Saint Patrick's College (church / chapel) · Photo: FlorinBaban · CC BY-SA 4.0

96buildings on the National Inventory

History of Maynooth · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage

Maynooth has 96 buildings on the National Inventory, 5 of them of national importance

History in Maynooth goes back at least to 1715, the date of its oldest recorded building. The Sites and Monuments Record adds 18 archaeological sites inside the town. Of its homes, 1.3% were built before 1919, against 3.4% in the typical town. For every 10,000 residents, Maynooth has 56 buildings on the record; the typical town has 48.

5of national importance 1715oldest record 18archaeological sites

On the National Inventory

56 per 10,000 residents
typical town: 48

Of national importance

NIAH National or International, and national monuments

Archaeological sites

Sites and Monuments Record

Oldest building

1715

the first date on its record

Homes built before 1919

1.3%

typical town: 3.4%

In pictures

Maynooth in 17 photos and 2 old views

Maynooth as it was in 1910, in old photographs. The photos cover 13 of Maynooth’s recorded places; the rest have a record card. Among Maynooth’s top-rated places, 4 are pictured.

Maynooth CastleNational monument to visit

Saint Patrick's College (university)National rating (NIAH)

Saint Mary's Church (Laraghbryan)National rating (NIAH)

Maynooth LibraryRegional rating (NIAH)

Bond BridgeRegional rating (NIAH)+12See all photos

Photos from Wikimedia Commons, copied to our own server, each credited to its photographer with its licence; names open the place’s page. Tap a photo to step through them full screen.

Through time

Maynooth from 1910 to 1910

2 old photographs, in date order. All made before 1950.

EdwardianMystery MachinePhoto: National Library of Ireland · No known copyright restrictions; made by 1925

EdwardianPeoples Purveyors & ProvidersPhoto: National Library of Ireland · No known copyright restrictions; made by 1925

From Wikimedia Commons, copied to our own server: public domain, or from the National Library of Ireland’s collections (Lawrence, Poole, Eason and others) with no known copyright restrictions. Each credit opens the image’s page.

National and International

5 places of national importance in Maynooth

Buildings the National Inventory rates National or International: of significance across Ireland or beyond. With one national monument the State cares for and opens to visitors. Each one opens its own page.

Castle - Anglo-Norman masonry castleMaynooth CastleMaynoothPhoto: William Murphy from Dublin, Ireland · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Commons file

University · 1796–1815Saint Patrick's College (university)MaynoothPhoto: Finaghy · Public domain · Commons file

Church / chapel · 1855–1860Saint Mary's Church (Laraghbryan)Parson Street, MaynoothPhoto: KevinSLWhite92 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons file

Church / chapel · 1875–1891Saint Patrick's College (church / chapel)MaynoothPhoto: FlorinBaban · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons file

Building misc · 1845–1851Saint Patrick's College (building misc)Maynooth

Regional and other sites

92 more historic places in Maynooth

Buildings rated Regional, of significance in their region, and archaeological monuments with an encyclopedia article.

All 56, A to Z

36 recorded by their type and address

36 are recorded only by their type and address: 33 homes, 1 walls, gates and bridges and 1 mills, stations and works; most date from the 18th century.

18th century25

19th century11

See all 36 on the map

Historic streets

Main Street has the most

Streets with three or more buildings on the record, by the address it gives.

Main Street33 on the record

Leinster Street6 on the record

Court House Square5 on the record

Parson Street5 on the record · 1 of national importance

Mill Street4 on the record

Pound Lane3 on the record

Dublin Road3 on the record

Straffan Road3 on the record

Moyglare Road3 on the record

Of the 97 records, 68 give a street address.

What’s recorded

61% of Maynooth’s recorded buildings are homes

Leading the record by rating: Saint Patrick's College and Saint Mary's Church (Laraghbryan). In second place come walls, gates and bridges, with 6. Maynooth shows 9 kinds of building on its record.

Homes59

Walls, gates and bridges6

Churches and chapels5

Public buildings5

Mills, stations and works2

Farm and estate buildings2

Memorials and tombs1

Inns, shops and warehouses1

Other buildings15

Types as the National Inventory records them, grouped; a building keeps the type it was built as.

How old

Most of Maynooth’s dated buildings come from the 16th to 18th centuries

Each building by the first date on its record.

1500–1799 three centuries45

19th century 1800–189942

1900 and later to today9

45 of the 96 dated ones were built before 1800. The oldest is Castle View House, from 1715.

Archaeology and around

Archaeology in Maynooth

The Sites and Monuments Record lists every known archaeological site; most are field monuments with little to see. By kind:

18 archaeological sites inside the town

Sites on the Record of Monuments and Places, the statutory list drawn from this record, are protected by law: anyone planning work at or near one must give the National Monuments Service two months’ notice.

Field system2 records

Building2 records

House - early medieval2 records

Well2 records

Ring-ditch1 record

Enclosure1 record

Road - road/trackway1 record

Architectural feature1 record

Castle - Anglo-Norman masonry castle1 record

House - prehistoric1 record

Church1 record

Field boundary1 record

Burial ground1 record

Furnace1 record

Just outside Maynooth: 6

Conolly's FollyArchaeological monument (SMR) · 1.1 km outside the town

TaghadoeArchaeological monument (SMR) · 1.9 km outside the town

Jackson's Bridge and 14th LockRegional rating (NIAH) · 600 m outside the town

Pike BridgeRegional rating (NIAH) · 900 m outside the town

Catholic Church of the Assumption of Our LadyRegional rating (NIAH) · 2.7 km outside the town

Saint Paul's Church (Moyglare)Regional rating (NIAH) · 700 m outside the town

Homes by age

A growing town: 24% of Maynooth’s homes date from 2011 on, the norm is 5.8%

37% of Maynooth’s homes went up from 1981 to 2000, more than in any other period. Homes dated between the wars are scarcer in Maynooth than in most towns: 1%, against 3.9%. Maynooth built little from 1946 to 1980: 14% of its homes, where most towns have 24%.

1.3%

Before 1919

1919–45

14%

1946–80

37%

1981–2000

23%

2001–10

24%

Since 2011

MaynoothTypical town

Census 2022, households by the year their home was built (CSO, Small Area Population Statistics, CC BY 4.0); the typical town is the middle Irish town of 2,500 or more.

Born here

5 notable people born in Maynooth before 1900

From Gerald FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare (1487) to Domhnall Ua Buachalla (1866): their lives on one timeline, earliest first.

Gerald FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare

George Barrington

William Caine

James Duggan

Domhnall Ua Buachalla

1500165018001950

Gerald FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare1487–1534 · Lord Deputy of Ireland

Domhnall Ua Buachalla1866–1963 · Irish politician

James Duggan1825–1899 · Catholic bishop

George Barrington1755–1804 · Irish-born pickpocket

William Caine1799–1871 · British colonial administrator

Everyone born in Maynooth → Birthplaces from Wikidata, each checked against the person’s English Wikipedia article; portraits from Wikimedia Commons.

Towns its size

Maynooth has the 4th most of 16 towns its size

Towns of 16,000 to 18,600 residents, by buildings on the record.

Clonmel239

Maynooth96

Leixlip45

#4 of 16for buildings on the record per resident (56 per 10,000). Clonmel, The Liberties and Clontarf East lead.

Only Clonmel, The Liberties and Clontarf East have more. The typical town its size has 16. One of the 16 has none.

Neighbours

Maynooth and its neighbours

Town	People	National Inventory	National	Archaeological sites
Maynooth	17,259	96	5	18
Celbridge	20,601	81	1	9
Kilcock	8,674	44	0	10
Leixlip	16,733	45	1	21
Straffan	1,158	17	0	2
Dunboyne	7,155	17	0	11
Lucan	23,033	169	2	26

In brief

Maynooth in brief

Maynooth has 97 places on the record, 5 of them in the top tier. Maynooth Castle sits at the heart of it all, with 5 of the town’s places of national importance within 400 m. Only 3 of the 16 towns nearest its size have more recorded buildings. Main Street alone has 33 places on the record.

Of the whole list, 61% are homes. Of the 5 people born here before 1900, the best known include Gerald FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare (1487), Domhnall Ua Buachalla (1866) and James Duggan (1825). Its homes are mostly newer: 1.3% were built before 1919, against 3.4% in the typical town. Otherwise the figures are ordinary: per resident it sits near the middle of Irish towns of 2,500 or more.

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

The National Inventory. The State’s survey of post-1700 buildings, made county by county since 1990 (NIAH); a few records are older. It records; it does not protect.
Ratings. International and National: of significance across Ireland or beyond. Regional: in its region. Local and record-only buildings get no page here.
Archaeology. The Sites and Monuments Record (National Monuments Service) lists known archaeological sites; the national monuments to visit and the sites with an encyclopedia article get pages here.
Protection. Both registers are surveys, not protection: a building is protected by its council’s Record of Protected Structures, and no national open list joins the 31 councils’ records.
The grade. Ireland’s History grade is not built yet: the page describes, and gives no grade.

Questions about Maynooth’s history

How many historic buildings are recorded in Maynooth?

96 buildings on the National Inventory, 5 of them of national importance, from the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.

Which places in Maynooth are of national importance?

Maynooth Castle, Saint Patrick's College (university), Saint Patrick's College (building misc), Saint Mary's Church (Laraghbryan) and Saint Patrick's College (church / chapel).

What is the oldest building in Maynooth?

Castle View House: the first date on its record is 1715.

Are there archaeological sites in Maynooth?

Yes: the Sites and Monuments Record lists 18 archaeological sites inside Maynooth.

How old are the homes in Maynooth?

1.3% of its homes were built before 1919, against 3.4% in the typical town.

Are the buildings on this page protected?

Being on the National Inventory or the Sites and Monuments Record is a record, not protection by itself: buildings are protected by their council’s Record of Protected Structures, which each council keeps and no national open list gathers, so this page can’t say which are on it.

History is described here, not graded.

Source: National Inventory of Architectural Heritage and Sites and Monuments Record, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (CC BY 4.0); Wikidata (CC0).

Sources: National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (buildingsofireland.ie) · Sites and Monuments Record and the National Monuments Service’s monuments to visit · CSO Census 2022 (homes by the year built) · Photos: Wikimedia Commons, including the National Library of Ireland’s collections, each credited with its licence and copied to our own server · Wikidata and English Wikipedia for people born here · Wikidata (CC0) for other names and articles. Under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).

Contains Central Statistics Office (CSO) data, Census 2022, and Tailte Éireann boundaries (CSO Urban Areas, Small Areas, local electoral areas, constituencies), under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).