placenamesFinglas
Fionnghlas
Saint Fergal’s school history records the pressure that new housing brought to the western side of Finglas during the 1950s and 1960s.
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
- Fionnghlas · Irish · main form · validated name
- Finglas · English · main form
Place & story
A new school on Cappagh Road
Saint Fergal’s own history recalls crowded classrooms as housing development brought more children to Finglas. Some pupils also travelled by bus from East Wall and Gardiner Street. Monsignor Glennon turned the first sod at the Cappagh Road site in March 1956, and the school opened on 1 September 1957. Archbishop John Charles McQuaid presided at its blessing that December, with Mass celebrated in the school hall. [2]
Expansion and a musical memory
By 1967, the school records twenty-eight teachers and twelve hundred boys, with prefabricated classrooms occupying part of the field behind it. Pupils from the Barry area subsequently left with Owen Sweeney to form Saint Kevin’s school. The same account remembers Saint Fergal’s choir under Liam Hanley, including its performance at the 1957 blessing. These institutional memories trace the practical demands and shared occasions of a rapidly expanding community. [2]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Civil parish
- County
- Dublin
- Barony
- Nethercross
- Barony
- Castleknock
- Coordinates
- 53.41872, -6.31297
- Mapped area
- 19.09 km²
- Logainm ID
- 844 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Finglas. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Saint Fergal’s Boys National School: History · Saint Fergal’s Boys National School, Finglas
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2024-06-28. How this page was prepared.