placenamesKilfintinan
Cill Fhiontanáin
Lewis records a low tower guiding Shannon traffic and distinguishes an intended national school from existing private schools.
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
- Cill Fhiontanáin · Irish · main form
- Kilfintinan · English · main form
Place & story
A guide beside the islands
Samuel Lewis’s 1837 account includes the inhabited islands of Grass and Graigue within Kilfintinan parish. Near Graigue lay a rocky shoal called the Scarlets, with a low tower erected to guide navigation on the Shannon. This was an estuary navigation mark; the account does not describe a lighthouse or a light. [2]
Schooling before an application
Four private schools together taught about 120 children. Lewis reported that an application was about to be made for a school at Cratloe under the National Board. His wording records an intended application, rather than an approved grant or a school already operating. [2]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Civil parish
- County
- Clare
- Barony
- Bunratty Lower
- Coordinates
- 52.71209, -8.76159 (approximate)
- Mapped area
- 29.26 km²
- Logainm ID
- 435 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Kilfintinan. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Kilfentinan: A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837) · Samuel Lewis
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2021-11-01. How this page was prepared.