placenamesKilconnell
Cill Chonaill
Kilconnell’s Franciscan ruins preserve the patronage of the O’Kelly family, while a later wayside cross records another family’s place in village memory.
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 Chonaill · Irish · main form · validated name
- Kilconnell · English · main form
Place & story
The O’Kelly patrons
Kilconnell’s friary developed under the patronage of the O’Kelly lords of Uí Mhaine. William Mór O’Kelly supported substantial work in the early fifteenth century and was buried here in 1420. Later building associated with Malachy O’Kelly added the tower, south aisle and transept. The Office of Public Works records that the friars continued ministering in the surrounding area after leaving the buildings, with their local presence lasting into the period around 1801. [2]
The carved interior
The surviving church has a nave, chancel and south transept beneath a narrow three-storey tower, with domestic ranges and part of the cloister alongside. Canopied tomb niches preserve elaborate carving within the ruined interior. An additional chapel opens from the transept, while a Daly family wall tomb stands in the chancel. These monuments give the friary a continuing record of its patrons and of the craftsmen who shaped their memorials. [2]
A cross for John Donnellan
At the village crossroads, a limestone wayside cross carries the date 1682. Its inscription asks passers-by to pray for John Donnellan, whose family erected it. The monument combines a chamfered cross head, a carved collar and an octagonal shaft. Damage in 1844 was followed by its re-erection under the Reverend W. Manning, an intervention recorded by a further inscription. The cross thus preserves both an original commemoration and a later act of repair. [3]
Ballinderry’s early Georgian house
South of the village, Ballinderry House dates approximately to 1740. Its tall central entrance bay, large end chimneys and evenly arranged windows give it a strongly ordered frontage. An ornate limestone doorcase contrasts with the roughcast walls. The architectural inventory records its restoration after dereliction, while the rear yard and outbuildings preserve the working setting of the country house. Ballinderry adds an eighteenth-century domestic landmark to Kilconnell’s medieval and commemorative buildings. [4]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Galway
- Barony
- Kilconnell
- Civil parish
- Kilconnell
- Coordinates
- 53.32842, -8.45032 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 1411732 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Kilconnell. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Kilconnell Franciscan Friary · Office of Public Works / Heritage Ireland
- Wayside cross, Corraneena, Kilconnell, record 30408610 · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
- Ballinderry House, record 30408613 · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2015-08-17. How this page was prepared.