placenamesKiltyclogher
Coillte Clochair
Kiltyclogher’s history brings together planned settlement, the disruption of border roads and local efforts to sustain education and heritage.
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
- Coillte Clochair · Irish · main form · validated name
- Kiltyclogher · English · main form
Place & story
The village also called Sarahville
Writing in 1837, Samuel Lewis called the village Kiltyclogher or Sarahville and credited Charles Henry Tottenham with its recent construction. About twenty-five houses stood beneath the Glenfarne mountains. A Friday market operated in a market house, while fairs took place on the fourteenth of each month. The account places trade at the centre of the settlement, alongside a constabulary station and a Catholic chapel then being built. [2]
The border roads cut off
A Seven Days report broadcast in March 1976 examined the damage to Kiltyclogher’s everyday economy during the Troubles. Reporter Nick Coffey described craters, concrete barriers and a destroyed bridge preventing movement into neighbouring Fermanagh. The report also recorded the loss of the technical school in a 1973 bombing and the resulting journeys to Manorhamilton. These were specific conditions in 1976, when blocked routes separated the village from much of its surrounding district. [3]
A courthouse becomes a heritage centre
The former courthouse in the village centre acquired another role as Kiltyclogher Heritage Centre. The Seán Mac Diarmada Summer School’s account dates its official opening to November 2014. Its exhibition uses interpretive panels and audiovisual material to explore the 1916 signatory and local history. Mac Diarmada’s family cottage stands outside the village, so the centre provides a separate village setting for explaining his connection with the area. [4]
New families and the primary school
In 2017 local residents launched the Kiltylive campaign after falling enrolment threatened the national school’s second teaching post. RTÉ reported that six families moved to the village in response, bringing thirteen additional pupils at the start of September. The campaign connected the future of a small school with attracting new residents, giving a dated example of how the community sought to sustain village life. [5]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Leitrim
- Barony
- Rosclogher
- Civil parish
- Cloonclare
- Coordinates
- 54.36257, -8.04616 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 1414014 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Kiltyclogher. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Kiltyclogher or Sarahville, Lewis1837 · Samuel Lewis, reproduced by Vision of Ireland
- Kiltyclogher Close to Extinction? SevenDays,30March1976 · RTÉ Archives, Nick Coffey original report
- Kiltyclogher Heritage Centre · Seán Mac Diarmada Summer School
- School survives after village attracts new residents,2September2017 · RTÉ News
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.