placenamesKilberry
Cill Bhearaigh
A group of religious and defensive remains preserves a more complicated history than its old map labels suggest.
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 Bhearaigh · Irish · main form
- Kilberry · English · main form
Place & story
The building called a nunnery
Gearóid Conroy recorded Kilberry’s ruined religious house as a rectangular building about twenty-two metres long. Nineteenth-century accounts called it a nunnery. The National Monuments Service identifies a possible Hospitaller house, distinguishing a remembered name from an uncertain historical attribution. [2]
A gatehouse and an enclosure
Nearby, a ruined gatehouse preserves part of a vaulted passage and a northern guard chamber. Traces of stairs survive in its dividing wall. Sections of a surrounding enclosure wall remain, with possible reuse in later farm buildings, but the enclosure’s full extent could no longer be traced in Conroy’s survey. [3] [4]
Castlereedy’s surviving tower
Farther north, Castlereedy’s projecting toilet tower survived to three storeys when recorded in 2013, although most surrounding walls were lower. A rectangular enclosure appeared on a 1971 aerial photograph beside the ruin, but had no visible surface remains. Its interpretation as a castle enclosure was tentative. [5] [6]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Kilberry. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Kilberry religious house, KD030-005, uploaded 30 September 2013 · Gearóid Conroy, National Monuments Service
- Kilberry gatehouse, KD030-007001 · Gearóid Conroy, National Monuments Service, 2013
- Kilberry possible bawn, KD030-007002 · Gearóid Conroy, National Monuments Service, 2013
- Castlereedy castle, KD030-004001 · Gearóid Conroy, National Monuments Service, 2013
- Castlereedy possible bawn, KD030-004002 · Gearóid Conroy, National Monuments Service, 2013
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2014-05-21. How this page was prepared.