Kilreekill

Civil parish in County Galway, Ireland From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kilrickle or Kilreekill (Irish: Cill Rícill)[1] is a civil parish and small village in County Galway, Ireland. It lies within an electoral division of the same name and within the historical barony of Leitrim.[1][2] The area is served by Citylink bus services from Galway City via Loughrea.[3]

Name

The Irish place name Cill Rícill (meaning "church of Richill") is anglicised as 'Kilrickle' and 'Kilreekill'.[1][4] It is associated with Richill – a local woman who, according to folklore, was a 5th-century contemporary of Saint Patrick and founded a church in the area.[5][6]

History

Remains of fortified house in Wallscourt
Dartfield House ruins

Evidence of ancient settlement in the area includes a number of ringfort, souterrain and holy well sites in the townlands of Lecarrownagappoge, Dartfield and Wallscourt.[7] The remains of a fortified house lie in Wallscourt townland,[7] and the ruins of Dartfield House (a country house originally built c. 1820) are in Dartfield.[8]

The local Catholic church, which is in the townland of Wallscourt, was built in 1839.[9] Dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes, it is within the ecclesiastical parish of Cappatagle and Kilrickle in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Clonfert.[6]

The local national (primary) school, Kilrickle National School, was built in 1922.[10] It had an enrollment of 56 pupils in 2024.[11]

In 2023, the village was linked to the mainline water system for the first time in 50 years.[12][13]

People

  • Jim Fahy (1946–2022), journalist and broadcaster with RTÉ[14]
  • James Hogan (1898–1963), historian and revolutionary, was born in Kilrickle (Kilreekil) in 1898[4]
  • Patrick Hogan (1891–1936), politician and brother of James Hogan, was also born in the parish.[15]
  • Finian Monahan (1924–2010), Catholic priest and former head of the Discalced Carmelite Order[16]
  • Niamh Regan (born 1984), folk singer[17]

References

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