placenamesBarefield or Gortlumman
Gort Lomán
A Clare village whose recorded daily life, school expansion and changing church preserve a detailed local 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
- Gort Lomán · Irish · main form · validated name
- Barefield or Gortlumman · English · main form
Place & story
A small village recorded in 1943
Ralph Lucas’s tourist survey of July 1943 gives a close picture of Barefield before its later growth. He estimated about twenty-five inhabitants and listed two public houses, a chapel, a school, a dispensary and a post office handling letters only. There were no village markets or fairs. These observations describe the village itself, rather than the much larger parish population. [2]
A church changed by its congregation
The Church of the Immaculate Conception dates from 1874. A reorientation in the 1930s moved its altar from the east end to the west. Its stained glass records later commissions too: Pat Leyden and Sons made the Holy Spirit window installed in 2010, and Evan Connon’s Immaculate Conception window was installed in 2024. The older Crucifixion window’s maker remains uncertain. [3]
From four teachers to an expanded school
Lucas described Barefield National School as a substantial four-teacher school in 1943. The school’s own prospectus traces its history from 1895 and records the opening of its expanded premises on 29 May 2011, after five major extensions over twenty-five years. By the 2021–2022 prospectus, its facilities included sixteen classrooms, a library, a hall and support teaching rooms. [2] [4]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Clare
- Barony
- Bunratty Upper
- Civil parish
- Templemaley
- Within
- Barefield or Gortlumman
- Coordinates
- 52.88512, -8.95085 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 1412553 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Barefield or Gortlumman. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Barefield: Irish Tourist Association survey, 29 July 1943 · Ralph Lucas; Clare Libraries
- Barefield, Immaculate Conception Catholic Church · County Clare Heritage Office
- Student prospectus 2021–2022, principal’s message · Barefield National School
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.