placenamesHill of Down
Cnoc an Dúin
Hill of Down grew beside the Royal Canal, briefly became a railway terminus and now marks a remembered journey of famine emigrants.
The name
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
- Cnoc an Dúin · Irish · main form · validated name
- Hill of Down · English · main form
Place & story
An unfinished canal route
The canal landscape around Hill of Down includes traces of a route that was never completed. Local historian Noel French records that the canal company abandoned its proposed line towards Kinnegad in 1801. Portions of the discarded works survive between Blackshade Bridge and Hill of Down, and part of the alignment appears on the 1836 Ordnance Survey mapping. These remnants preserve a different possible course for the waterway through this part of Meath. [2]
Changing between train and boat
Hill of Down became the western end of the advancing Midland Great Western Railway in December 1847. For a time, passengers continuing towards Mullingar changed to a canal shuttle while construction of the railway and its station continued farther west. The first train reached Mullingar on 2 October 1848. The temporary arrangement shows how the canal supported the emerging railway before a continuous rail journey became possible. [3]
Shoes beside the water
A bronze shoe sculpture beside the canal marks Hill of Down’s place on the National Famine Way. The memorial recalls the 1,490 emigrants who walked from Strokestown Park to Dublin in 1847, a journey of about 165 kilometres before departure overseas. Set beside the water rather than in a distant museum, the shoes connect the village’s familiar canal bank with the longer history of hunger, displacement and emigration commemorated along the route. [4]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Meath
- Barony
- Moyfenrath Upper
- Civil parish
- Clonard
- Within
- Molerick
- Coordinates
- 53.47777, -6.99076 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 133206 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Hill of Down. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Royal Canal in Meath · Noel French, Meath History Hub
- Mullingar: Midland Great Western Railway · Westmeath Library Service, Ask About Ireland
- Hill of Down · Discover Boyne Valley
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.