researching the reclamation of wetland / bogland in East Kildare, and the history of Coghlanstown parish, with particular focus on the townland of Donode. AI will no doubt kill us all, but by golly can it make sense of the memorials in the Registry of Deeds. I am pleasantly surprised how Mr. Claude, with a lot of cajoling, nudging and correcting, has helped me untangle a bit of a quest to see if there was any connection between a Samuel Bryan, a merchant from the City of Dublin who died c.1731 and the Briens that start appearing as resident Donode from about 1780 onwards in the Ballymore Eustace parish registers. The answer to the quest is probably no, but the story of Samuel Bryan's interest in Donode is intriguing, as five Donode-related deeds between 1727 and 1736 offer perspective on how Catholics navigated the Penal Laws.

Much as Emma Lyons Historian found with the Morristown Lattin estate records, the law seems to have been worked around by agreement. A Phelim O'Neill was appointed as middle tenant to lands acquired by Sir Robert Colville (ancestor to Mountcashels) in the Ballymore Eustace area in the 1680s. The O'Neill renewable lease was mortgaged by Phelim's son in 1727 to Samuel Bryan, a cloth merchant based in Church St. Dublin. As Bryan was a Catholic, his interest (through the assignment mortgage security) became open to "discovery", a procedure under the Popery Acts by which any Protestant who exposed a Catholic's forbidden interest in land could sue to have it awarded to himself. Felix O'Neill, John O'Neill's son and a professed Protestant seems to have turned this into a friendly discovery. He sued his own late father's creditor in 1732 and won the lease by decree in 1733, putting it beyond the reach of other potentially-hostile informers. Under a private agreement signed beforehand, he seems to have handed the benefit of that decree back to Bryan's executors as security for the debt. The arrangement ended in 1736, when the lease was sold to Richard Sherlock of Sherlockstown and the proceeds divided between creditor (Bryan) and leaseholder (O'Neill).

25/07/2026

From Harristown Station today, Mullaghcleevaun and Moanbane in the background and the fields showing signs of needing rain. The line edged closer to the mountains as it ran further south.

11/07/2026

Picked up a Harmsworth Universal Atlas and Gazetteer for next to nothing in an auction, dates to 1907. A map of the Irish railway network of the time which I hadn’t seen before.

04/07/2026

Fantastic scriptwriting, a wonderful production and brilliant performances by five The Moat Theatre actors portraying five characters with interesting tales to tell at the time of the 1926 census. These vignettes were interspersed among the speakers launching The Story of Us: Census 1926 exhibition in Naas library earlier today, with the centenerary of Kildare county library also being celebrated. The exhibition runs from today to 28 July and looks fantastic, if you are in the locality, do take the opportunity to visit.

One of the vignettes, which was brilliantly performed by Libby Trappe, relayed the story of Mary Ann Horgan who, while filling out the census was also dealing with an eviction notice from Great Southern Railways as her husband, Harristown station master John Horgan, had just died weeks before. A little biased given who the writers / directors / producers / designers are, but really hope this fabulous collection of vignettes reaches other audiences in future!

30/06/2026

HOUSEHOLD ECONOMICS ON THE SALLINS-TULLOW LINE IN 1926

By 1926, the branch line had been in operation for forty years but due to the greater prevalence of motorised vehicles on the roads and infrastructural damage inflicted on the line during the Independence and Civil wars a few years previously, it was already struggling with some of the forces that would contribute to its terminal decline. In 1924, the Great Southern & Western Railway had been amalgamated under Free State legislation into Great Southern Railways, along with all of the other railways whose operations lay within the twenty-six counties. Workers, in particular porters and gangers, faced unpaid suspensions and redundancies. In time, I will attempt to put a full picture together of railway-related unemployment in 1926 together - today I'll comment on the four most northerly stationmaster's households only, and follow with the other four. The stationmasters were the highest paid officials on the line but some signs of economic challenges are nonetheless evident in the 1926 census household returns:
In Colbinstown, 45-year-old Dublin-born Michael Kearney and his wife Mary were living with a huge family of ten children, ranging in ages from zero to seventeen and none of them in employment. Mary was not in paid employment either but I don't doubt she was kept busy! https://nationalarchives.ie/collections/search-the-1926-census/census-record/ =2211553
In Dunlavin, 38-year-old and single Tipperary-born Thomas Barnes was living with his widowed mother, his widowed aunt and two sisters. Unmarried Stasia was working on her own account as a music teacher - her income and that of Thomas would have had to support the other three, including their aunt who did not have any children of her own. https://nationalarchives.ie/collections/search-the-1926-census/census-record/ =2102577
In Harristown, the recently twice-bereaved Horgan family were still in the house despite having been served notice by Great Southern Railways after stationmaster John Horgan's death. The family was likely required to clear one of the three bedrooms for relief station-master, John Smyth, whose younger brother Robb lodged with him, availing of the ability to board rent-free as part of his brother's employment - Robb worked as a clerk with the M&L bank in Naas. Without the stationmaster's salary, Mary Ann Horgan and the six children in the house faced a cliff-edge in their circumstances, also having to deal with funeral expenses. John Horgan may have been contributing towards a mutual provident society while alive, in which case the family may have gotten a death benefit but since he died while off-duty, the GSR may not have compensated the family. John jnr, 21, had worked as a railway porter but was out of work for two years. Josie, 18, had worked as a shop assistant in Naas but was two months out of work, presumably not returning after her younger brother's death that February, while Mary, 23, was the only breadwinner, working as a solicitor's clerk in Naas. https://nationalarchives.ie/collections/search-the-1926-census/census-record/ =666992
In Naas, Kerry-born Florence O'Shea and his wife lived with four children of school-going ages. The household return implies that two of the children were elsewhere. As Naas was a higher-classed station, O'Shea would have received higher pay than Kearney, Barnes, Smyth or Horgan. https://nationalarchives.ie/collections/search-the-1926-census/census-record/ =782838

Access census records from various years in the National Archives of Ireland. Explore historical population data and genealogical insights.

04/06/2026

MULLABODEN AGAIN AND LOST PLACENAMES
Just a quick follow up to yesterday's post on Mullaboden. Looking at Nobel & Keenan's (1752) and Taylor's (1783) maps of County Kildare (the former attached, courtesy of logainm.ie), there appears to be a big house at Mullaboden, while the NBHS's database dates the lodge only to the early-nineteenth century (https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/11902406/mullaboden-lodge-coghlanstown-west-co-kildare).

As Mullaboden was part of Coghlanstown (Cotlanstown / Ballycotelan and many variants) townland and parish, it was part of lands forfeit by Nicholas Eustace for his support of the Silken Thomas rebellion in 1534. The townland changed hands a few times before being owned by Sir John Hoey, the son of an Elizabethan administrator whose father has established the Hoey seat at Dunganstown in Wicklow, and who himself had acquired signficant amounts of land in Ballymore Eustace and Coghlanstown parishes. As Mullaboden and surrounds was already in Protestant hands before the 1640s, it was out of scope for the various confiscations and redistributions that took place in the later seventeenth century. For that reason, Coghlanstown (and Stonebrook, Mullaboden, Donode) were not mapped by Petty's surveyors in the 1650s.

Rolling the clock forward to the early eighteenth century, Mullaboden appears in some of the early memorials recorded in the newly-established Registry of Deeds.
- A 1721 deed records a twenty-one year lease from William Wolsley of Mount Arran in Carlow to Thomas Nugent of Ballymore Eustace 'the farm and lands commonly called or known by the names of Mullaghboden, Bannouggarrett together with a piece of ground adjoining thereto commonly known by the name of John Hughes meadow all which premises lying and being in the Parish of Coghlanstown'
- A 1733 marriage settlement where Thomas Nugent above, intending to marry the widowed Elizabeth Smith of Boystown, Wicklow (not the Highland Lady - she was 100+ years later), in return for a marriage portion of £300 granted unto John Smith of Baltyboys (presumably a father-in-law, brother-in-law or son of Elizabeth) his interests in the Red Lion House and the Brewhouse Stable with adjoining woods etc. in Ballymore Eustace, his interests in 27 acres in Newtown townland and his lease interests in Mullabowden & Bannogue Garrett together with Hughes Meadow, being part of Coghlanstown.

A few retired placenames there including Hughes Meadow and Bannogue Garrett - there is a Bawnoge about two miles north of Mullaboden but this would not have been in Coghlanstown parish. Any takers?

03/06/2026

A LITTLE-KNOWN CEMETERY IN COGHLANSTOWN
Two of the big houses that benefitted from the proximity of the Sallins-Tullow line and Harristown Station were Mullaboden and Stonebrook. Mullaboden is just off the Ballymore Eustace - Naas Road where it fords the brook at Donode. In the original OSI 6-inch map surveyed c.1837, a country house is visible here. In the 1850s, a larger house was built to the rear of the original house, and the original, still visible from the road, became the land steward's house. In later versions of the 6-inch map and in the 25-inch map surveyed c.1910, the two houses are visible. The larger house was built in the 1850s by Charles Hoffmann, a stalwart of the Kildare Hunt, but since the 1870s was occupied by retired Lt-Col Charles Crichton. Crichton was the second son of the 3rd Earl of Erne who served in the British Army from 1861 to 1876, married into the Taylour/Headfort family in 1873, establishing his seat in prime County Kildare hunting ground and in proximity to several barracks. Crichton entered political life in Kildare, being High Sherriff, Deputy Lieutenant and a Justice of the Peace for the County. I previously posted about a pony festival running shortly after the main Punchestown festival that Crichton appears to have hosted annually in Mullaboden - this attracted the high society of the time including the presiding Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

Crichton had a son and a daughter. His son Hubert was killed in September 1914 during the British Expeditionary Force's retreat from Mons - he was buried in France but his father had a stained glass window in St. John's Church, Ballymore Eustace, installed in his honour. In the following year, further tragedy touched the family when Crichton's son-in-law (husband to his daughter Amelia), Sir John P Milbanke, was killed in Gallipoli. When Crichton died in August 1918 (see obituary from the Irish Field), the widowed Amelia (Lelia) inherited Mullaboden. Perhaps unsurprisingly, in 1920 she married another Gallipoli veteran, Galway-born Lieutenant General Bryan Mahon, who had a distinguished career in the British Army and had served as the Commander-in-Chief for the Army in Ireland from 1916-1918. Having just enjoyed promotion to full General, Mahon retired from the Army in 1921. He was a member of the Free State Seanad for its first three terms, being nominated by W.T. Cosgrove in 1922 and 1925 and elected in 1928. In February 1923, Mullaboden was burned down by anti-treaty IRA forces - however the house was rebuilt. Lelia died in 1927 and was buried alongside her father about 100 metres from the house in the woods - in this same year, Mahon also converted to Catholicism. He died in 1930 and was buried alongside his wife and father-in-law in the wood in Mullaboden.

These photos were taken many years ago and my guess is that the graves are completely overgrown once more. The little cemetery is on private land, owner's permission should always be sought if anyone is ever seeking out. It is remarkable how Mahon, with his distinguished army career and who may in other circumstances have been buried with great pomp and decoration in a prominent place, is buried in such an unassuming place.

07/05/2026

A fascinating-sounding talk by the ever-entertaining and highly-knowledgeable Liam Kenny this Saturday night at 8pm in the resource centre in Ballymore Eustace. See you there.

18/04/2026

1926 CENSUS YET AGAIN
A few more pages relating to the station and Harristown:
https://nationalarchives.ie/collections/search-the-1926-census/view-1926-pdf/?doc=Harristown_0687_0037_0001_0_00001.pdf
This is the household & building returns for Harristown townland (form B1 which would have been filled out by the enumerator rather than the householders). Harristown, once the democratic equal of Dublin and Belfast in being able to send two members to the 1691-1800 Irish parliament now had fifteen households and sixty one inhabitants in total, but what is most striking is that Harristown House was still unoccupied. However, in the lodge house (Delaneys as I would think of it), John McDowall was in situ and is described as gamekeeper to Dr. Graham of Harristown. Graham was an absentee in April 1926.

https://nationalarchives.ie/collections/search-the-1926-census/view-1926-pdf/?doc=Harristown_0687_0037_0012_0_00023.pdf
The Martin family from the signalman's cottage above the station. This was a large family squeezed into a tiny house, but most of the family had dispersed by 1926. The house is derelict but is still standing.

https://nationalarchives.ie/collections/search-the-1926-census/view-1926-pdf/?doc=Harristown_0687_0037_0008_0_00015.pdf
"Porter Murphy" cottage on the Mullacash road.

https://nationalarchives.ie/collections/search-the-1926-census/view-1926-pdf/?doc=Harristown_0687_0037_0006_0_00011.pdf
The Hannon family who were in Charlie Clarke's cottage by the bridge.

https://nationalarchives.ie/collections/search-the-1926-census/view-1926-pdf/?doc=Harristown_0687_0037_0004_0_00007.pdf
The Maxwell family - John the father was working as a ganger on the railway. I am not entirely sure of which house that were living in but I am wondering it was one of the two houses on the bend on the Mullacash road (Mick Rourke's) - thoughts welcome. Little Ted, three years old here, is buried in Coghlanstown cemetery - there is no registered death associated with him but I am surmising that he died in the subsequent few years.

The O'Haras and Allisons are also present in Harristown, both households had recent bereavements of a military nature, with Patrick Allison having been killed in the Graney crossroads ambush and Michael O'Hara having died from injuries received while fighting in World War I.

18/04/2026

1926 CENSUS AGAIN
https://nationalarchives.ie/collections/search-the-1926-census/view-1926-pdf/?doc=Harristown_0687_0037_0014_0_00027.pdf
To follow from the previous post, the 1926 census went live at midnight and thankfully all is largely going well with the technology, some discontinuity but no crashes. My main two observations on the data more generally are that handwriting seems to have deteriorated between 1911 and 1926(!, probably because literacy was increasing and enumerators were filling out less of the details), and secondly having the information on the employer (rather than just the occupation) is very interesting and will really help anyone trying to understand their ancestors. And indeed, an interesting picture in Harristown station.

Mary Anne Horgan had been widowed six weeks previously, and despite there being seven Horgans and three small bedrooms in the stationmaster's house, there are now two boarders, John and Robb Smyth. John Smyth is described as a railway clerk with the Great Southern Railway, a stand-in station master living in one of the rooms at the behest of the landlord, the railway company. Robb, likely a younger brother, is described as a clerk in the Midland & Leinster Bank in Naas. As the Horgans had a double bereavement to process, the intrusion was hardly easy.

Of the children, John Horgan junior was two years out of work as a railway porter, while Mary worked as a solicitors clerk with O'Connors (in Naas, I believe) and Josie, the same Josephine Gibbons that is interviewed in the Frank Taafe piece referenced in the previous post, was two months out of work (which would coincide with not having returned after her father's & brother's deaths in February). The other three are at school. There was just one solictors clerk income supporting the family, and the pressure to vacate coming from the railway company was undoubtedly growing. Before they eventually left, young William had time to put his schooling into practice and scratch "BH" on the brickwork outside the front door of the station master's house in Harristown - the etching is still there.