placenamesParteen
An Pairtín
Religious buildings and an Ordnance Survey letter preserve several layers of Parteen’s history beside the Shannon.
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
- An Pairtín · Irish · main form
- Parteen · English · main form
Place & story
The Catholic church
The Diocese of Limerick’s heritage project dates Parteen’s Catholic church of St Patrick to 1831–1835, during Fr Edmond Sheehy’s ministry. It records a construction cost of £764. A new chancel and porch were added during renovations in the 1950s. Inside, a Mission Cross commemorates a visit by the Augustinian Fathers in April 1879, preserving another dated episode in the building’s history. [2]
A separate St Patrick’s
The architectural inventory records a separate Church of Ireland building dedicated to St Patrick in the Parteen area. Dated approximately 1840 in that survey, it has a three-stage tower and spire beside the nave. Stone bands, blind quatrefoils and battlements ornament the tower. Pointed nave windows and the iron entrance gate contribute to the surviving character of this distinct church. [3]
What the surveyor recorded
In December 1839 John O’Donovan distinguished the parish names St Patrick’s, Parteen and the older Kilquan in an Ordnance Survey letter. He also recorded castle ruins in Drummin and Parteen. Local tradition attributed the Parteen castle to Limerick friars, an attribution he presented as tradition. His letter ends with a complaint about the exhausting task of recording minor place names, revealing the work behind the survey. [4]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Parteen. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Parteen Church, Diocesan Heritage Project · Diocese of Limerick Heritage Project
- Saint Patrick’s Church, NIAH20406304 · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
- Parish of St Patrick’s Kilquan(a), Ordnance Survey Letter9December1839 · John O’Donovan; Clare Libraries transcription
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2012-12-21. How this page was prepared.