placenamesClonard
Cluain Ioraird
Excavation and building records distinguish later medieval activity from Clonard’s early monastic reputation and trace the practical work of maintaining its church.
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
- Cluain Ioraird · Irish · main form · validated name
- Clonard · English · main form
Place & story
Testing the riverside earthworks
Drainage works prompted five weeks of archaeological investigation beside the Clonard River in 1976. P. D. Sweetman’s team examined banks and ditches near the suspected monastery site. Finds included part of a Saintonge vessel, late thirteenth-century pottery and a wooden stockade almost opposite the motte and bailey. Sweetman concluded that the excavated earthworks were medieval and unlikely to be directly related to the early monastery. Their location alone could not establish that earlier connection. [2]
James Bell and the parish church
The Irish Architectural Archive’s account of Saint Finian’s Church of Ireland church records payments to James Bell for work between 1818 and 1823. Vestry decisions included reslating the roof and providing new backs for pews. The archive leaves open whether Bell’s earlier work was construction or restoration. It also records further church work in 1864 and improvements funded by Miss Magan of Killyon House, reported in 1881. These entries show repeated investment rather than one securely dated building campaign. [3]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Civil parish
- County
- Meath
- Barony
- Moyfenrath Upper
- Coordinates
- 53.45984, -7.01029
- Mapped area
- 54 km²
- Logainm ID
- 1840 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Clonard. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- 1976:055 Clonard riverside earthworks · P. D. Sweetman, Office of Public Works
- Clonard Church of Ireland church: works record53397 · Irish Architectural Archive, Dictionary of Irish Architects
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-08-07. How this page was prepared.