placenamesUrlaur
Urlár
A lakeside Dominican abbey, the annual August Pattern and a church opened in 1969 connect different periods of Urlaur’s religious life.
The name
A reliable full-name meaning has not been established here. The recorded Irish and English forms are given without an unsupported translation.
Recorded forms
- Urlár · Irish · main form · validated name
- Urlaur · English · main form
Place & story
The Dominican lakeside settlement
Urlaur’s ruined abbey stands beside the lake and preserves the history of a fifteenth-century Dominican foundation. Its patrons included Edmond Costello and his wife Fineola Cusa, and it became a Costello burial place. The church has a rectangular plan, with entrances in its western and southern walls. Suppression in the early seventeenth century transferred its lands to secular owners, but the friars continued living at Urlaur. [2]
A new parish church
Saint Joseph’s Church opened at Urlaur in 1969, when Bishop James Fergus blessed the building. Earlier in the decade, residents travelled to several neighbouring churches for Mass; services in the local primary school helped establish the case for a church of their own. Fr Vincent Sherlock’s account records the opening on 15 May and the attendance of New York Police Commissioner Howard Leary, among visitors from America. [3]
The annual Pattern
The Pattern brings worship and community festivities together at the abbey on 4 August, the traditional feast of Saint Dominic. A Dominican report of the Order’s eight-hundredth jubilee describes Mass followed by music, sports, novelty events, food and a parish dance. Friars from Sligo attended that celebration. A relative of Urlaur’s last prior, Fr Sharkey, was also present; his grave remains within the abbey grounds. [4]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Urlaur. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Urlaur Abbey · Mayo Ireland
- Saint Joseph’s Church Urlaur · Fr Vincent Sherlock / Urlaur Community Pattern
- Urlaur Pattern Day · Dominican Friars Ireland
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.