placenamesUpperchurch
An Teampall Uachtarach
Upperchurch’s church and roads reflect changes in a hill-country settlement that predates the main Thurles–Newport route.
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
- An Teampall Uachtarach · Irish · main form · validated name
- Upperchurch · English · main form
Place & story
Two church sites
An earlier church at Upperchurch stood south of the village, where a cemetery developed around it. Built around 1800 during the ministry of James Clancy, it served the community before the present Romanesque church was built. The older building was demolished in 1928, leaving the burial ground to preserve the connection with that former place of worship. [2]
Roads through the hills
Upperchurch was already a village before the Anglesey road connected Thurles and Newport in 1828. Engineer Richard Griffith directed that road project, improving passage through this upland district. Much later, the village became a stage on the Beara–Breifne Way, a walking route inspired by the journey of O’Sullivan Beara and his followers in 1603. [2]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Tipperary
- Barony
- Kilnamanagh Upper
- Civil parish
- Upperchurch
- Coordinates
- 52.70919, -8.01480 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 1166811 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Upperchurch. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Upperchurch, 3 April 2018 · Beara–Breifne Way
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2010-04-19. How this page was prepared.