placenamesRathkenny
Ráth Cheannaigh
Institutional histories preserve the development of Rathkenny’s school and its long association with 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
- Ráth Cheannaigh · Irish · main form · validated name
- Rathkenny · English · main form
Place & story
From an earlier school to the hilltop site
St Louis National School’s history records an earlier school built beside the church in 1810 and an application to the National Education Board in 1839. Pupils moved to the hilltop school on 27 February 1906. Anne Duffy headed the girls’ school and Henry Duffy the boys’ school, with 36 girls and 67 boys on the opening-day rolls. The site had formed part of the Hussey estate. [2]
Extension and closure
The school history records pupils occupying a new classroom and support-room extension in November 2021, followed by its official opening in September 2023. The school’s later announcement states that it received approval to close because there were no enrolments for 2025–2026. Its website therefore preserves both recent investment in the building and the subsequent end of teaching there, rather than an account of a currently operating school. [2] [3]
A club founded in 1886
Meath GAA’s Rathkenny history dates the football club’s foundation to October 1886 and identifies schoolmaster Edward Connolly as its founding member. It connects that beginning with a visit by Michael Cusack to Stackallen National School. The county record lists senior championship victories in 1917, 1918, 1919, 1922 and 1923, documenting a particularly successful early period in the club’s sporting history. [4]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Meath
- Barony
- Slane Upper
- Civil parish
- Rathkenny
- Coordinates
- 53.74401, -6.65088 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 1414680 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Rathkenny. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- History, St Louis National School, adapted from Centenary Memories2005 · St Louis National School
- School closure announcement · St Louis National School Board of Management
- Rathkenny club history · Meath GAA
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.