placenamesBanoge
An Bhánóg
Banoge, also written Banogue, preserves distinctive traces of rural education, parish life and an attested local belief about a well’s water.
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
- An Bhánóg · Irish · main form · validated name
- Banoge · English · main form
Place & story
A church shaped by generations
Banogue became a separate Catholic parish in 1861, having previously formed part of Croom. Its church of Saints Peter and Paul developed through several alterations, and its precise original building date remains disputed. The diocesan heritage account records renovations in 1826 and 1955. Rings in the roadside church wall once secured donkeys and traps during Mass. Parishioners helped Father Denis Fitzpatrick erect the Calvary scene outside the church in 1938. [2]
Two generations of school buildings
The former national school, dated to around 1880 by the architectural inventory, is a two-storey limestone building with a prominent central gable. Its inscription retains the spelling Banogue National School, while sash windows and the slate roof preserve much of its older character. The later school building opened in 1967 and gained an extension in 2013. A community hall attached to the school and its outdoor playing space link education with other activities in this small rural community. [3] [4]
The well in local belief
Banoge well, in nearby Ballynabanoge townland, had a particular association with animal health. The diocesan heritage project, citing folklorist Kevin Danaher, records a belief that its water could cure sore eyes in animals. Whitethorn trees surrounded it. The account describes an eventual change to domestic water use, with religious devotions no longer taking place there. [2]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Banoge. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Banogue Parish: history, churches and holy wells · Limerick Diocesan Heritage Project
- The Old School House, inventory 21903017 · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
- Banogue National School · Limerick City and County Council
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.