placenamesDrumcask
Droim Cásca
Drumcask's land and census records trace a small community in Kinawley parish. In1909a resident's attempt to prove her age for an old-age pension became the subject of a parliamentary question.
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
- Droim Cásca · Irish · main form · validated name
- Drumcask · English · main form
Place & story
Drimcaske in the early land records
An inquisition recorded in 1627 lists one poll of land called Drimcaske among the property of Richard Greames of Corrismongan. It states that he had died on 7 November 1625 and that his son and heir, Thomas, was then forty and married. The entry preserves an early spelling of Drumcask while placing it within a larger holding whose other named lands included Kilsob and Moylagh. [2]
The townland in the nineteenth-century census
The 1891 Cavan census report places Drumcask in Kinawley parish, Tullyhaw barony. Its comparative figures show 76 inhabitants in 1851,103 in 1861,76 in 1871 and 72 in 1881, falling to 48 in 1891. That last return counted 26 men and 22 women, with thirteen inhabited houses and one uninhabited house. The figures describe the townland rather than a separately measured village population, and show that its decline was not a steady one across every decade. [3]
Catherine Feeley’s proof of age
In September 1909 Vincent Kennedy asked Parliament about Catherine Feeley of Drumcask. Bawnboy's pension subcommittee had awarded her five shillings a week, but the pension officer appealed because her age had not been established. An 1841 census extract showing her as six years old arrived after the Local Government Board upheld that appeal. Chief Secretary Augustine Birrell replied that the decision could not be reconsidered and she would have to submit a fresh claim. The answer does not establish what happened next. [4]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Drumcask. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Inquisitionum repertory: Cavan,31October1627, Richard Greames entry · Irish Chancery records, historical printed repertory reproduced by Cavan Townlands
- Census of Ireland1891: Cavan, area, houses and population, Drumcask row · Census of Ireland; digitised by the Central Statistics Office
- Old Age Pension Application, Drumcask, Cavan:2September1909, vol10cc742–743W · UK Parliament, Historic Hansard
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.