placenamesGlasleck
Glasleic
Glasleck’s Presbyterian church, neighbouring manse and an archived nineteenth-century diary preserve the history of a rural congregation.
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
- Glasleic · Irish · main form · validated name
- Glasleck · English · main form
- Glassleck · English · main form · local name
Place & story
The church and its school wing
Glasleck Presbyterian Church carries a stone plaque dated 1836. Its plain, four-bay body has pointed windows with delicate intersecting tracery and a recessed entrance. A two-storey school wing adjoins the rear. When surveyed in 2012, the disused building still retained its bench pews and central timber pulpit, approached by steps on either side. Cut-stone memorials in the small graveyard add another record of the community that worshipped here. [2]
Randal McCollum’s working life
Cavan County Archives preserves a diary kept by Randal McCollum, the Presbyterian minister responsible for Glasleck, from December 1861 to December 1871. Its catalogue describes his preaching, Sabbath school, meetings with neighbouring ministers and ceremonies. McCollum also farmed land at Derry and Darkley and taught boys privately to supplement his income. The diary records labourers’ work, produce taken to market and lessons alongside his ministerial duties, linking the congregation to the surrounding agricultural economy. [3]
The neighbouring manse
The former manse beside the church dates from around 1890. Its L-shaped plan combines a two-storey house with a rear wing and outbuilding, connected through a carriage arch. A central gabled dormer, a porch on the south gable and brick chimney stacks give the house a more elaborate outline than the church. The two buildings share an entrance, preserving the relationship between the congregation’s meeting place and its minister’s accommodation. [4]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Glasleck. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Glasleck Presbyterian Church, 40402804 · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
- Small Private Collections, P029/001: diary of Reverend Randal McCollum, page107 · Cavan County Archives Service
- The Manse, Glasleck, 40402803 · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
- Saint Ann’s Catholic Church at Glasleck, as photographed in 2008 illustration: based on a St. Ann's Church, Glasleck, Co. Cavan by Kieran Campbell. 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 2026-08-24. How this page was prepared.