The Heritage Committee of Clane Community Council has been busy scouring the internet, visiting libraries, and following up on leads provided by the public to help illustrate how Clane has evolved over the years. We hope you enjoy exploring our findings below. If you come across any other historical maps of Clane please let us know.
Petty’s Down Survey of Ireland – 1656 to 1658
Trinity College Dublin with the assistance of the Research Council of Ireland have made the details of the Down Survey of Ireland, overseen by William Petty, available online. Clane – spelt Claine by the surveyors – can be seen in the following maps:
Noble and Keenan – 1752
Thanks to the very kind generosity of a member of the public who wishes to remain anonymous, we are delighted to present a detailed scan of the Noble and Keenan Map of 1752 on which details of Clane and surrounding roads can be seen. Please click on the map below to see the full version.
Below is a map of modern Clane with the approximate location of features and roads in Noble & Keenan 1752 highlighted.
loading map - please wait...
Taylor and Skinner: Maps of the Roads of Ireland Surveyed 1777
Taylor and Skinner surveyed Ireland in 1777 and the results of their work can be downloaded in full from AskAboutIreland. Clane (“Clain”) features on page 93 which is available directly on Google Books, embedded below. Notice that the Abbey and Abbeylands House are both illustrated. Is that a pointed roof on the tower of the Abbey?
Griffith Valuation
As part of Griffith’s Valuation, 1847-1864, maps were prepared of the entire country with detailed town plan’s prepared for built-up areas. These maps include subtle differences to the Ordnance Survey maps below. The valuations for County Kildare were published in 1851, implying the underlying maps were prepared sometime previous.
- Griffith Survey Maps of Clane – click the icons in the “Map Views” column. When the map is open click the “Show Towns” button to see the town plan of Clane during the valuation.
Ordnance Survey – 1837 to date
Some of the most detailed historical maps of Clane are available on the official Ordnance Survey Ireland geohive map viewer. The Basemaps for the viewer includes the following maps:
- Historic 6 inch Map from ~1837
- Historic 6 inch Map from ~1837 (with borders in colour)
- Historic 25 inch Map from ~1908
- Wind Report (includes Discovery Series Maps)
- Aerial View from 1995
- Aerial View from 2000
- Aerial View from 2005
- Street Map (recent)
The historic 6 inch map highlights the borders of the townlands of Clane (in red), the civil parish of Clane (in green), and the barony of Clane (in yellow).
The Townland of Clane, Civil Parish of Clane, Barony of Clane…
Over the years various administrative boundaries have been used for various purposes in Ireland. These include townlands, civil parishes and baronies.
Thanks to the work of a team of volunteer mappers contributing to openstreetmap, details of these Irish boundaries are becoming freely available and can now be explored using the following facilities:
- Maps of Ireland – zoom into anywhere in Ireland and use the layers on the top right to view the surrounding Townlands, Civil Parishes, Baronies, and more.
- Townlands.ie – once you know the name of the townland, civil parish or barony you are interested in, you can explore the details of that location on this site. For townlands, scroll down to the bottom of the townland page for links to the historical census returns and Griffith’s Valuation for that townland. For example, here is the page for the townland of Clane.
Modern Maps
For modern maps and satellite images of Clane please visit our Map of Clane page.