placenamesSeirkieran
Saighir Chiaráin
Saint Kieran’s Church preserves older carved stone within its eighteenth-century walls.
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
- Saighir Chiaráin · Irish · main form · validated name
- Seirkieran · English · main form
Place & story
A window reused
Saint Kieran’s Church of Ireland church stands in Churchland townland, within Seirkieran civil parish. The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage dates the present building to around 1780. Its chancel incorporates a thirteenth-century window taken from the Augustinian priory on the same site: three carved sandstone lights have trefoil heads, with quatrefoil decoration above. [2] [3]
A later building among earlier remains
The September 2004 survey recorded a four-bay nave, pointed openings and a stepped limestone bellcote. Ruined church and abbey remains survive within the graveyard enclosure. The reused window links the later place of worship with medieval craftsmanship, without making the entire standing church a medieval building. [2]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Civil parish
- County
- Offaly
- Barony
- Ballybritt
- Coordinates
- 53.04722, -7.78450
- Mapped area
- 24.31 km²
- Logainm ID
- 2042 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Seirkieran. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Saint Kieran’s Church, register 14939001, survey 13 September 2004 · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
- Churchland: canonical townland and parish hierarchy · Placenames Database of Ireland
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.