placenamesDunany
Dún Áine
St John the Baptist’s preserves the story of a move from an older church site and a tower completed long after the main building.
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
- Dún Áine · Irish · main form · validated name
- Dunany · English · main form
Place & story
Choosing a new site
The parish history records a vestry meeting on 14 July 1807 inside the walls of the disused church near Dunany House. Those present agreed to build on Windmill Hill. The new church was consecrated on 15 September 1813. Its tower remained incomplete until 1889, when William Claypon Bellingham completed and restored it using stone from Clonmore Church. [2]
Memorials and music
The same account describes a William Elford organ commemorating former rector W.J. Askins. It was worked by hand until an electric pump was installed in 1997. The church also retains an east window given in memory of Alan E. Bellingham and his wife Elizabeth in 1891, and a font transferred from Charlestown Church after Dunany’s earlier font deteriorated. [2]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Dunany. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Dunany History · Rev. David A. Workman; Drogheda, Ardee and Collon Union, Kilsaran Union
- Saint John the Baptist’s Church, Dunany, as photographed in2008 illustration: based on a St. John the Baptist's Church, Dunany 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 2012-10-23. How this page was prepared.