A reliable full-name meaning has not been established here. The recorded Irish and English forms are given without an unsupported translation.
Recorded forms
Coill an Aird· Irish · main form · non-validated name
Killenard· English · main form
Place & story
St John’s Church
St John's was completed in 1835 after work begun under Fr John Dunne and continued by Fr Terence O'Connell. Its cruciform plan was later given a classical front. Statues of Patrick and Brigid stand in the front wall, with John above the entrance. The parish records plaques marking 1835 and the 1907 renovation, followed by further refurbishments in the 1970s and 2009–10.[2]
From graveyard school to community centre
Killenard's1877 school replaced an earlier school in the graveyard behind the church. The old building was subsequently incorporated into the community centre. In 1962 a new site was acquired for a four-classroom school; later extensions developed that same site. Scoil Naomh Eoin's2025 history mural brought these stages together using bottle caps and other recycled materials.[3]
Folklore & tradition
The servant and the chapel site
The school preserves a local legend explaining the gift of a chapel site. A Mr Smith of Mount Henry follows a servant girl to a secret Mass across the Barrow at Treascon. Impressed by her devotion, he provides land for a chapel. The school explicitly presents this as legend; the parish also relates the tradition. It is an account of remembered origins rather than a documented land transaction.[3][2]
Both counts use the 2016 settlement boundary, allowing like-for-like comparison. CSO supplies the 2022 count on this older boundary for comparison only. The official 2022 Built Up Area has different boundaries.
View population figures
Killenard — Census 2016 settlement footprint — census population
These figures use different area definitions. Read the boundary note before comparing them.
Killenard, Laois
Published census settlement populations
671people · 2016
Settlement boundaries changed during this period. Differences may reflect boundary changes as well as population change. Where a 2011 legal-town-and-environs count is shown, it has not been recalculated onto the 2016 settlement boundary.
placenames