1798 Census in Drogheda

1798 Pikeman Memorial statue, Wexford

1798 was a time of uncertainty and rebellion in Ireland. The United Irishmen were engaged in their guerrilla warfare against the Crown forces from May to September '98 in their attempt to achieve a democratic and equal Ireland. Their fight was based around the principles of the French and American Revolutions and was gaining support all over the country. The Census that took place in Drogheda in '98 shows that the authorities believed there was considerable support for the rebellion amongst the population of Drogheda. This goes contrary to popularly held opinion on the matter; indeed D'Alton, in his 'History of Drogheda' says that it "appears, however, creditable to the loyalty of the town that at the two Assizes of 1799, the number of felons arraigned was but seventeen, of whom only one was tried for sedition and discharged." Indeed, there are a number of reports from the time of members of the 'Defenders' gathering on the banks of the Boyne to parade and swear each other in as members. In Feb 1793 a proclamation offering a reward of £100 to any person who would persecute them (the Defenders) in, amongst others, the county of the town of Drogheda "where they assembled in large bodies with arms and other offensive weapons, administered illegal oaths, sent threatening letters, plundered houses of arms and other things and burned both houses and offices."
On the 22nd June 1798 a Michael Boylan was hanged at the Tholsel for being part of the United Irishmen, along with two other men from Dundalk a short time later.

The '98 Census also provides additional information to historians by providing not only
population lists but also an indication of how the poorer classes lived, those who seem to be invisible in compiled history. A remarkable fact shown was that there were more people living outside the town walls than inside  - 8,556 persons in 1,881 houses outside the walls and 6,669 persons in 926 houses inside. Most of the construction outside consisted of "ribbon building" of small thatched mud-walled cabins on all of the approach roads to the various gates - Chord Rd. to Laurence Gate, Hardman's Gardens and Scarlet St. to St. Sunday's Gate, North Rd and Mell to West Gate, Platten Rd, Coolagh St. and Priest Lane to Duleek Gate etc. These cabins were mostly inhabited by the native Irish who, displaced from small farms by agrarian troubles, moved gradually towards the town in search of employment.

If contemporary accounts are to be believed there should have been no lack of work for them. Arthur Young, writing of the town a decade earlier than this census says: "Situated on the Boyne...it exported considerable quantities of corn and provisions as well as a coarse kind of cloth which was made in the district. There was a bustling vigorous air along the quays, where ships were continually loading and unloading, and in the streets surrounding the markets." It was market day in the town on the occasion of Arthur Young's visit and he found "the quantity of corn etc. and the number of people assembled very great - few country markets in England were ever more thronged." The Linen Hall had already been built (1774) where a great linen market was held weekly to dispose of the very large amount of cloth woven in the district, and there were many other small industries such as tanning, brewing, distilling etc. in the town.

Laurence Gate area 1820

The inhabitants of the thatched dwellings outside the walls in 1798 were most likely Gaelic speakers, and the immediate forbears of those described by the German J. G. Kohl a few decades later. Kohl writes of Drogheda, which he visited in 1844: "Drogheda is a very Irish town - the last genuine Irish one the traveller meets on this coast as he travels northward. Nay, Drogheda is perhaps more Irish than many a town in the south or west of the island. The population is almost entirely Roman Catholic, but few Protestants are to be found there. The suburbs of Drogheda are genuinely Irish, miserable, filthy falling cabins, and many persons are likewise to be found in the neighbourhood who understand and speak the old Irish language and say they cannot speak English with comfort or fluency. Nay, according to what I was told by the inhabitants I must believe that the Irish language is far more general in and around Drogheda than at any other point on the eastern coast of Ireland." Thus the large population outside the town wall, as indicated by the 1798 Census, marked a significant stage in the re-conquest of the town by the native Irish. The cabins in which they lived survived in most areas until they were demolished and replaced by modern housing schemes from the 1930's.


Extracts from " A Drogheda Census List of 1798" by Moira Corcoran from the County Louth Archaeological and Historical Journal 1970 Vol. 17.

Drogheda's Refuse Problems 1656 - 1707 A.D.

In this heatwave (and subsequent downpours) we've been having, give thanks for the fact that nowadays the citizens of Drogheda don't have to put up with dung, muck and refuse (of the human and household kind) all along our streets creating a foul sight and smell. Our seventeenth century counterparts were not so lucky in this regard. The rapid growth of towns in this period along with the consequent increase in population made the lack of sanitation, the shortage of good water, the dirty narrow streets and the lack of drainage an ever increasing problem.

From the minutes of the meetings of the Corporation of Drogheda (available from October 1869, the earlier records having been destroyed by Cromwell), it's clear that the council were well aware of both the danger and unpleasantness of uncontrolled refuse dumping. The great Plague of London in 1665 had also been attributed to the dirt and unsanitary conditions prevalent in that city. That the Corporation took whatever action lay within their powers to deal with the problem is evident from the following extracts from the minutes of the Council (original spelling used throughout).

7th August 1658: Petition of "Thomas Gregory, Bellowre (Town Crier) prayinge some allowance from ye worshipful Corporaceon for this dayly paines and labour for cleeringe the howse of office neere St. Saviours Key (ed. a mall which ran between Dyer St. and River Boyne) wch otherwise would be very noysome and hurtfull to ye adjacent inhabitants".

The "house of office" from the context would appear to have been a public convenience. Gregory was granted ten shillings sterling for services already rendered and promised that future remuneration would be considered by "ye committee of views".

8th July 1659: Ordered "that all such persons wch for the future shall carie or cause to be carried any durt or dunge through the streets of this towne, in any carre or carte, but such as may bee well closed on both sides, at at ye one ende, to keep ye same from falling upon streets, upon paine of XIId sterling, to be leavied of and upon the goods of ye offenders, as they shall be found peccant (guilty) herein..."

12th October 1660: The Gate Customs (or toll collection) at the town gates were leased to one Thomas Cockayne. A condition of the lease was that he "Thomas Cockayne, or his under tenants, shall from tyme to tyme be at charge of cleaninge the sayd Gates so that travellers and other inhabitants of the Towne may not be annoyed in their incomings into the said Town or out..."

The Corporation were apparently anxious to impress the tourist even then.

Drogheda 1749

During 1665, the year of the Great Plague of London, the Corporation were very much aware of the danger of the spread of infection from the crews of English ships using the port. At the 1665 Oct. meeting reference was made to the "severall proclamations from the Lord Lieutenant and Counsell, that noe master or vessel shall come ashore nor suffer passengers to land in any parte without lycence first obtayned from the Magistrate by reason of the infection continuinge in England." There were also orders given that the townspeople, under pain of hefty and continuing fines, should keep their streets clean in front of their doors, carry away their refuse and keep their swine off the streets to avoid spreading disease.

The subject of the pollution of the River Boyne was also troubling the Council around the start of the 18th century, judging by the following:

16th January 1707: "
Ordered that Mr. Mayor, the Mayor of the Staple, Ald. Graham, Ald. J. A. Meade, Mr. John Ffriend, Mr. Wm. Patten and Mr. Edward Fforbes or any five of them doe viewe the Strand where the greate dung hill lys without the Blinde Gate and consider what is fitt to be done for the security of the river from the nuisance of that dunghill and to report their opinion to the next General Assembly."

The "Blind Gate" was the original name for the present Constitution Hill, and the area seemed to have been used by the citizens in the 17th century as a dump. The Corporation, judging by their decree of 30th April 1669 in which they closed St. Katherines Gate (this was located in the east wall of the town close to the river in the vicinity of Greene's Furniture Showroom) to people dumping waste outside the town walls, were conscious of the danger to the river water from the effluent from the dump, flowing down the steep hill into the river.  

Whilst the problems facing the Borough Council may not have changed much in the past three hundred odd years, at least Constitution Hill is no longer a giant midden heap and for that we should be very grateful.



Extracts from: "Drogheda's Refuse Problem 1656 - 1707 A.D." by Moira Corcoran, Old Drogheda Society Journal 1983.