Census and the Story of Us: Agriculture was Meath's main employer in 1926

Meath was a young county in 2026, with more than one third of its population under 15, and a county where large families remained the norm when the population nationally was decreasing, explained Zoe Reid, Keeper of Manuscripts at the National Archives, at the launch of the Census 1926 Exhibition in St Mary's Community Centre, Navan, on Friday evening.

Meath is the first county outside of Dublin to host the touring exhibition - a county whose story in 1926 is rich, distinctive, and deeply woven into the early history of the Irish Free State, Ms Reid said.

With a population of 62,320 in 1926, the county was overwhelmingly rural, with agriculture dominating daily life. Over half of those employed in the Free State worked in agriculture, and Meath reflects this national pattern strongly. The census shows that 35 per cent of those working on farms were employed on farms of 100 acres or more, highlighting the county's long tradition of large, productive farmland. Dairy herds in the north of the county, mixed tillage around Trim and Athboy, and horse-breeding traditions around Dunboyne and Summerhill all appear clearly in the returns.

Navan, Trim, and Kells town appear as busy market centres, with drapers, mill workers, shopkeepers and publicans forming the backbone of local commerce. Some 65 out of every 10,000 people in Meath worked in a pub - a reminder of the central role of the public house in rural life.

The census also reveals the industrial life of the county, Ms Reid continued. One of the most striking examples being Millbrook Terrace in Navan. Of the 14 households recorded on the street, every single one included at least one person employed in the Clayton Cloth Factory. The census captured the mill workers, apprentices, weavers, and finishers whose livelihoods depended on the factory, whose routines shaped the rhythm of the neighbourhood.

She pointed out that the business records of the Clayton firm, now preserved by Meath County Archive, complement the census returns and allow us to see not only the workers in their homes, but the industrial world they stepped into each morning. The census also shows clusters of railway families in Navan, Kells, and Athboy - stationmasters, porters, signalmen, and clerks whose work connected the county to the wider world.

Meath's big houses also appear on the census, not only through the names of their owners but through the gardeners, grooms, cooks and maids who kept them running. An example used by Ms Reid was Dunsany Castle, where the census records not the 18th Lord Dunsany himself, but the three women who were resident on census night - housekeeper, Julia Maher, and domestic servants, 30-year-old Matilda Armstrong, and 29-year-old Elizabeth Reid.

Ten-year-old Richard Farrelly is recorded in Kells, living with his family above the public house run by his parents. Farrelly would later join An Garda Síochána and become known as Dick Farrelly, the songwriter behind the famous 'The Isle of Innisfree'.

Two of those who are actually on the 1926 census were welcomed to the launch by Corinne Herward, the Meath County Archivist. George O'Connor from Dunsany, who is 103, and Ann Carey from Ashbourne, aged 101, the National Archive's Meath Centenarian Ambassadors.

"Their many years reflect a wealth of experience and a wide perspective on the changes that Ireland has undergone in the last century," she said.

Opening the exhibition in one of her first public engagements as the new cathaoirleach of Meath County Council, Cllr Sarah Reilly said that when we look back at Meath in the 1926 census we see a county on the cusp of change.

"The population decline which began with the Famine is still reflected in 1926, with the population of Meath just around 63,000. Today the number is well over 220,000.

"Here, in Navan in 1926, 77.8 per cent of the population was born in Meath. Today we know that we draw a diverse population of people who want to live and work here. By looking back at the census, we can enrich our perspective and understand the growth that we have undergone."

She said the exhibition showcases the history which was collected by the first Free State Government, and brings us together to celebrate and recognise not only the people who have gone before us, but the ongoing work in our cultural and heritage sectors to protect and preserve our history and memory. The exhibition runs daily in St Mary's Comunity Centre, Trimgate Street, Navan, until Sunday 28th June.