placenamesKimmage
Camaigh
Kimmage’s history connects the preparations for the Easter Rising with a country house later adapted for missionary education.
The name
A reliable full-name meaning has not been established here. The recorded Irish and English forms are given without an unsupported translation.
Recorded forms
- Camaigh · Irish · main form · validated name
- Kimmage · English · main form
Place & story
The camp at Larkfield
The Kimmage Garrison was a secret Irish Volunteers camp organised by the Plunkett brothers before the Easter Rising. Its members trained and prepared weapons. On Easter Monday 1916, George Plunkett led volunteers by tram into the city, then through Liberty Hall to the General Post Office. Military Archives preserves a nominal roll listing ninety-five members, a record of individual participation that complements accounts of the camp's role in the Rising. [2]
Cormac Turner’s remembered journey
Cormac Turner was among those who left Larkfield for the city centre. In an account preserved by RTÉ Archives, he recalled travelling by tram and subsequently occupying Hopkins and Hopkins, the jewellers and watchmakers on O'Connell Street, with Seamus Robinson and Seamus Lundy. His recollections describe sniper fire and shelling during Easter Week. The testimony follows one member beyond the Kimmage camp, linking its preparation with the fighting in central Dublin. [3]
The Shaw family’s country house
Frederick Shaw and his family moved into Kimmage House in 1829. The Spiritan archive describes an older L-shaped building enlarged within the next two years with an entrance hall, reception rooms and staircase. The remodelling gave the house its Tudor character, with pointed gables, turrets and tall chimneys. Shaw remained there until his death in 1876; later tenants occupied the property before its conversion to another purpose. [4]
A missionary college from 1911
The Spiritans acquired the house from Mary Ida Clayton on 7 June 1911 and named their foundation the Holy Ghost Missionary College. By then the property was known as Kimmage Manor. Rooms once used by the household subsequently became teaching and administrative spaces. The archive's account makes those changes visible within the older building, tracing the passage from a suburban country residence to an institution for religious education. [4]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Kimmage. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Kimmage Garrison 1916: nominal roll RO607 and archival description · Military Archives
- Honest Lads And Not Hooligans 1916: Cormac Turner account · RTÉ Archives; Cormac Turner testimony
- Kimmage Manor history · P. Ryan CSSp, Kimmage Archives / Spiritan Heritage
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2021-02-17. How this page was prepared.