Gorey

History

{{Historical populations|state=collapsed |1821|2132 |1831|3944 |1841|3365 |1851|2972 |1861|2673 |1871|2639 |1881|2450 |1891|2213 |1901|2178 |1911|2339 |1926|2296 |1936|2323 |1946|2687 |1951|2889 |1956|2816 |1961|2671 |1966|2858 |1971|3024 |1981|3554 |1986|3884 |1991|3850 |1996|3939 |2002|5282 |2006|7293 |2011|9114 |2016|9822 |2022|11517 |footnote= Among the earliest written recordings relating to Gorey are Norman records from 1296 which refer to an existing town on the site. Several centuries later, in 1619, the town was granted a charter as a borough, under the name Newborough. Together with several other developments in the area, the Ram family also built a large estate to the north of the town. The manor house of this estate, Ramsfort, was burned following the Irish Rebellion of 1641, and again during the Irish Rebellion of 1798. In addition to Gorey's 18th century market house, many of the larger buildings within the town itself date to the mid-19th century. These include Gorey railway station which dates to 1863, the Church of Ireland church (Kilmakilloge) dating to 1861, and the Roman Catholic church (dedicated to Saint Michael) completed in 1843. Gorey was the centre of several conflicts during the 1798 Rebellion, and a memorial to these events was erected in the town in the rebellion's centenary year (1898). The parents of Jim Bolger, the former Prime Minister of New Zealand, emigrated from Gorey in the 1930s.