placenamesLegamaddy
Lag an Mhadaidh
Legamaddy’s parish buildings connect a nineteenth-century church project with later conservation and school links beyond County Down.
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
- Lag an Mhadaidh · Irish · main form · validated name
- Legamaddy · English · main form
- Leggamaddy · English · main form
Place & story
Replacing the Coniamstown chapel
Saint Patrick’s church at Legamaddy was built for Father Richard Killen to replace the Catholic church at Coniamstown. John O’Neill designed the new building in an early Gothic style, with nave, chancel, sacristy, porch and tower. Its foundation stone was laid on 27 August 1862 and the church was dedicated on 22 October 1865. The Irish Architectural Archive records that the tower remained unfinished in the 1870s. [2]
A link with Maynooth pupils
A Maynooth community newsletter records a school partnership with Legamaddy at the turn of the millennium. After Legamaddy pupils visited Maynooth in November, the Maynooth boys travelled north on 31 March 2000. Their account includes a visit to the traditional burial place of Patrick and Brigid at Downpatrick, lunch at the host school and a football tournament. The exchange arose through a school-link application to Léargas. [3]
Maintaining the parish landmark
The 2016 Listed Places of Worship Roof Repair Fund award list includes £100,000 for Saint Patrick’s church, with the Parish of Bright named as applicant. This records a specific investment in maintaining the nineteenth-century building. The award notice identifies the funded church and amount, although it does not itself establish when the repairs were completed. [4]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Down
- Barony
- Lecale Upper
- Civil parish
- Bright
- Within
- Legamaddy
- Coordinates
- 54.27828, -5.72748 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 1413250 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Legamaddy. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Church of Saint Patrick, Legamaddy, work 13397 · Irish Architectural Archive, Dictionary of Irish Architects
- Maynooth Community Newsletter, May 2000, Trip to Legamaddy · Maynooth Community Council and school contributors
- Listed Places of Worship Roof Repair Fund, successful applicants 2016, page 14 · National Heritage Memorial Fund
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2019-10-08. How this page was prepared.