placenamesBallinure
Baile an Iúir
Ballinure’s medieval records and ruined church preserve an early settlement’s history; athlete Bill Shanahan carried the district’s name into international sport.
The name
A reliable full-name meaning has not been established here. The recorded Irish and English forms are given without an unsupported translation.
Recorded forms
- Baile an Iúir · Irish · main form · validated name
- Ballinure · English · main form
Place & story
A borough in the records
A deed of 1521 refers to property in the burgage of Ballinure. Archaeologist Richard Clutterbuck cautions that this does not demonstrate a substantial medieval town: seventeenth-century surveys describe a small settlement. The borough designation may have reflected an ambition to develop the crossroads rather than a completed urban centre. [2]
The surviving medieval church
The ruined church is the principal surviving building of that settlement. Clutterbuck records a church in the taxation of 1302–07 but dates the surviving fabric probably to the fifteenth or sixteenth century. Its limestone gables remain, while the north wall has gone. A vaulted tomb occupies the western end. [2]
Bill Shanahan’s local beginnings
Athlete and policeman Bill Shanahan was born in Kilcarney, Ballinure, in 1897 and attended nearby Noan National School. A biography published by An Garda Síochána records his progress from local athletics to representing Ireland in the decathlon at the 1924 Paris Olympics, where he finished nineteenth. He joined the Dublin Metropolitan Police in 1923 and later received the Scott Medal for bravery. [3]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Tipperary
- Barony
- Slievardagh
- Civil parish
- Graystown
- Coordinates
- 52.56516, -7.76402 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 1414489 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Ballinure. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Ballinure church and settlement: 1998 archaeological survey · Richard Clutterbuck, reproduced by Slieveardagh Rural Development
- Bill Shanahan: athlete and Scott Medal recipient · Martin O’Dwyer Bob, published by An Garda Síochána
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2024-10-24. How this page was prepared.