placenamesLackan
An Leacain
Mattie Lennon’s recollections of Lacken preserve village meeting places and the 1965 return of a former schoolboy.
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
- An Leacain · Irish · main form · validated name
- Lackan · English · main form
Place & story
The shop as a meeting place
Mattie Lennon recalls residents gathering in the village shop to watch television during the early years of Telefís Éireann. Tommy and Maureen Richardson closed the shop in October 2012. His account also records the replacement school built in 2010 and the old schoolhouse’s subsequent use as a community centre. [2]
Laurence Edwards comes home
In 1965, Blackburn mayor Laurence Edwards and his wife Mary were welcomed to Lacken. Edwards had attended the village school after his family moved to neighbouring Shroughan following his father’s death in 1916. Lennon describes councillor Jimmy Miley, an old schoolmate, speaking at the reception, and Edwards recalling his teachers. The visit linked the village’s school community with a former pupil’s public life in England. [3]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Wicklow
- Barony
- Talbotstown Lower
- Civil parish
- Boystown
- Within
- Lackan
- Coordinates
- 53.13997, -6.49054 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 1412687 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Lackan. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- The Village Where I Went to School, updated 30 March 2020 · Mattie Lennon
- The Lord Mayor Comes A Callin, updated 2 April 2020 · Mattie Lennon
- Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel at Lackan, as photographed in 2025 illustration: based on a Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (1), Lackan, Co. Wicklow by P L Chadwick. 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 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.