placenamesKilbroney
Cill Bhrónaí
A documented walk in 2022 connected the parish’s churches, bells and old graveyard with earlier local devotional customs.
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 Bhrónaí · Irish · main form
- Kilbroney · English · main form
Place & story
Walking on Bronach’s feast day
On 2 April 2022, walkers marked the bicentenary of Saint Bronach’s parish church with a new local pilgrimage. Rector Darren McCartney and artist Susan Farrell led the group through Rostrevor. Elizabeth Hanna’s diocesan report recalls an older custom of carrying candles from Faerie Glen Bridge beside the Kilbroney River towards the old church on Bronach’s feast day. She notes that this earlier route was no longer passable. [2]
Two churches and their bells
The 2022 walk visited Saint Bronach’s, which replaced the church at Crag in 1822 and preserves its predecessor’s bell. At Saint Mary Star of the Sea, participants heard Matthew McGrath sing Siubhán Ó Dubháin’s song about Bronach’s bell and were allowed to ring the relic. The group then continued to Kilbroney’s old graveyard, linking a recorded modern gathering with the parish’s older religious sites. [2]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Civil parish
- County
- Down
- Barony
- Iveagh Upper, Upper Half
- Coordinates
- 54.07032, -6.18197 (approximate)
- Mapped area
- 53.64 km²
- Logainm ID
- 65746 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Kilbroney. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- New Camino marks Kilbroney Church Bicentenary, 19April2022 · Revd Elizabeth Hanna, Diocese of Down and Dromore
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2019-10-08. How this page was prepared.