placenamesCastletown
Baile an Chaisleáin
Castletown’s church and burial ground connect a coastal Wexford community with nineteenth-century parish building, republican history and diplomacy.
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 Chaisleáin · Irish · main form · validated name
- Castletown · English · main form
Place & story
Saint Patrick’s and the coastal parish
Saint Patrick's Catholic Church at Ballynacree opened on 15 November 1885, with Archbishop William Walsh officiating. Built in granite, it succeeded an earlier chapel whose remains survive within the churchyard. Castletown then belonged to Arklow parish, becoming a separate Catholic parish in 1974. [2] [3]
Liam Mellows’s family connection
Liam Mellows spent part of his childhood with his grandparents at Macoyle, between Inch and Castletown. After his involvement in the 1916 Rising, exile in America and opposition to the Anglo-Irish Treaty, he was executed in Mountjoy Prison in December 1922. The North Wexford Historical Society records his wish to be buried at Castletown, where his grave remains. His local association rests on family, childhood and burial, rather than birthplace. [3]
The Kelly family monuments
The churchyard also contains Celtic monuments associated with diplomat Sir David Kelly and his family. Kelly served as Britain's representative in Switzerland and later as ambassador to Argentina, Turkey and the Soviet Union. His wife, Marie Noele Kelly, wrote several books, including the autobiography Dawn to Dusk. Their memorials place a different international career beside the republican history for which the burial ground is especially known. [3]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Castletown. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Castletown parish: history · Archdiocese of Dublin
- Castletown graveyard: historical introduction and memorial survey · North Wexford Historical Society
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.