Durhamstown
Durhamstown (Irish: Baile an Dormhamaigh), known occasionally but less frequently as Dormstown, is a townland in the civil parish of Ardbraccan in the Barony of Lower Navan, outside Navan in County County Meath. In religious terms it is covered by the Roman Catholic parish of Bohermeen.[1] Some of the modern rules of the game of Croquet were produced by local gentry living in two estates in Durhamstown, and a third estate within the civil parish of Ardbraccan, in 1858.
Census population
Durhamstown, sometimes referred to as Dormstown (a form of spelling which fell into disuse by the mid 20th century), is one of twenty townlands in the civil parish of Ardbraccan and had 64 houses according to the 1911 census of Ireland.[2]
Physical structures
The townland's most prominent physical structures are Faughan Hill, a small hill on the otherwise flat plains of the area on which legend claims Niall of the Nine Hostages was buried, and Durhamstown Castle, a Norman towerhouse that has been lived in for five hundred years.
Origins of the game of croquet
According to histories of the game of Croquet, an early set of rules of the game were compiled by an anonymous writer who described himself as "corncrake" to The Field publication on 21 August 1858.[3] "Corncrake" was revealed to be George Annesley Pollock of the Oatlands estate in Durhamstown. His "The Rules of the Oatlands Club" became a key set of rules for the game, with records revealing that the rules were used by the owners of Oatlands and Durhamstown Castle, and another nearby estate, for local competitions. The game Croquet later spread to Great Britain from Ireland.[4] Though the game spread from Ireland, the first registered set of rules were registered in Britain in 1856.
People from Durhamstown
Among people originally from Durhamstown who became prominent were journalist and political adviser Jim Duffy.