placenamesDungarvan
Dún Garbhán
The small Waterford townland contains a stronghold reused for military and police purposes.
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
- Dún Garbhán · Irish · main form · validated name
- Dungarvan · English · main form
Place & story
A shell keep above the harbour
The Office of Public Works dates Dungarvan Castle to around 1209, when it was built to guard the harbour entrance. Its earliest surviving structure is a polygonal shell keep, a building type uncommon in Ireland. A surrounding curtain wall, corner tower and gate tower form the enclosure. [2]
Barracks within the walls
A two-storey barracks was built inside the castle during the first half of the eighteenth century. The OPW records use by the British Army and Royal Irish Constabulary until 1922, destruction by anti-Treaty forces during the Civil War, and subsequent refurbishment for use by the Gardaí. [2]
A smaller census unit
In 1911 Dungarvan townland was listed within Dungarvan No. 1 Urban electoral division. The table left its separate population cells blank, while reporting 4,118 inhabitants for the larger division. That ward total included numerous other townlands and cannot be assigned to Dungarvan townland alone. [3]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Townland
- County
- Waterford
- Barony
- Decies-without-Drum
- Civil parish
- Dungarvan
- Coordinates
- 52.08845, -7.62485
- Mapped area
- 0.42 km²
- Logainm ID
- 49642 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Dungarvan. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Dungarvan Castle: official history and location · Office of Public Works, Heritage Ireland
- Census of Ireland 1911: County and City of Waterford, Table VII, printed page 14 · His Majesty’s Stationery Office; printed by A. Thom & Company, Dublin, 1912
- Boundary geometry retains its source attribution and licence in the downloadable geographic record. Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.