placenamesKillann
Cill Anna
Killann’s associations with the 1798 rebellion sit alongside a well-preserved group of Church of Ireland buildings and twentieth-century stained glass.
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 Anna · Irish · main form · validated name
- Killann · English · main form
Place & story
John Kelly and the rebellion
John Kelly and other men from Killann joined the rebel camp at Vinegar Hill on 29 May 1798. Enniscorthy Castle’s educational history records that Kelly’s active service was brief: he fought in two engagements before being badly wounded at New Ross. He was taken to Wexford, where he remained until General Lake entered the town. A court martial sentenced him to death. His association with Killann links the village with the wider course of the Wexford rebellion. [2]
Building Saint Anne’s
Saint Anne’s Church was designed in 1826, built in 1832–33 and consecrated in 1833, with support from the Board of First Fruits. Its entrance tower, pointed windows and pinnacles give it a compact Gothic appearance. The interior was improved in 1901 under the Reverend Robert Shapland Carew Blacker of nearby Woodbrook. Timber roof construction, pews and monuments preserve successive periods of craftsmanship within the church. [3]
Kitty O’Brien’s memorial window
The east window at Saint Anne’s provides a precise connection with stained-glass artist Catherine, known as Kitty, O’Brien. An Túr Gloine supplied the Blacker Memorial Trinity Window in 1938 to her design. Set above the chancel’s communion arrangements, it adds a twentieth-century artistic commission to the earlier building. The architectural inventory identifies both the designer and the studio, distinguishing this window from the church’s other memorial glazing. [3]
The enlarged glebe house
The former glebe house was built in 1798–99 and extended in 1829, when the Reverend Henry Wynne enlarged its earlier compact plan. Its five-bay frontage, raised principal floor and decorative fanlight give it a different architectural character from the nearby Gothic church. Surviving outbuildings complete the setting. The house records the provision of clergy accommodation and its adaptation during the decades when Killann’s ecclesiastical buildings were being renewed. [4]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Killann. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- The 1798 Rebellion: an educational resource, page 18 · Enniscorthy Castle / National 1798 Rebellion Centre
- Saint Anne’s Church, Killann, record 15701813 · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
- Killann glebe house, record 15701814 · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2026-07-31. How this page was prepared.