placenamesCastletown
Baile an Chaisleáin
Castletown Kilpatrick combines the history of a small rural service centre with two churches that preserve different phases of local religious 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
- Baile an Chaisleáin · Irish · main form · validated name
- Castletown · English · main form
Place & story
A hamlet serving a wider district
Castletown in Morgallion is the settlement commonly distinguished as Castletown Kilpatrick. The Parliamentary Gazetteer of 1844–1845 described the hamlet on the southern edge of its parish and recorded just 65 inhabitants in 1831. Its dispensary, shared with Wilkinstown, served a much larger rural district: the gazetteer reported treatment for 931 patients in 1839–1840. These figures describe different scales of settlement and service, rather than a populous village. [2]
Medieval fragments in the old church
The former Church of Ireland church, north of the village crossroads, incorporates remnants of an older building. Medieval windows were reused in its tower, and part of a fifteenth-century female effigy survives above the east window. An inscription dates rebuilding to 1820 and names Robert Wiggins as builder. The church’s tower and elaborate entrance therefore belong to a later rebuilding that retained tangible pieces of its medieval predecessor. [3]
The Catholic church at the crossroads
The Catholic Saint Patrick’s stands closer to the crossroads, in Leggagh townland. The architectural inventory dates its beginnings to about 1830 and records substantial remodelling in 1877, when an added nave gave it a cruciform plan. Its separate cast-iron belfry is a distinctive feature of the church grounds. The two churches, both dedicated to Patrick, represent separate buildings and congregations within the village’s religious history. [4]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Meath
- Barony
- Morgallion
- Civil parish
- Castletown
- Coordinates
- 53.78061, -6.71040 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 1414643 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Castletown. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Castletown Kilpatrick: Parliamentary Gazetteer 1844–1845 and Lewis 1837 · Navan and District Historical Society, reproducing historical gazetteers
- Saint Patrick’s Church: record 14310007 · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
- Saint Patrick’s Catholic Church: record 14310001 · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.