placenamesDonaghmore
Domhnach Mór
The ruined Tipperary church preserves medieval workmanship alongside a much later account of a legendary craftsman.
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
- Domhnach Mór · Irish · main form · validated name
- Donaghmore · English · main form
Place & story
A decorated doorway and an upper chamber
Donaghmore’s medieval church has a nave and small chancel, built mainly in limestone with sandstone details. Its western doorway retains carved bands of chevrons and foliage. A chamber above the vaulted chancel was formerly entered from the nave, possibly by wooden stairs. The surviving walls therefore preserve evidence of an upper space as well as the principal place of worship. [2]
The missing carved cat
The National Monuments Service quotes an account in the Ordnance Survey Letters of the 1840s describing a stone above the doorway carved with a two-tailed cat. It was attributed to the legendary craftsman Gobaun Saer and said to have been carried to Holycross by carters. This records a reported tradition, rather than proving either the carving’s maker or its removal. [2]
Repairing the ruin
In 1883 the church entered state care and underwent repairs supervised by Thomas Newenham Deane. His connection was as a conservation architect, centuries after the medieval building campaign. [3]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Civil parish
- County
- Tipperary
- Barony
- Middlethird
- Barony
- Iffa and Offa East
- Coordinates
- 52.42959, -7.72030
- Mapped area
- 4.63 km²
- Logainm ID
- 2270 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Donaghmore. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Donaghmore church, TS077-027001-, uploaded26August2011 · Jean Farrelly, National Monuments Service; official archaeological record
- Donaghmore church: repairs under Thomas Newenham Deane,1883, work58086 · Irish Architectural Archive, Dictionary of Irish Architects
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.