The Story of the Bagenalstown Name

The town officially bears the Irish name Muine Bheag, meaning “little thicket.” The name comes from the townland in which the settlement grew, originally called Moneybeg in English. Muine refers to a thicket or small wooded area, while beag means “small.”

The English name, Bagenalstown, tells a very different story. It commemorates the Bagenal family, who held extensive lands in this part of County Carlow. In the eighteenth century, Walter Bagenal decided to establish a new town on the site. His ambitions were surprisingly grand: he envisioned a settlement called “New Versailles,” modeled after Versailles in France, complete with elegant avenues and boulevards.

The plan did not quite work out as Bagenal imagined. The main coach road from Dublin was diverted to cross the River Barrow at nearby Leighlinbridge, reducing the importance of his chosen location. Bagenal abandoned the grand project after constructing only the courthouse, which still survives as a reminder of his ambitions.

The settlement eventually found its opportunity through the River Barrow. Mills developed along the river, including Rudkin's Mill and Lodge Mills, and the town became an important center for milling and the trade in grain and other agricultural goods. The Barrow Navigation connected the area with the wider canal system, allowing boats to carry substantial quantities of goods toward Dublin.

Then came the railway in the 1840s, which finally helped the town grow substantially. Bagenalstown became a busy market and transport center, building on the industries that had already developed around the river.

The town has an unusual linguistic history as well. In 1911, Bagenalstown became the first town in Ireland to install bilingual street signs, an interesting detail that fits beautifully with our project. After Irish independence, the town commissioners adopted Muine Bheag as the official name, but Bagenalstown remained firmly embedded in local usage. A 1975 plebiscite found that 77% of those who voted wanted the English name restored, although the proposal failed because turnout was too low.

So Bagenalstown has two names that tell two different stories.

Muine Bheag remembers the landscape—a little thicket beside the Barrow.

Bagenalstown remembers the family who dreamed of creating an Irish Versailles.

And between those two names lies the story of a river, mills, canals, railways and a small Carlow settlement that eventually became a town.