placenames1901 census
79People recorded
8Households recorded
Most frequent surnames in this year’s matched records
Explore the 1901 records ↗Heathland
The school’s residents were explicitly included in the townland’s population return.
Recorded locationHeathland53.61103° N · 7.41229° WInteractive map supplied by OpenStreetMap.
Recorded place location · Logainm.ie
The name
A reliable full-name meaning has not been established here. The recorded Irish and English forms are given without an unsupported translation.
Recorded forms
- Heathland · English · main form
Place & story
A will and a school
Wilson’s Hospital School traces its foundation to Andrew Wilson’s will of 1724. If he left no direct male heirs, his estate and its income were to support a hospital for elderly Protestant men and a school for poor Protestant boys. The school opened in 1761. Its own account identifies the will as its foundation document and records the appointment of Church of Ireland bishops and archbishops as trustees and guardians. [2]
An institutional population
Heathland had eighty-four inhabitants in 1911, sixty-one male and twenty-three female, in seven occupied houses. The census footnote expressly includes Wilson’s Hospital residents in that population. It recorded 118 people in 1891 and seventy-nine in 1901. The townland covered 257 acres and thirty-two perches and belonged to Lackan parish, Ballinalack electoral division, Multyfarnham dispensary district and Mullingar Poor Law Union. [3]
Geographic information
People & family history
Census figures refer to the matched historical census area for each year. Boundaries and spellings can change over time.
1911 census
88People recorded
7Households recorded
Most frequent surnames in this year’s matched records
- Griffith 6
- Spinks 5
- Dangor 3
- Gillespie 3
- Leahy 3
1926 census
No verified place match is available for this year. This does not indicate a population of zero.
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Heathland. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Characteristic Spirit & Ethos: foundation and opening of Wilson’s Hospital School · Wilson’s Hospital School
- Census of Ireland 1911: County Westmeath, Table VII, printed page 39 and footnote (c) · His Majesty’s Stationery Office; printed by the Athlone Printing Works Company, 1912
- Boundary geometry retains its source attribution and licence in the downloadable geographic record. Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors.
- Wilson's Hospital School at Heathland, County Westmeath illustration: based on a Wilson's Hospital, Multyfarnham by Brian Shaw. 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 2007-11-30. How this page was prepared.