placenamesMoneyglass
An Muine Glas
The church of Our Lady of Lourdes and the development of St Ergnat’s grounds record two major community projects in Moneyglass.
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 Muine Glas · Irish · main form · validated name
- Moneyglass · English · main form
Place & story
Our Lady of Lourdes
Our Lady of Lourdes Church was completed in 1925 to designs by Belfast architect J.J. McDonnell, replacing a chapel built in 1826 whose ruins survive in the graveyard. Basalt walls, granite dressings, Gothic windows and a prominent tower and spire give the church its distinctive form. The Historic Environment Division records stained glass by Mayer and Company of Munich and an Evans and Barr organ dating from around 1925. Architects J.J. Brennan and Company restored the church in 1992. [2]
The stonecutter and the shrine
James McMeel was head stonecutter during the church's construction. A 2025 centenary report identified him as the grandfather of Bishop Donal McKeown, who was returning for the anniversary celebrations. McMeel had accompanied Canon John O'Nolan on a pilgrimage to Lourdes in 1924, before the church opened on 16 August 1925. The neighbouring grotto was completed after O'Nolan's death in 1930. These named craftsmen and organisers connect the shrine's buildings with the people who brought the project into being. [3]
A new playing field
St Ergnat's opened its new pitch on 15 September 2024, with GAA president Jarlath Burns performing the ceremony. In a first-person account, club member Gary Duffin traced the project from concerns about capacity at Taylorstown Road to the purchase of a sixteen-acre site. Fundraising and voluntary work supported the development. The opening marked the completion of its first pitch, while further pitches and changing facilities remained ambitions; it did not signify completion of the whole proposed complex. [4]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Antrim
- Barony
- Toome Upper
- Civil parish
- Duneane
- Coordinates
- 54.77469, -6.43029 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 63134 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Moneyglass. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Our Lady of Lourdes Roman Catholic Church, HB20/01/015A · Historic Environment Division, Department for Communities
- Derry Bishop to celebrate100th anniversary of church his grandfather built,14August2025 · Connla Young, The Irish News
- St Ergnat’s Moneyglass Pitch Opening,27September2024 · Gary Duffin, The Saffron Gael
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2021-05-26. How this page was prepared.