placenamesBurnchurch
An Teampall Loiscthe
Burnchurch’s castle, circular turret and ruined church preserve several distinct stages in the parish’s architectural history.
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 Teampall Loiscthe · Irish · main form · validated name
- Burnchurch · English · main form
Place & story
The Fitzgerald castle
The Fitzgerald family, also called Barron or Baron, built Burnchurch Castle in the fifteenth or sixteenth century. Occupation continued into the early nineteenth century. Richard Fitzgerald lost the estate during the Cromwellian settlement and was transplanted to Connacht in 1654. The property later passed by marriage to the Flood family of Farmley. [2]
Rooms above the entrance
The six-storey tower house has stairs within its walls, fireplaces in upper living rooms and a vaulted fifth-floor room. A separate circular turret north of the castle once connected with the bawn wall, whose remains were visible in 1851. [2]
A new role in Farmley’s landscape
By the 1880s, the Farmley estate and townland had expanded eastwards. An avenue connected Burnchurch village to the house through parkland, placing the castle and turret at its entrance. Both monuments are now recorded in Farmley townland. [2]
The ruined parish church
Burnchurch's Church of Ireland church dates from 1810. The architectural inventory identifies a Board of First Fruits building, possibly occupying an older church site. Its entrance tower rises through three stages, with battlements and cut-limestone details. Recorded as still in use in 1947, it subsequently became roofless. The ruin adds an early nineteenth-century parish building to the older castle group. [3]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Civil parish
- County
- Kilkenny
- Barony
- Shillelogher
- Coordinates
- 52.57443, -7.30474
- Mapped area
- 13.69 km²
- Logainm ID
- 1270 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Burnchurch. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Burnchurch Castle and Turret · Office of Public Works, Heritage Ireland
- Burnchurch Church, NIAH 12402303 · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.