placenamesBallymore
An Baile Mór
Ballymore’s parish history extends beyond its lakeside village into farming, church administration and the survival of local records.
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 Baile Mór · Irish · main form
- Ballymore · English · main form
Place & story
Ballymore and neighbouring Killare
Lewis's 1837 account calls the parish Saint Owen's of Loughseudy and distinguishes it from the town, which extended partly into Killare. The Church of Ireland living was united with Killare's curacy, while the Catholic district also included both parishes. He records seven fee-paying schools teaching about 330 children. These overlapping arrangements make the civil parish, settlement and ecclesiastical district different geographical units. [2]
Working the local limestone
Around three-fifths of the parish's land was arable in Lewis's survey, with pasture, waste and bog occupying the remainder. Its limestone quarries supplied building stone and material for burning into lime, although he described the workings as serving private use. The account records a rural economy alongside the fairs and public institutions of the small town, rather than treating Ballymore as only a village street. [2]
The registers lost in 1922
The Representative Church Body Library lists Ballymore parish records under reference P.0398. Its guide records the destruction of three register volumes in the Public Record Office fire of 1922. Those volumes had contained baptisms from 1745, marriages from 1747 and burials from 1723 and 1792, extending into the nineteenth century. The catalogue's warning explains a significant gap in the parish's surviving documentary record. [3]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Civil parish
- County
- Westmeath
- Barony
- Rathconrath
- Coordinates
- 53.48742, -7.69653
- Mapped area
- 42.23 km²
- Logainm ID
- 2506 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Ballymore. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Ballymore or Saint Owen’s of Loughseudy: A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, 1837 · Samuel Lewis
- Ballymore, diocese of Meath: parish register list, P.0398, page 1 · Representative Church Body Library
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2021-10-29. How this page was prepared.