placenamesBallingarry
Baile an Gharraí
A 1944 survey records basket making, travelling entertainers and visits to Saint John’s Well.
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
- Baile an Gharraí · Irish · main form · validated name
- Ballingarry · English · main form
Place & story
Baskets and a proposed revival
The Irish Tourist Association survey completed in June 1944 records rush and willow basket making, leatherwork, rug making and needlework among the activities of Ballingarry’s Irish Countrywomen’s Association branch. It also describes a willow plantation on ground provided by Canon J. Wall, intended to revive basket making. That aspiration is recorded separately from the branch’s existing craft activities; the survey does not establish the later success of the proposed industry. [2]
Entertainment in the hall
The same survey identifies Daniel O’Shea as proprietor of the village dance hall. Travelling companies occasionally brought films, concerts and plays to the hall. A Gaelic League branch and a dramatic class also appear in its account of local cultural life. [2]
Saint John’s Well
Beside the village, near the site of Kilshane Abbey, the survey records Saint John’s Well as frequented by older people. It explicitly attributes no cures to this well, a useful distinction within a survey that also recorded healing traditions elsewhere. [2]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Ballingarry. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Ballingarry, Irish Tourist Association Topographical and General Survey,1944, scanned pages14,16–17,19 · Irish Tourist Association; original survey preserved by Limerick Libraries
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.