placenamesRathbarry
Ráth an Bharraigh
Lewis recorded a busy coastal supply of calcareous sand for nineteenth-century farming.
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 an Bharraigh · Irish · main form · validated name
- Rathbarry · English · main form
Place & story
Shell sand for the fields
In 1837 Samuel Lewis described Red Strand, near Rathbarry parish’s south-eastern edge, as a source of sand used to manure farmland. He attributed its calcareous content to finely broken shells and reported an earlier analysis finding seventy-nine parts of calcareous matter in a hundred. This is his historical account of the material, rather than a modern test of beach sand. [2]
Different quantities at different distances
Lewis recorded the sand being carried sixteen English miles inland. At that distance, twenty bags were considered sufficient for a statute acre, each bag weighing about three hundredweight. Within three miles of the strand, he reported eighty to 120 bags being applied. The figures describe different practices at different distances, without explaining the reasons or establishing a recommended application rate today. [2]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Civil parish
- County
- Cork
- Barony
- Carbery East (W.D.)
- Barony
- Ibane and Barryroe
- Coordinates
- 51.57008, -8.96146 (approximate)
- Mapped area
- 19.15 km²
- Logainm ID
- 669 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Rathbarry. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Rathbarry — 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.