placenamesMount Bolus
Cnocán Bhólais
A pre-Famine church and a community hall opened in 1976 anchor the village’s public life.
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
- Cnocán Bhólais · Irish · main form · non-validated name
- Mount Bolus · English · main form
Place & story
The nineteenth-century village
Samuel Lewis’s 1837 description records Mount Bolus as a village of thirty dwellings, with a constabulary station and a Catholic chapel. It stood on the southern road from Frankford towards Tullamore, within Killoughy parish. [2]
Saint Brigid’s church
Saint Brigid’s Catholic Church dates from 1837, the year carved above its central doorway. The architectural inventory records pointed windows with limestone surrounds, a graveyard on three sides and a separate cast-iron belfry northeast of the building. [3]
A hall opened in 1976
Killoughey Community Centre opened in Mountbolus on 29 March 1976, following several years of community organising. A retrospective published for its fiftieth anniversary records an interdenominational blessing at the opening. The centre replaced an older hall and became a meeting place for local voluntary organisations. [4]
Dances, games and shared occasions
The same account recalls céilís, drama, school concerts and weekly whist in the hall. A badminton club was organised there in October 1976. Refreshments after funerals, initially organised by the Irish Countrywomen’s Association, also became part of the centre’s continuing community role. [4]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Mount Bolus. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Mount-Bolus: A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, 1837 · Samuel Lewis, 1837
- Saint Brigid’s Catholic Church, NIAH 14924006 · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
- Killoughey Community Centre: fiftieth-anniversary history, 18 March 2026 · Judy Bryant, Tullamore Tribune / Offaly Express
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2019-02-27. How this page was prepared.