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
Ráth Caola· Irish · main form · validated name
Rathkeale· English · main form
Place & story
Thomas Southwell's Palatine tenants
The migration of 1709 brought families from the German Palatinate and neighbouring territories through London to Ireland. Many soon left again, but Thomas Southwell of Castle Matrix helped establish a lasting settlement around Rathkeale. By 1714 about 130 families occupied his lands, assisted by government support and the landlord's expenditure. Killeheen, Ballingrane and Courtmatrix became important centres of the community. Later settlements elsewhere in Limerick and neighbouring counties developed from these parent colonies, extending Rathkeale's connection with a wider history of European migration.[2]
People & connections
Eleanor Purcell's gifts to the priory
Rathkeale's Augustinian priory existed before the Palatine settlement by several centuries. Historical material copied for the Ordnance Survey records Eleanor Purcell's endowment: a share of bread, beer and livestock from her manor was to support the community. Her son Hugh later disputed the obligation. A settlement replaced the original claims with annual deliveries of corn, oats and pigs. The account gives a concrete picture of how a medieval religious house relied on agricultural resources, family patronage and the enforcement of earlier gifts.[3]
The station house preserves another migration story
Rathkeale's former railway station now houses the Irish Palatine Heritage Centre. Its exhibition follows the families from their German places of origin to settlement in Ireland and later movement across the English-speaking world. Farming and the development of Methodism are central themes, alongside the records preserved in its library and archive. The adapted station building stands on the Limerick Greenway, bringing the town's transport heritage and the history of the surrounding Palatine settlements together in one place.[4]
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
Rathkeale — Census 2016 settlement footprint — census population
Rathkeale, Limerick — Census town, CSO 2006 report
2002–2006: census town
1,494people · 2006
These are the historical areas published in the 2006 census report. Boundaries may differ between censuses and from modern settlements. Legal towns, environs and suburbs are shown separately; none has been combined into a modern settlement total.
View population figures
Rathkeale, Limerick — Census town, CSO 2006 report — census population
Rathkeale, Limerick — Census town, CSO 1996 report
1991–1996: census town
1,546people · 1996
These are the historical areas published in the 1996 census report. Boundaries may differ between censuses and from modern settlements. Legal towns, environs and suburbs are shown separately; none has been combined into a modern settlement total.
View population figures
Rathkeale, Limerick — Census town, CSO 1996 report — census population
Figures cover the historical town area printed in the 1986 report. Boundaries may have changed between censuses. Legal town, environs and suburb totals remain separate and differ from modern settlement boundaries.
View population figures
Rathkeale, Limerick — Legal town, CSO 1986 report — census population
These figures use different area definitions. Read the boundary note before comparing them.
Rathkeale, Limerick
Published census settlement populations
1,441people · 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
