Durhamstown (), known less frequently as Dormstown, is a townland outside

Navan Navan ( ; , meaning "the Cave") is the county town and largest town of County Meath, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is at the confluence of the River Boyne and Leinster Blackwater, Blackwater, around 50 km northwest of Dublin. At the ...

County Meath County Meath ( ; or simply , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is bordered by County Dublin to the southeast, County ...

, Ireland. In religious terms it is covered by the

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

parish of Bohermeen. Durhamstown townland lies in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

Ardbraccan Ardbraccan () is an ancient place of worship in County Meath, Ireland. It is the location of the former residence of the Roman Catholic, then, after the Reformation, the Church of Ireland Bishop of Meath. it was also a place of prominence in pr ...

, and has an area of .

History

Name and population

Durhamstown, sometimes referred to as Dormstown (a form of spelling which fell into disuse by the mid 20th century), is one of twenty

townland A townland (; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a traditional small land division used in Ireland and in the Western Isles of Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of medieval Gaelic origin, predating the Norman invasion, and mo ...

s in the civil parish of Ardbraccan and had 64 houses according to the 1911 census of Ireland. As of the 2011 census, the population of the townland was 319 people.

Origins of croquet

According to histories of the game of

Croquet Croquet ( or ) is a sport which involves hitting wooden, plastic, or composite balls with a mallet through hoops (often called Wicket, "wickets" in the United States) embedded in a grass playing court. Variations In all forms of croquet, in ...

, an early set of rules of the game were compiled by an anonymous writer who described himself as "corncrake" to ''The Field'' publication on 21 August 1858. "Corncrake" was revealed to be George Annesley Pollock of the Oatlands estate in Durhamstown. His "The Rules of the Oatlands Club" became a key set of rules for the game, with records revealing that the rules were used by the owners of Oatlands and Durhamstown Castle, and another nearby estate, for local competitions. The game Croquet later spread to

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

from Ireland. Though the game spread from Ireland, the first registered set of rules were registered in Britain in 1856.

Geography

The townland's most prominent geographical formations include Faughan Hill, a small hill on the otherwise flat plains of the area on which legend claims

Niall of the Nine Hostages Niall Noígíallach (; Old Irish "having nine hostages"), or Niall of the Nine Hostages, was a legendary, semi-historical Irish king who was the ancestor of the Uí Néill dynasties that dominated Ireland from the 6th to the 10th centuries. ...

was buried. Nearby is Durhamstown Castle, a Norman towerhouse that has been lived in for five hundred years.

References

{{reflist Townlands of County Meath