placenamesGorey
Guaire
Two archives illuminate Coolgreany’s place in the barony’s history of land disputes and public services.
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
- Guaire · Irish · main form · non-validated name
- Gorey · English · main form
Place & story
Coolgreany in an eviction album
Coolgreany, in the northern part of Gorey barony, appears in a photographic album now held by the University of Notre Dame. Catalogued as dating from 1888–1900, the volume contains thirty-one reproduction prints concerning Irish evictions. Most concern the Vandeleur estate in Clare; others place Coolgreany alongside Gweedore, Coolroe and Clongorey, preserving local events within a wider record of land disputes. [2]
Named participants in the archive
The album’s catalogue identifies Michael Davitt, John Dillon, Captain Hamilton and Royal Irish Constabulary officers in a Coolgreany scene. Another listed subject is Doctor Tully’s house. These descriptions provide leads to people and buildings associated with the dispute. They are catalogue identifications, rather than an independently verified account of every person pictured, and the photographer is unnamed. [2]
A sewerage proposal in 1939
A later council record shows another concern of village life within the barony. In February 1939, Wexford County Council approved consent to borrowing £2,900 for a Coolgreany sewerage scheme. The proposer recalled a water supply installed about ten years earlier and pointed to the village’s school, shops and other buildings as reasons for the work. Approval of the loan proposal records the scheme’s administrative progress, without establishing its completion. [3]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Gorey. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- The Vandeleur, Gweedore, Coolgreany, Coolroe, and Clongorey evictions photograph album, MSE/IR7904-1 · University of Notre Dame, Rare Books and Special Collections
- Wexford County Council minutes, February1939, Coolgreany sewerage loan · Wexford County Council Archives
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.