placenamesMaynooth
Maigh Nuad
The Russell Library brings together a Gothic reading room, Irish scribal collections and records of education abroad.
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
- Maigh Nuad · Irish · main form
- Maynooth · English · main form
Place & story
A reading room completed in 1861
The Russell Library’s reading room was designed by A. W. N. Pugin and completed in 1861. Its collections extend beyond theology to mathematics, science, geography and history. Books printed before 1501 sit alongside later printed works and manuscripts, preserving several different forms of scholarship within the college complex. [2]
Collectors and the Irish scribal tradition
The library identifies three major early Irish manuscript collections: volumes copied principally by the Ó Longain family for Bishop John Murphy of Cork; Laurence Renehan’s bequest; and manuscripts collected or transcribed by Eugene O’Curry. Fifty further Gaelic manuscripts arrived from Saint Colman’s College, Fermoy, in August 2013. Their journeys connect Maynooth with other centres of Irish learning. [2]
Records brought from Spain
When the Irish College at Salamanca closed in 1951, its archives came to Maynooth. The library describes approximately 50,000 administrative documents, extending from the college’s foundation in 1592 into the twentieth century. These records preserve connections between Irish students and continental education. [2]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Maynooth. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Russell Library: historical collections and Salamanca Archive · Maynooth University Library
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2014-05-21. How this page was prepared.