placenamesBallynakill
Baile na Cille
Lewis distinguished the civil parish from a wider Catholic district and recorded visits to a local well.
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
- Baile na Cille · Irish · main form · non-validated name
- Ballynakill · English · main form
Place & story
A chapel serving three parishes
Samuel Lewis’s 1837 description of Ballynakill in County Sligo places it at the head of a Catholic district called Sowey. That district also included Ballysumaghan and Kilross, rather than simply matching Ballynakill’s civil boundary. Its chapel at Sowey was thatched and, in his assessment, in poor repair. Protestant inhabitants attended church in neighbouring Ballysumaghan parish. [2]
Devotions at the well
Lewis separately recorded a holy well on Ballynakill lands dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. People visited on 8 September to perform devotions. He did not describe the prayers, give a healing story or name an individual informant. A nearby large rock contained several small natural caverns; the account did not connect those cavities with a specific ritual. [2]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Ballynakill. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Ballynakill, Tiraghrill, Sligo: A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837) · Samuel Lewis
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.