Drakestown
The Lewis Topographical Directory was first published in 1837 in two volumes, with an accompanying atlas. The first edition is available online. A second edition was published in 1842. Lewis relied on the information provided by local contributors and on the earlier works published such as Coote’s Statistical Survey (1801), Taylor and Skinner’s Maps of the Road of Ireland (1777), Pigot’s Trade Directory (1824) and other sources. He also used the various parliamentary reports and in particular the census of 1831 and the education returns of the 1820s and early 1830s. Local contributors were given the proof sheets for final comment and revision. The names of places are those in use prior to the publication of the Ordnance Survey Atlas in 1838. Distances are in Irish miles (the statute mile is 0.62 of an Irish mile).
Drakestown, a parish, in the barony of Morgallion, county of Meath, and province of Leinster, 3 3/4 miles (S.) from Nobber, on the road from Navan to Kingscourt; containing 982 inhabitants. It comprises 6582 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act: the land is mostly in pasture, the surrounding country being generally good grazing land. It is a rectory, in the diocese of Meath, and is part of the union of Castletown Kilpatrick: the tithes amount to £188. 3. 2., and there is a glebe of 4 acres, valued at £28 per annum. The R. C. parish is co-extensive with that of the Established Church. About 40 boys are educated in a private school.
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Drakestown
The Parliamentary Gazetteer 0f Ireland, 1844-1845, Vol. 2
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Drakestown, a parish on the west border of the barony of Morgallion, 4 1/2 miles north east by north of Kells, co. Meath, Leinster. It is traversed by the road from Kells to Ardee. Length, south eastwards, 3 1/4 miles; breadth, from 1/2 to 1 3/4; area, 2692 acre, 3 roods, 9 perches. Pop., in 1841, 889. Houses 151. The seats are Leegagh and Raffin. The road from Navan to Kingscourtcourt traverses the interior. This parish is a rectory in the dio. of Meath; and that rectory, together with the vicarages of Knock and Castletown Kilpatrick, constitutes the benefice of Drakestown. The three parishes are mutually contiguous. Both the church and the Roman Catholic chapel are in Castletown. In 1834, the Protestants of the parish amounted to 7, and the Roman Catholics to 1,007; the Protestants of the union to 67, and the Roman Catholics to 2,712; a pay daily school in Drakestown had on its books 41 boys and 3 girls; and there was a school also in Castletown.