placenamesBallygarrett
Baile Ghearóid
Ballygarrett’s village street is marked by the tower of the Church of the Star of the Sea. Its history also reaches across the Atlantic through James Power and into the neighbouring Courtown district through a shared sporting tradition.
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
- Baile Ghearóid · Irish · main form · validated name
- Ballygarrett · English · main form
Place & story
A church completed after the Famine
The Catholic Church of the Star of the Sea, formerly Saint Mary’s, was begun in 1838. Work stalled between 1845 and 1857, and completion followed in 1858–59 under the Reverend Richard Barry. Its four-stage entrance tower gives the village a prominent landmark. Narrow Gothic windows, granite details and the stepped battlements distinguish the exterior. The long interruption in construction makes the building a reminder of the difficult years through which its nineteenth-century congregation lived. [2]
Glass and furnishings from different periods
Inside the church, the stained glass includes windows supplied in 1946 by the Harry Clarke Stained Glass Studios, with designs by Richard King. The distinction matters: these were studio works rather than windows personally designed by Harry Clarke. The Gothic high altar has another history. Dating from 1875, it was transferred here in 1994 from Saint Joseph’s Convent in Wexford. Decorative plasterwork and memorials add further layers to an interior assembled and altered over generations. [2]
James Power’s Atlantic journey
James Power was born in Ballygarrett in 1788 or 1789 and emigrated to New Orleans in 1809. He later became a Mexican citizen and, with James Hewetson, received an 1828 contract to establish a colony of Irish and Mexican Catholic families in Texas. Power subsequently represented Refugio at the convention of 1836 and signed the Texas Declaration of Independence. His career connects the village with the changing political and settlement history of the Gulf Coast, rather than with a single straightforward migration destination. [3]
Two clubs brought together
The present Ballygarrett Réalt na Mara club resulted from the amalgamation of Ballygarrett and Courtown-based Réalt na Mara in 1982. Its own history traces games in the area to the 1920s, with the two earlier clubs developing different football and hurling traditions. Land at Ballinagam was purchased for a permanent ground in 1984, followed by a clubhouse in 1995. Ladies’ football began in 1998 and camogie in 2012, extending participation beyond the original teams. [4]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Ballygarrett. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Catholic Church of the Star of the Sea, NIAH 15701720 · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
- James Power: Handbook of Texas, revised 30 April 2019 · Mrs Patrick H. Welder / Texas State Historical Association
- History of Ballygarrett Réalt na Mara GAA · Ballygarrett Réalt na Mara GAA
- Clonevin Church near Ballygarrett, County Wexford illustration: based on a Clonevin church by Jonathan Billinger. AI-assisted watercolour and ink adaptation; cream paper margins added, incidental clutter omitted and fine details simplified. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.