placenamesLisbealad
Lios Béalaid
An unusual stone bridge, a celebrated school football team and the Clubhouse Bar give Lisbealad connections that reach beyond its West Cork crossroads.
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
- Lios Béalaid · Irish · main form · validated name
- Lisbealad · English · main form
Place & story
An eighteenth-century clapper bridge
Bealanascartane Bridge in Lisbealad East crosses the river on eight short spans. The national architectural survey dates it to around 1780 and identifies it as a rare clapper bridge: dressed limestone slabs rest on rubble limestone piers rather than forming arches. Its parapets are also rubble limestone, with later block repairs to part of the southern side. The construction preserves a distinctive solution to carrying a road across the water. [2]
The first Tom Barry Cup
Players from Drinagh and Lisbealad National Schools joined forces for the inaugural Tom Barry Cup in 1970. Created by the Carbery GAA Board to mark fifty years since the Battle of Kilmichael, the under-fourteen competition culminated in their one-point victory over Timoleague at Sam Maguire Park in Dunmanway. Tom Barry presented the trophy. A reunion eventually held in 2022 brought the former players together again after anniversary plans had been disrupted by the pandemic. [3]
An emigrant connection through the Clubhouse
Family research reported by Kieran O'Mahony in the Southern Star in 2022 connected singer Billie Eilish with the Clubhouse Bar in Lisbealad. Researcher Ian O'Brien identified her great-grandfather as William H. O'Connell from the Clubhouse. After emigrating to Boston around the turn of the twentieth century, William married Catherine T. O'Connell from neighbouring Edencurra. The reported connection therefore rests on an emigrant family line, rather than on the singer having lived locally. [4]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Lisbealad. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Bealanascartane Bridge, registration 20912111 · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
- Inaugural 1970 Tom Barry Cup winners Drinagh gather to commemorate success, 18 January 2023 · John Bohane, The Echo
- Billie Eilish’s West Cork and Star links, 12 April 2022 · Kieran O’Mahony, Southern Star
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.