placenamesCappagh
An Cheapach
An early parish description and surviving memorial windows connect Cappagh’s landscape with rebuilding and remembrance.
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
- An Cheapach · Irish · main form · validated name
- Cappagh · English · main form
Place & story
A limestone farming parish
Lewis described Cappagh in 1837 as a parish with patches of good soil interrupted by extensive stony ground and exposed limestone. Exhausted bogs lay towards Rathkeale. A private school taught fifty children. The Church of Ireland living belonged to the deanery of Limerick, with its church already in ruins. [2]
Rebuilding after the Big Wind
The diocesan heritage project records that Cappagh's thatched Catholic church was destroyed on 6 January 1839, during the Night of the Big Wind. Fr Jeremiah Halpin acquired another site and built its replacement that year. Much later reconstruction took place in 1986, followed by the church's official reopening on 15 February 1987. [3]
Families remembered in glass
The church's windows commemorate several local families. The White family dedicated the sanctuary window to William White, who died during the Boer War in March 1901. Senator Michael O'Dea gave windows remembering his son Bernard and his mother Lucy, represented by Saints Bernard and Lucy respectively. Their imagery joins family remembrance with religious dedication. [3]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Civil parish
- County
- Limerick
- Barony
- Connello Lower
- Coordinates
- 52.55750, -8.89253
- Mapped area
- 4.64 km²
- Logainm ID
- 1518 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Cappagh. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Cappagh or Cappa, Lower Connello, Limerick, A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland,1837 · Samuel Lewis
- Churches of Cappagh, church history and memorial windows · Matthew Tobin and Lisa OConnor, Limerick Diocesan Heritage Project
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.