In 1837, Samuel Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Ireland described Johnstown like this:
JOHNSTOWN, a parish, in the barony of NORTH NAAS, county of KILDARE, and province of LEINSTER, 1 ½ mile (N. E.) from Naas, on the road to Dublin; containing 192 inhabitants. The village, which is peculiarly neat, consists of about 13 houses and 101 inhabitants. It is a constabulary police station, and contains a handsome inn and two flour-mills, the property of the Earl of Mayo. ...
At one end of it is the entrance to the Palmerstown demesne, the seat of the Earl of Mayo. Here are also Kerdiffstown, the residence of—Hendrick, Esq., in whose demesne is a small ancient church; Fore-naughts, of the Wolfe family; and Furness, of W. Beauman, Esq., near which are the ruins of a very ancient chapel, and on the summit of a hill at the back of the house is a large and strong circular intrenchment, with an upright block of granite of great size in the centre. In ecclesiastical concerns it is regarded as a townland in the parish of Kill, in the diocese of Kildare: the tithes are payable to the vicar of Kill. In the R. C. divisions also it forms part of the union or district of Kill. A girls' school in the village is entirely supported by the Countess of Mayo.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Johnstown, in and County Kildare | Map and description, A Vision of Ireland through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofireland.org/place/27939
Date accessed: 19th May 2024
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