placenamesRathvilly
Ráth Bhile
Lewis recorded an eighteenth-century church with a recently added spire and funding for repairs.
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
- Ráth Bhile · Irish · main form · non-validated name
- Rathvilly · English · main form
Place & story
An older church with later additions
Samuel Lewis dated Rathvilly’s Church of Ireland parish church to 1751. Writing in 1837, he described a small building to which a spire had recently been added, and recorded a £315 repair grant from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. The associated glebe covered twelve acres and contained the glebe-house. This account concerns the church serving the rectory, distinct from the Catholic chapel elsewhere described in his entry. Lewis did not give the date of the spire’s addition. [2]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Rathvilly. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Rathvilly — 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.