placenamesCushlough
Cois Locha
Cushlough’s church combines a nineteenth-century foundation with a substantial twentieth-century reconstruction.
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
- Cois Locha · Irish · main form · non-validated name
- Cushlough · English · main form
Place & story
From a thatched chapel to the 1951 rebuilding
The Church of the Sacred Heart is dated 1839 and was erected under parish priest Peter Ward. It succeeded a nearby thatched chapel which Samuel Lewis had described as too small for its congregation in 1837. The present building also reflects an extensive reconstruction in 1951, designed by Galway architect Edward Raphael Ryan. The architectural inventory identifies this later work as a near-total rebuilding. [2]
A simple form and memorial glass
The church retains the rectangular form of a rural barn church, with a slate roof and an entrance porch at the eastern end. Round-headed windows include groups of three lights at either end. Inside are timber pews, panelled lower walls, memorial stained glass and a modified white-marble high altar. These fittings preserve parts of the building’s devotional history alongside later changes to the sanctuary. [2]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Mayo
- Barony
- Murrisk
- Civil parish
- Aghagower
- Within
- Derryherbert
- Coordinates
- 53.68901, -9.56336
- Logainm ID
- 1412107 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Cushlough. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart, Derryherbert, Cushlough — NIAH 31310703 · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
- Church of the Sacred Heart, Cushlough illustration: based on a Cushlough Church, Carrowkennedy by Keith Salvesen. AI-assisted watercolour and ink adaptation; cream paper margins added, incidental clutter omitted and fine details simplified. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2026-05-27. How this page was prepared.