Knock became an international pilgrimage centre after fifteen witnesses reported an apparition in 1879; its later history includes monumental religious art and a campaign for an airport.
Illustration, Basilica of Our Lady, Queen of Ireland, Knock
⊕Recorded locationKnock53.79235° N · 8.91941° WInteractive map supplied by OpenStreetMap.
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
Cnoc Mhuire· Irish · main form · validated name
An Cnoc· Irish · main form
Knock· English · main form
Place & story
The witnesses of August 1879
On the evening of 21 August 1879, people at Knock reported seeing figures identified as Mary, Joseph and John the Evangelist beside the parish church, with a lamb, altar and cross. Fifteen official witnesses gave testimony to an ecclesiastical inquiry that October. Archbishop John MacHale appointed the commission, whose investigators reported favourably on their evidence. Pilgrims began travelling to the village, and Knock developed around the reported event. A much larger church opened in 1976 and became a basilica during Pope John Paul II's visit in 1979.[2]
A mosaic made in Italy
The basilica's large apparition mosaic was unveiled on 28 February 2016. Irish illustrator P. J. Lynch designed the scene from the witnesses' descriptions, and the Travisanutto workshop at Spilimbergo in Italy made it from about one and a half million individual pieces. The artisans worked on the mosaic for eight months before transporting it to Knock in sections. Installed behind the sanctuary, the fourteen-metre-square work became the concluding feature of a major refurbishment. Its creation brought Irish illustration and Italian mosaic craftsmanship together in one of the shrine's most distinctive interiors.[3]
People & connections
Monsignor James Horan and the airport
Knock's parish priest, Monsignor James Horan, championed an international airport in rural Mayo during the early 1980s. He sought easier access to the west for pilgrims and other travellers and gathered substantial community support for the project. The airport opened in 1986. Although its name is closely associated with the shrine, the airport serves the wider western region from a separate location. Its own institutional history identifies Horan's campaign as the foundation of a transport venture whose significance extended far beyond parish and pilgrimage travel.[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
Knock — Census 2016 settlement footprint — census population
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
Knock, Mayo — Census town, CSO 2006 report — census population
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
Knock, Mayo — 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
Knock, Mayo — Census town, CSO 1986 report — census population
These figures use different area definitions. Read the boundary note before comparing them.
Knock, Mayo
Published census settlement populations
972people · 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.
Basilica of Our Lady, Queen of Ireland, Knock illustration: based on a Knock Basilica 16 July 2017 by Sinéad Mallee. AI-assisted watercolour and ink adaptation; cream paper margins added, incidental clutter omitted and fine details simplified. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.
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