placenamesKillavally
Coill an Bhaile
Killavally’s buildings record changes in work, domestic life and worship, from a nineteenth-century mill to the rebuilding of Saint Patrick’s in the 1960s.
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 Bhaile · Irish · main form · validated name
- Killavally · English · main form
Place & story
The mill and the handball alley
The mill in Killavally East was erected for Barry John Yelverton, third Viscount Avonmore, whose nearby residence was Hazelrock Lodge. It was standing by 1852 and offered for sale in 1857, but the architectural inventory records it as ruined by 1895. Part was dismantled in 1931 for another use; the same inventory identifies a period as a handball alley. A cement inscription bearing that year survives inside the roofless shell. [2]
A house extended along the road
Walsh’s Cottage in Killavally West was already present in 1838. Its original three-bay farmhouse grew into a longer building before 1923, a change traced by the architectural inventory through successive Ordnance Survey maps. The house retains a kitchen hearth and doorways opposite one another, while its renewed reed roof carries a decorative ridge. These details preserve evidence of a working farmhouse whose shape changed over time. [3]
Saint Patrick’s in the 1960s
Saint Patrick’s Catholic Church was rebuilt in 1961–62 under Father Christopher Kilkelly and rededicated in 1964. Its sharp triangular windows and doorway openings give it a markedly different character from an older Gothic church. Inside, the exposed steel roof structure forms part of the design, alongside stained glass and reused Gothic timber Stations of the Cross. The building records a substantial twentieth-century renewal of the village’s place of worship. [4]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Killavally. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Killavally East mill, NIAH 31308906 · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
- Walsh’s Cottage, NIAH 31308904 · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
- Saint Patrick’s Catholic Church, NIAH 31308905 · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.