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
Cill Náile· Irish · main form · validated name
Kinawley· English · main form
Place & story
William Hague’s church
Architect William Hague designed Saint Naile's Church, dedicated by Bishop Nicholas Conaty on 19 February 1876. The parish account records a lowest building tender of £1,625 and explains that the work exceeded its budget. Curate Bernard O'Reilly helped raise funds and undertook manual work himself. Later improvements culminated in a rededication in 2002. The surviving building therefore records both professional architectural design and sustained local efforts to complete and maintain a parish church.[2]
Folklore & tradition
The older church and Tobar Naile
The east wall and two side walls of a medieval church survive in the cemetery, close to the holy well known as Tobar Naile. The parish preserves the association of the site with Saint Naile, a sixth-century saint. It also records a pilgrimage to the well as part of Bilberry Sunday, held on the last Sunday in July. This customary visit gives the older sacred landscape a place in local religious memory alongside the later church.[2]
Kinawley’s football record
The Brian Borus club history identifies a match against Lisbellaw at Inishmore on 17 May 1888 as early evidence of organised Gaelic games in Kinawley. Teams and names subsequently changed, and the account distinguishes those beginnings from the later club's achievements. In 1978 Kinawley won the intermediate championship against Maguiresbridge, with Mickey Boyle scoring the decisive goal. The same year brought a minor rural league title, linking an important senior breakthrough with the development of younger players.[3]
Both censuses use the same 2015 settlement boundary. These exact counts cover usual residents in the settlement, rather than local government districts or historic counties. Other NISRA tables may use approximate counts.
View population figures
KINAWLEY — Settlement 2015 (N11000353) — census population
Saint Naile's Church, Kinawley, County Fermanagh illustration: based on a St Náile's RC Church, Kinawley, Fermanagh 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.
placenames
