These institutions appear throughout the 1926 returns and form an important part of the social landscape of the Irish Free State.
The mapped institutions span four key categories, giving users a clearer picture of where these settings were located in 1926 and supporting researchers, families, and the wider public in exploring these records.
Industrial and Reformatory Schools
The largest section of the dataset covers 53 institutions — 50 industrial schools and 3 reformatory schools. These schools were spread across the country, with the highest concentrations in Cork, Galway, Dublin, Limerick, and Tipperary, and individual institutions present in almost every county.
Examples of major industrial schools include:
- Artane Industrial School (Dublin)
- Carriglea Park (Dún Laoghaire)
- Letterfrack Industrial School (Galway)
- Salthill Industrial School (Galway)
- Glin Industrial School (Limerick)
- Ferryhouse, Clonmel (Tipperary)
- Greenmount Industrial School (Cork)
- Sunday’s Well Industrial School (Cork)
Reformatory schools recorded in the census include:
- High Park Reformatory (Grace Park Road, Drumcondra)
- St Conleth’s Reformatory (Daingean)
District Mental Asylums
Twenty‑one district mental hospitals were in operation in 1926. These institutions generally served large catchment areas corresponding to historical asylum districts, and many are still widely recognised under their later or more familiar names. Dublin had four such institutions and Cork had two; elsewhere there was typically one per district.
Examples include:
- Richmond District Lunatic Asylum (St Brendan’s, Grangegorman)
- St Ita’s, Portrane
- Central Criminal Lunatic Asylum (Dundrum / Central Mental Hospital)
- St Finan’s, Killarney
- St Brigid’s, Ballinasloe
- St Senan’s, Enniscorthy
- St Loman’s, Mullingar
Prisons
The 1926 Census includes returns for 14 prisons across 11 counties. Dublin’s entries reflect the multi‑site structure of Mountjoy (including male and female prison cottages) as well as Kilmainham Gaol. Elsewhere, prisons appear in the principal towns of:
- Cork
- Limerick (Mulgrave Street)
- Waterford (Ballybricken)
- Galway
- Castlebar
- Sligo
- Dundalk
- Tralee
- Portlaoise (Maryborough)
These records offer an overview of the penal system in 1926 and show how prisons were distributed throughout the country.
Magdalene Laundries
Magdalene Laundries operated in several locations across the Irish Free State in 1926. These institutions were run by religious orders and housed women and girls who were admitted for a variety of reasons, often through family, clergy, or State referral. The census returns record these institutions under the names used at the time, which can vary from their later or more widely recognised titles.
The 1926 Census includes entries for Magdalene Laundries in:
- Dublin (including High Park, Drumcondra, and Gloucester Street)
- Cork
- Limerick
- Galway
- Waterford
- New Ross
These records provide information on the institutional households as they were enumerated in 1926 and form an important resource for understanding the scale, distribution, and operation of Magdalene Laundries during this period.