placenamesKillygar
Coill an Ghairr
At Killygar, also written Killegar, a country house and church preserve the built history of the Godley estate.
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
- Coill an Ghairr · Irish · main form · validated name
- Killygar · English · main form
- Killegar · English · main form
Place & story
Killegar House
Killegar House was built in 1813. Its long, symmetrical front has a central pediment, while a Tuscan doorway faces the garden. The architectural inventory records substantial later changes: two rooms were removed around 1940, and a fire in 1970 destroyed many of the principal rooms. The surviving house and its outbuildings therefore carry evidence of both the ambitions of the early nineteenth-century estate and subsequent loss. [2]
John Godley’s church
John Godley built the Church of Ireland church in 1817. Its tall castellated tower rises above a three-bay nave, with decorative timber tracery in the pointed windows. The surrounding graveyard includes markers dating from the early eighteenth century. The church stands across the road from the demesne, forming part of a group of estate buildings rather than an isolated monument. [3]
Schooling and family memory
In a letter published during the church’s 2018 bicentenary celebrations, Christopher Godley recalled that John Godley had also built the school and the teacher’s house. He described children crossing the road to play in a field inside the estate gates, remembered as the Playground. The letter also recorded Anna Godley’s long service as organist and choir leader, connecting the family’s association with the church to everyday musical and educational life. [4]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Leitrim
- Barony
- Carrigallen
- Civil parish
- Carrigallen
- Coordinates
- 54.01157, -7.61862 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 1414012 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Killygar. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Killegar House, NIAH 30930005 · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
- Killegar Church, NIAH 30930003 · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
- Killegar parish celebrates 200 years of worship, 13 September 2018 · Fiona Heavey, including letter from Christopher Godley
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.