placenamesRape Mills
An Muileann Ráibe
A nineteenth-century directory records the mills behind the name, while a Canadian memorial identifies a local family connection.
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 Muileann Ráibe · Irish · main form · validated name
- Rape Mills · English · main form
Place & story
Nine houses beside the Banagher road
In 1837 Samuel Lewis recorded Rape Mills as a hamlet of nine houses and sixty-four inhabitants. It stood three miles south of Banagher on the road to Parsonstown, now Birr. Lewis explicitly traced its name to rape mills established there; he placed it in Reynagh parish and Garrycastle barony. [2]
The Pretty family connection
Canada’s official war memorial identifies Private Albert Edward Pretty as the son of John and Sarah Pretty of Garbally, Rape Mills, Birr. He enlisted in September 1918 and died at Devonport on 17 October that year, aged thirty-four. He is buried in Plymouth’s Efford Cemetery. The memorial records his birthplace as Frankford, so his local connection is his parents’ address. [3]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Offaly
- Barony
- Garrycastle
- Civil parish
- Reynagh
- Coordinates
- 53.14229, -7.92694
- Logainm ID
- 125017 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Rape Mills. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Rapemills: A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, 1837 · Samuel Lewis, 1837
- Private Albert Edward Pretty: Canadian Virtual War Memorial, 680661 · Veterans Affairs Canada
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2026-07-16. How this page was prepared.