placenamesRathdrum
Ráth Droma
Education, interest-free lending and surviving parish records reveal a social history extending across Rathdrum’s rural district.
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
- Ráth Droma · Irish · main form
- Rathdrum · English · main form
Place & story
Schools beyond the market town
Lewis's 1837 account records schools at Ballinacor, Avondale, Ballinaclash and Ballinderry, supported respectively by William Kemmis, subscribers and the rector. Carysfort had a royal endowed school. In Rathdrum itself, Erasmus Smith's charity paid a teacher's salary, the rector met the rent and subscriptions supplied school materials. Several forms of patronage thus sustained education across the extensive parish. [2]
John Tate’s provision for neighbours
John Tate of Fannaneerin left land at Knockrath to fund assistance for poorer neighbours. Lewis describes interest-free loans of £5 for a year, alongside small grants for families facing sickness, infirmity or old age. The bequest also contributed £50 annually to the dispensary, established in 1812. This combined temporary credit with medical and household assistance. [2]
What the parish archive preserves
The Representative Church Body Library's catalogue lists Rathdrum school correspondence concerning repairs, renovations and a teacher's residence between 1885 and 1983. It also identifies a school account book for 1888–1905 and plans for alterations to the entrance around 1885. These are catalogued survivals, rather than records examined here individually, but they preserve routes into the later history of parish schooling. [3]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Civil parish
- County
- Wicklow
- Barony
- Ballinacor North
- Coordinates
- 52.92457, -6.24845
- Mapped area
- 23.55 km²
- Logainm ID
- 2716 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Rathdrum. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Rathdrum: A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, 1837 · Samuel Lewis
- Rathdrum parish register list, school records and plans, page 3 · Representative Church Body Library
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2021-10-29. How this page was prepared.