placenamesTullaherin
An Tulaigh Thirim
Visitation records and conservation history trace different stages of this Kilkenny ecclesiastical site.
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
- An Tulaigh Thirim · Irish · main form · validated name
- Tullaherin · English · main form
Place & story
A church used in parts
Tullaherin’s medieval church stands beside the round tower recorded in Samuel Lewis’s 1837 parish account. The Office of Public Works reports that rector Robert Gaffney left twenty shillings towards repairs to the vicar’s part of the church in 1591. A 1615 visitation found church and chancel in good order, but visitations in 1715 and 1731 recorded the chancel still in use while the nave lay ruined. [2] [3]
Lightning and conservation
The tower stands southwest of the church, with its doorway 3.7 metres above ground. OPW gives its surviving height as 22.5 metres and notes the loss of its conical cap. Lightning in 1976 damaged both its interior and exterior; conservation followed in 2003. The earlier lightning strike associated with 1121 depends on identifying the place named in the medieval record with Tullaherin, an identification OPW presents as a belief. [3]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Tullaherin. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Tullowherin, A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837) · Samuel Lewis
- Tullaherin Monastic Site · Office of Public Works / Heritage Ireland
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.