placenamesLisvarrinane
Lios Fearnáin
Lisvarrinane, also written Lisvernane, has a documented educational history linking local classrooms with Irish-language teaching and Gaelic games.
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
- Lios Fearnáin · Irish · main form · validated name
- Lisvarrinane · English · main form
Place & story
A family of teachers
Tomás Ó Laoi, or Tom Lee, was born in Lisvernane in 1905 into a family of teachers. A family appreciation published in the 2002 Tipperary GAA yearbook records that his father, Christopher Lee, became principal in Lisvernane, while his mother Nora taught at Barna. Tom attended his father’s school before winning a scholarship to Rockwell College in 1917, beginning a career that combined education, Irish and sport. [2]
Returning to the local school
Lee won a Sigerson Cup medal at University College Cork in 1922 and captained its Fitzgibbon Cup hurling team in 1925. After teacher training, he returned to Lisvernane as his father’s assistant in 1928 and later became principal. He promoted athletics, football and camogie among South Tipperary schools before moving to a history lectureship through Irish at Saint Patrick’s College, Drumcondra, in 1932. [2]
The surviving school registers
Tipperary Studies preserves Lisvernane National School’s boys’ register for 1909–29 and girls’ register for 1905–25. The catalogue describes records of admission, previous schooling and family occupation, offering evidence of how the school served the surrounding community. A separate attendance roll covers 1923–27. These surviving institutional records complement the yearbook’s account of the Lee family without requiring individual pupils’ details to be reproduced. [3] [4] [5]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Tipperary
- Barony
- Clanwilliam
- Civil parish
- Clonbeg
- Coordinates
- 52.41240, -8.22046 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 1414532 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Lisvarrinane. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Tipperary GAA Yearbook 2002, Tomás Ó Laoi appreciation · Monsignor Christopher Lee and Criostóir Gallagher
- Lisvernane National School boys register 1909–29 · Lisvernane National School; Tipperary Studies
- Lisvernane National School girls register 1905–1925 · Lisvernane National School; Tipperary Studies
- Lisvernane school records catalogue · Tipperary Studies, Tipperary County Council Library Service
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2012-02-13. How this page was prepared.