placenamesBlack Bull
An Tarbh Dubh
The Black Bull at Sharavogue preserves an elaborate roadside public house and a later tradition of community fundraising through agricultural demonstrations.
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
- An Tarbh Dubh · Irish · main form · validated name
- Black Bull · English · main form
Place & story
The public house on the corner
The Black Bull public house occupies a prominent corner at Sharavogue. The architectural inventory dates its surviving character mainly to the later nineteenth century, describing a Dutch-gabled entrance across the cut-off corner, a hipped tiled roof and ornamental cast-iron rainwater goods. Moulded window surrounds and a decorated shopfront give the building an unusually elaborate appearance for a small rural crossroads, making it a recognisable local landmark. [2]
A small settlement around local services
The inventory records that a police station once stood beside the public house and suggests that Sharavogue, formerly called Black Bull, developed to serve the surrounding community. It also notes that an earlier structure on the site may reach back to the mid-eighteenth century. That possible earlier origin remains distinct from the largely nineteenth-century building now recorded, with its combination of domestic entrance, public-house doors and display window. [2]
Threshing for the local community
The Black Bull Community Threshing Festival has combined demonstrations of older farming practices with fundraising for nearby organisations. Following the event on 28 August 2022, organisers held a presentation evening in Birr that October. Coolderry Central School received a reported €32,000. The scale of that contribution documents the festival's practical role in supporting local facilities alongside its celebration of agricultural work. [3]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Black Bull. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Black Bull,Rath Beg,registration14938007 · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
- Community Threshing Festival presents cheques to beneficiaries,27October2022 · Offaly Express
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2026-07-16. How this page was prepared.