placenamesCullen
An Cuileann
The small civil parish north-east of Kinsale has a history distinct from Cullen near Millstreet.
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
- An Cuileann · Irish · main form · validated name
- Cullen · English · main form
Place & story
Farming with materials from the coast
In 1837, Samuel Lewis recorded 1,251 inhabitants in Cullen parish in Kinalea, on the Cork road north-east of Kinsale. Its tithe assessment covered 3,940 statute acres. He linked the condition of local cultivation with access to Carrigaline and to sea sand and seaweed, materials available to improve farmland. Glynney was then the residence of G. N. Dunne. [2]
A ruined church and neighbouring congregations
Lewis found remains of Cullen's old church, with Protestant inhabitants attending services at Ballymartle. The rectory belonged to the union of Templebready and to the deanery of Cork, while the Catholic parish arrangement also connected Cullen with Ballymartle. His entry recorded a glebe house with twenty-one acres and a day school teaching about twenty children. [2]
Records lost and a register preserved
The Church of Ireland archive records a later loss in Cullen's written history. Two volumes covering nineteenth-century baptisms, marriages and burials were destroyed in the Public Record Office fire of 1922. A separate marriage register spanning 1851–1930 survives in the Representative Church Body Library's collection, received from parish custody in 2014. The surviving volume preserves a different span from the registers that were lost. [3]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Cullen. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Cullen, Kinnalea, Cork, A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, 1837 · Samuel Lewis
- Cullen (Cork) parish collection P.1096, 1 April 2016 · Representative Church Body Library, Church of Ireland
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.