placenamesKilfane
Cill Pháin
The ruined church preserves painted details as well as a striking armoured effigy.
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
- Cill Pháin · Irish · main form · validated name
- Kilfane · English · main form
Place & story
Colour surviving on the walls
The Office of Public Works records red pigment on Kilfane Church’s sedilia, the seats used by officiating clergy. Yellow, red and white survive around a niche that once held a statue. Four consecration crosses are painted red against white backgrounds. These traces preserve evidence of a coloured church interior within the now roofless building. [2]
A family identified by heraldry
The large effigy known locally as Cantwell Fada depicts a knight in mail armour and a surcoat, with sword, shield and spurs. It was placed against the chancel’s north wall in the 1930s. No inscription names the individual, but the shield bears the Cantwell family’s arms. The OPW account leaves the figure’s precise identification and dating open. [2]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Kilfane. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Kilfane Church · Office of Public Works, Heritage Ireland
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.