placenames.ie
Townland

Martinstown

Baile Mháirtín

The castle’s internal arrangements survive in the archaeological record.

Watercolour and fine ink view of a small roofless ivy-clad tower house in open pasture, with uneven surviving wall tops and trees on either side.
Illustration, the surviving tower house at Martinstown, County Westmeath, as photographed in June 2011
Recorded locationMartinstown53.59268° N · 7.09195° WInteractive map supplied by OpenStreetMap.
Recorded place location · Logainm.ie

The name

bailetownland, town, homestead

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

  • Baile Mháirtín · Irish · main form · non-validated name
  • Martinstown · English · main form

Place & story

Stairs within the wall

Martinstown’s tower house stands on a rock outcrop. The National Monuments Service describes a three-storey limestone building with stairs built into its western wall, giving access to the upper rooms. A vault covers the first-floor chamber, while a fireplace served the room above. A small projecting tower at the northeast corner contained a garderobe reached from both levels. Earth banks around the castle form a field system visible on aerial photographs. [2]

Geographic information

Place type
Townland
County
Westmeath
Barony
Delvin
Civil parish
Delvin
Coordinates
53.59268, -7.09195
Mapped area
1.52 km²
Logainm ID
51268 ↗

People & family history

Census figures refer to the matched historical census area for each year. Boundaries and spellings can change over time.

1901 census

No verified place match is available for this year. This does not indicate a population of zero.

1911 census

16People recorded
5Households recorded

Most frequent surnames in this year’s matched records

  • Bray 5
  • McCann 3
  • Merlehan 3
  • Gaffney 2
  • Cuineen 1
Explore the 1911 records ↗

1926 census

31People recorded
6Households recorded

Most frequent surnames in this year’s matched records

  • Bray 10
  • Devine 8
  • Merlehan 6
  • Monaghan 4
  • McCann 2
Explore the 1926 records ↗

Sources & further reading

  1. Logainm.ie — Martinstown. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
  2. Martinstown tower house, WM014-017, record uploaded 27 August 2018 · Frank Coyne and Caimin O’Brien, National Monuments Service
  3. Boundary geometry retains its source attribution and licence in the downloadable geographic record. Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors.
  4. The surviving tower house at Martinstown, County Westmeath illustration: based on a Castles of Leinster: Martinstown, Westmeath (1) by Mike Searle. AI-assisted watercolour and ink adaptation; cream paper margins added, incidental clutter omitted and fine details simplified. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2024-08-21. How this page was prepared.