placenamesKilcullen
Cill Chuillinn
Within the barony, school buildings at Kilcullenbridge and Castlemartin record separate foundations, amalgamation and reuse.
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 Chuillinn · Irish · main form
- Kilcullen · English · main form
Place & story
A territory older than the modern town
Kilcullen’s barony name appears in records dated 1358 and 1403, as catalogued by the Placenames Database. The barony includes Kilcullen parish and part of Tully parish. Kilcullen town itself crosses the boundary with Naas South, while Kilcullenbridge and Castlemartin are townlands within Kilcullen barony. These distinctions matter when tracing institutions whose names refer to the town but whose sites occupy particular parts of the older territory. [2]
A boys’ school becomes a library
The former Kilcullen Boys’ National School on Newabbey Road is dated 1925. Designed through the Board of Works for the education authorities, it followed a compact standard plan with a projecting entrance. Tall sash windows light the classroom, and timber brackets support the eaves beneath a slate roof. Its conversion to library use gave the schoolhouse another educational role, retaining a public building associated with the surrounding rural community. [3]
The move to Scoil Bhríde
The boys’ school and Cross and Passion Girls’ National School amalgamated in 1979. The following year, sixteen teachers and more than five hundred pupils moved into Scoil Bhríde at Castlemartin. The Sisters of the Cross and Passion donated the school site and land for nearby sports facilities. The school’s own history records these contributions, connecting the former separate classrooms with the larger shared institution that succeeded them. [4]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Kilcullen. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Kilcullen barony: historical references and canonical subunits · Placenames Database of Ireland
- Kilcullen Library, former boys’ national school, registration 11819039 · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
- Scoil Bhríde Kilcullen: school history · Scoil Bhríde Kilcullen
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2017-11-08. How this page was prepared.