placenames.ie
Population centre

Eglish

An Eaglais

Eglish’s churchyard preserves carved stones and a raised enclosure that point to a history extending far beyond the present church.

Watercolour and fine ink illustration of Saint Patrick’s Church, Eglish, as photographed in 2006.
Illustration, Saint Patrick’s Church, Eglish, as photographed in 2006
Recorded locationEglish54.44644° N · 6.79749° WInteractive map supplied by OpenStreetMap.
Approximate recorded location · Logainm.ie

The name

eaglaischurch

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 Eaglais · Irish · main form · validated name
  • Eglish · English · main form

Place & story

The raised churchyard at Roan

St Patrick’s Church, built in 1834, occupies an elevated position within Eglish village, overlooking the Oona Water. Its oval churchyard is enclosed by a retaining wall that reaches about four metres in places. An archaeological assessment notes that long use for burial helped create the height of the mound. [2]

Evidence for earlier worship

An early Christian cross-base was discovered in the car park west of the church during the 1980s. The archaeological report also records a medieval window jamb, a probable font and a possible capital in the graveyard. Together these finds suggest an earlier ecclesiastical site and a medieval stone church, although the precise sequence of churches remains uncertain. [2]

Geographic information

Place type
Population centre
County
Tyrone
Civil parish
Clonfeacle
Coordinates
54.44644, -6.79749 (approximate)
Logainm ID
135063 ↗

Sources & further reading

  1. Logainm.ie — Eglish. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
  2. Eglish, Roan: Centre for Archaeological Fieldwork Development Control Report 301 · Centre for Archaeological Fieldwork, Queen’s University Belfast
  3. Saint Patrick’s Church, Eglish, as photographed in 2006 illustration: based on a Eglish RC Church by Kenneth Allen. AI-assisted watercolour and ink adaptation; cream paper margins added, incidental clutter omitted and fine details simplified. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2010-04-19. How this page was prepared.