placenamesGorteen
Goirtín
The rural Gurteen district in east Galway preserves a history of schooling and a church commemorating locally born priest Michael Griffin.
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
- Goirtín · Irish · main form · validated name
- Gorteen · English · main form
- Gurteen · English · main form · local name
Place & story
Schools serving the district
St Kerrill’s National School traces local education to several schools operating in 1831. Laurence Griffin taught writing, arithmetic, grammar and bookkeeping at Gurteen Day School. That school entered the national system in 1853, but closed in 1875 when its pupils transferred to Tample. The replacement schoolhouse there, in Temple townland, is dated 1887. Its architectural record identifies funding from a nearby family at Temple House and a related school at Shanballard. [2] [3]
Michael Griffin
Michael Joseph Griffin was born near Gurteen in 1892 and attended Clonkeenkerril National School before studying at Garbally and Maynooth. Ordained in 1917, he later served as a curate in Galway and promoted Irish-language cultural events in Barna. He disappeared after being called from his Galway presbytery in November 1920; his body was found near Barna six days later. His death prompted widespread mourning, and Gurteen’s later church became one of his memorials. [4]
Saint Michael’s memorial church
Saint Michael’s Catholic Church, also known as the Father Michael Griffin Memorial Church, dates from the early 1930s. Its limestone cruciform building has a three-stage bell tower and an unusual projecting baptistery. Carved columns, chevrons and round arches at the entrance belong to the Hiberno-Romanesque Revival. The Crucifixion window behind the altar is by Harry Clarke Studios. Interlace decoration also appears in windows, the altar and the baptistery gates. [5]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Gorteen. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- School History · St Kerrill’s National School, Gurteen
- Saint Enda’s National School, Temple, 30407210 · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
- Griffin, Michael Joseph, a3641 · William Murphy, Dictionary of Irish Biography
- Saint Michael’s Catholic Church, Gorteen, 30407208 · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2012-01-11. How this page was prepared.