placenamesFreshford
Achadh Úr
Two purpose-built gathering places in Freshford Lots show different approaches to public architecture a century apart.
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
- Achadh Úr · Irish · main form · validated name
- Freshford · English · main form
Place & story
William Deane Butler’s church
Saint Lachtain’s Catholic Church bears the date 1844 and replaced an earlier chapel on the same site. The Eyre family of Uppercourt sponsored it for Bishop William Kinsella and Father William Hart, to designs by William Deane Butler. Its entrance front concentrates the carved limestone decoration around a projecting central tower-like bay, with pointed openings, shields and buttresses. The inventory records a western gallery and coffered ceiling inside, alongside renovation work in 2004. [2]
The Odeon’s contrasting form
The Odeon cinema was built in 1944 to designs by Cecil Buggy. Its broad rectangular auditorium was covered by a barrel roof, concealed at the street by a parapet. A canopy framed the entrance doors, while the front’s vertical pilasters originally carried strip lighting. The inventory recorded surviving steel window fittings and much original fabric despite disuse. This is a dated architectural record, rather than confirmation of whether films are shown there today. [3]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Freshford. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Saint Lachtain’s Catholic Church, Freshford Lots, record12305004 · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
- The Odeon, Freshford Lots, record12305026 · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.