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
Coill Dubh· Irish · main form · validated name
Coill Dubh· English · main form
Blackwood· English · main form · local name
Place & story
Frank Gibney’s planned settlement
Bord na Móna built Coill Dubh in the early 1950s to provide permanent homes for workers and their families. Architect Frank Gibney arranged terraces around green spaces, using curves and changing views to give the settlement a distinct form. Shops and a school site were part of the plan. Liam Kenny's account for Kildare Libraries places the first families' arrival just before Christmas 1952. The village grew from the needs of a new industry and the decision to replace temporary accommodation with a lasting community.[2]
People & connections
A family remembers the camp
In a recollection published by Kildare Libraries in 2013, William O'Sullivan described his family's move to Coill Dubh in 1955. His father came from Valentia Island in County Kerry and his mother from the Robertstown area. He remembered attending the village school and the former workers' camp, whose billets also served as a church where he made his First Communion. This first-person account gives a household perspective on the new settlement. The camp's reused buildings bridged the period between temporary labour accommodation and established village facilities.[3]
Recording the peatland community’s memories
The later Tóch | Dig project gathered oral testimony about Kildare's bog communities. A 2025 photograph by Shane Hynan, documented by the National Gallery of Ireland, shows Coill Dubh residents participating in that work. Made with Sheena Malone and Pamela de Brí, the project connects memories of peatland work with changing understandings of the bogs. The photograph is not reproduced here, but its catalogue record documents the continuing effort to preserve residents' knowledge. Coill Dubh's history survives in spoken recollections as well as its distinctive housing layout.[4]
Coill Dubh (Blackwood) — Census 2016 settlement footprint
Population within 2016 settlement boundaries
935people · 2022
Both counts use the 2016 settlement boundary, allowing like-for-like comparison. CSO supplies the 2022 count on this older boundary for comparison only. The official 2022 Built Up Area has different boundaries.
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Coill Dubh (Blackwood) — Census 2016 settlement footprint — census population
Coill Dubh (Blackwood), Kildare — Census town, CSO 2006 report
2002–2006: census town
684people · 2006
These are the historical areas published in the 2006 census report. Boundaries may differ between censuses and from modern settlements. Legal towns, environs and suburbs are shown separately; none has been combined into a modern settlement total.
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Coill Dubh (Blackwood), Kildare — Census town, CSO 2006 report — census population
Coill Dubh (Blackwood), Kildare — Census town, CSO 1996 report
1991–1996: census town
682people · 1996
These are the historical areas published in the 1996 census report. Boundaries may differ between censuses and from modern settlements. Legal towns, environs and suburbs are shown separately; none has been combined into a modern settlement total.
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Coill Dubh (Blackwood), Kildare — Census town, CSO 1996 report — census population
Figures cover the historical town area printed in the 1986 report. Boundaries may have changed between censuses. Legal town, environs and suburb totals remain separate and differ from modern settlement boundaries.
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Coill Dubh (or Blackwood), Kildare — Census town, CSO 1986 report — census population
These figures use different area definitions. Read the boundary note before comparing them.
Coill Dubh (Blackwood), Kildare
Published census settlement populations
746people · 2016
Settlement boundaries changed during this period. Differences may reflect boundary changes as well as population change. Where a 2011 legal-town-and-environs count is shown, it has not been recalculated onto the 2016 settlement boundary.
View population figures
Coill Dubh (Blackwood), Kildare — census population
placenames