placenamesDurrow
Darú
The Kilkenny portion of Durrow parish comprises Ballynaslee, where church ruins, excavation and aerial photographs reveal different kinds of archaeological evidence.
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
- Darú · Irish · main form · validated name
- Durrow · English · main form
Place & story
The church by the Nore
Ballynaslee’s ruined church stands west of the River Nore. Jean Farrelly’s 2016 monument record describes substantial corner stones and a pointed doorway with a hole for a drawbar. A recess beneath a window may have served as a piscina. The survey suggests a late medieval or seventeenth-century date, rather than assigning the surviving building a precise foundation year. [2]
An Early Bronze Age pit
Road-scheme investigation revealed Ballynaslee 2, a shallow pit containing burnt-mound material. Excavator Aidan O’Connell records hazel, alder and other charcoal in its fill. An alder sample gave a calibrated date of 2030–1780 BC. This establishes an Early Bronze Age context for that excavated feature; it does not date every earthwork in the townland. [3]
An enclosure seen from the air
Elsewhere in Ballynaslee, a circular enclosure was identified on an aerial photograph taken in July 1990. The monument record describes a surrounding ditch defining an area roughly thirty-five by thirty-nine metres. Nothing was visible at ground level when recorded. The cropmark supplies evidence of a buried enclosure without establishing its period. [4]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Durrow. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Ballynaslee church, KK004-002, record uploaded 2 February 2016 · Jean Farrelly, National Monuments Service
- 2013:560, Ballynaslee 2, licence 13E0117 · Aidan O’Connell, Archer Heritage Planning
- Ballynaslee enclosure, KK004-041, record revised 6 June 2017 · Jean Farrelly, National Monuments Service
- Durrow civil parish, County Kilkenny · Townlands.ie / OpenStreetMap contributors
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.