placenamesBodyke
Lúbán Díge
Bodyke became a focus of the Land War in 1887; its church and a later resident’s recollections reveal other parts of the community’s history.
The name
A reliable full-name meaning has not been established here. The recorded Irish and English forms are given without an unsupported translation.
Recorded forms
- Lúbán Díge · Irish · main form · validated name
- Bodyke · English · main form
Place & story
The evictions of June 1887
Evictions on Colonel John O’Callaghan’s Bodyke estate began on 2 June 1887. Church bells and horns summoned supporters as soldiers, police, bailiffs and emergency men approached barricaded homes. Only two households were evicted that first day: John Liddy’s and that of Margaret McNamara, an eighty-year-old widow. Resistance continued through the month, with John O’Halloran’s house at nearby Lisbarreen becoming known as O’Halloran’s Fort. The county library records 28 tenants evicted by 15 June, many returning to their homes after the eviction party departed. [2]
The Church of the Assumption
The Church of Our Lady of the Assumption at Coolready dates from 1844. Its T-shaped plan combines a gabled entrance front, three-bay sides and projecting transepts. A slate roof rises above roughcast walls with contrasting corner detailing. Narrow pointed windows contain coloured glass, while cut stone frames the main gable window and the Tudor-arched doorway. Wrought-iron gates and boundary walls enclose the site. These details give the village church a restrained Gothic character. [3]
Michael Gleeson’s Bodyke childhood
Michael Gleeson, later adjutant of the 5th Battalion of the East Clare Brigade, recalled being born in Bodyke on 16 April 1891 in the house that subsequently became the parish presbytery. His father had inherited a priest relative’s house and farm, then lost possession through rent arrears. After an auction and negotiations the family regained part of the holding and built another house. Gleeson attended Bodyke National School until about seventeen before working on the family’s36-acre farm. His recollections connect schooling and revolutionary-era biography with the continuing pressures of tenancy. [4]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Clare
- Barony
- Tulla Upper
- Civil parish
- Kilnoe
- Coordinates
- 52.89643, -8.59443 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 129107 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Bodyke. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- The Bodyke Evictions: The Evictions · Clare County Library and Clare Local Studies Project
- Catholic Church of Our Lady of the Assumption, inventory 20402813 · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
- Witness Statement 1288, opening page: Michael Gleeson, Bodyke · Michael Gleeson; Bureau of Military History, Military Archives
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.