placenamesCastleplunket
Lios Lachna
A family mansion, a petition for pardon and a changing national school leave distinct records of village life.
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
- Lios Lachna · Irish · main form · validated name
- Castleplunket · English · main form
Place & story
The Plunkett mansion
The University of Galway’s estate database records historian Mary Gormley’s account of a mansion built near Castleplunkett village between 1655 and 1660. It later burned in the middle of the nineteenth century. Stone from the ruined building was reused locally, so the house’s afterlife became part of other construction in the area. The record places it in Castleplunkett townland in Baslick parish. [2]
A petition to William III
In 1699 James Plunckett of Castle Plunckett petitioned William III for a pardon after an indictment for treason. He presented himself as a former Irish-army captain who had laid down his commission and returned home. His appeal claimed losses of livestock and property during the conflict and offered assurances of loyalty. The petition preserves his own account of the difficult transition following the Williamite wars. [3]
From village school to Rusheen
Castleplunkett National School’s history begins with two hedge schools recorded in the area during the 1840s. A national school opened in the village centre in 1865. Its successor at Rusheen opened in 1903 with two teachers and forty-eight pupils. Enrolment reached 130 in 1922, but the third teacher appointed that year initially had to share an existing classroom; an additional room followed in 1936. [4]
Renovation and a centenary
The school later experienced the effects of population decline, losing a teaching post in 1948. Electricity and school transport improved conditions during the 1960s. A major renovation approved in 1995 required local fundraising towards the building costs and the purchase of a sports field. The completed building opened officially in 1998, and President Mary McAleese visited during the school’s centenary celebrations in 2003. [4]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Roscommon
- Barony
- Castlereagh
- Civil parish
- Baslick
- Coordinates
- 53.75109, -8.34870 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 1414332 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Castleplunket. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Castleplunkett, property record 1411 · University of Galway, Landed Estates
- 1699: James Plunckett seeks a pardon for a charge of high treason · The Power of Petitioning; report by Lesley Scott-Stapleton
- History of our School · Castleplunkett National School
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.