placenames.ie
County

Wicklow

Cill Mhantáin

Wicklow’s mountain districts, river mouths and northern approaches preserve different histories within one coastal county.

Recorded locationWicklow52.95162° N · 6.36030° WInteractive map supplied by OpenStreetMap.
Recorded place location · Logainm.ieOpen in OpenStreetMap ↗

The name

cillchurch

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 Mhantáin · Irish · main form · validated name
  • Wicklow · English · main form

Place & story

Mountains and the sea

Lewis’s 1837 county description places Wicklow between Dublin, Kildare, Carlow and Wexford, with the sea to the east. Its historical account distinguishes mountain territories from coastal lands more readily reached from outside. That contrast helps explain routes, settlements and conflicts without assuming an absolute separation between communities. A valley crossing, upland home and harbour address can imply very different local connections even when all are described simply as Wicklow. [2]

Names of earlier districts

The directory records Ranelagh and Imale in its account of the O’Byrnes and O’Tooles and describes the region’s earlier inclusion within the wider Dublin jurisdiction. Those territorial labels should be preserved when an old source uses them, but not treated as exact substitutes for later parishes. The history of the ruling families is also different from personal genealogy: a shared surname or residence in their former territory cannot establish descent from a named chief. [2]

Coastal towns across local boundaries

The Bray entry places parts of that community on opposite sides of the Dargle and the historical Dublin–Wicklow boundary. Wicklow town itself lay across parts of Rathnew and Kilpoole parishes beside the Vartry outlet and the Murragh. These examples make precise locality valuable for family research. Keep the river bank, townland, parish and date, and distinguish a town from the county sharing its name. Older Scandinavian name conjectures in the directory require independent linguistic evidence before a full-name meaning is asserted. [3] [4]

Geographic information

Place type
County
County
Wicklow
Coordinates
52.95162, -6.36030
Mapped area
2,023.72 km²
Logainm ID
100008 ↗

People & family history

Census figures refer to the matched historical census area for each year. Boundaries and spellings can change over time.

Explore this county

Up to 50 places per page, ordered by name.

Sources & further reading

  1. Logainm.ie — Wicklow. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
  2. County Wicklow — A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837) · Samuel Lewis · 1837
  3. Bray — A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837) · Samuel Lewis · 1837
  4. Wicklow town — A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837) · Samuel Lewis · 1837
  5. Boundary geometry retains its source attribution and licence in the downloadable geographic record. Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.