placenamesPriorswood
Coill an Phrióra
The development of Clonshaugh, Moatview and Ferrycarrig reshaped local education and worship in this part of north Dublin.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- Coill an Phrióra · Irish · main form · validated name
- Priorswood · English · main form
Place & story
A parish for the growing district
Saint Francis of Assisi parish was established on 15 August 1974 and entrusted to the Capuchin Franciscan friars. Its church on Clonshaugh Drive was dedicated by Archbishop Dermot Ryan on 3 February 1980. These dates place the parish’s formation within the period when the surrounding north Dublin neighbourhoods were expanding. The church became a shared institutional focus for an area whose housing and schools were also changing rapidly. [2]
From Saint Mary’s to larger schools
The local school history traces Saint Francis’s junior and senior schools back to a small country school, Saint Mary’s, on Clonshaugh Road. The construction of the Clonshaugh, Moatview and Ferrycarrig housing estates during the 1970s brought a need for much larger premises. The schools moved to Clonshaugh Drive and grew considerably: the parish account recalls almost a thousand pupils in each. This history connects the modern school buildings with an earlier rural institution and the arrival of new families. [3]
A change in the friars’ residence
In January 2022 the Capuchin provincial minister, Seán Kelly, announced a change to the parish’s administration. The friars would continue providing its clergy but, from August, would live together in Raheny rather than beside the Priorswood church. Kelly described this as a return to the arrangement used when the parish began in the mid-1970s. His statement records a change in residence within a continuing local relationship, shaped by the order’s declining numbers and ageing membership. [4]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Priorswood. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Our Parish · Priorswood Parish
- St Francis Junior School · Priorswood Parish
- Statement from the Provincial Minister concerning the closure of Friaries, 21 January 2022 · Capuchin Franciscans Ireland
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2010-04-13. How this page was prepared.