placenamesKillycomain
Coill Mhic Giolla Mhaoil
Killycomain’s history connects a construction family with post-war housing and Portadown College’s move to a larger site.
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
- Coill Mhic Giolla Mhaoil · Irish · main form · validated name
- Killycomain · English · main form
Place & story
John Collen at Killycomain House
Builder John Collen bought Killycomain House in 1880 and enlarged it with an Italianate tower and a two-storey wing. After working in Australia, he returned to Ireland and developed a construction business with his brother Thomas, extending their operations to Dublin in 1872. The Irish Architectural Archive records that he died at Killycomain House in May 1921, after a public career that included service on Armagh County Council. [2]
Housing captured in original photographs
Photographs taken by Mervyn Heatly document a public ceremony at the Killycomaine housing estate on 12 June 1954. Lord Wakehurst unveiled a bronze plaque during a visit to Portadown, and the sequence also records his walk through Granville Road. Preserved from the photographer’s original negatives, these images provide a dated record of the estate’s early life, showing the new residential streets as the setting for an official civic occasion. [3]
The college moves outward
Portadown College moved to a purpose-built site on the Killicomaine Road in 1962. Founded in 1924 beside the River Bann, the school had outgrown its earlier setting. Its own history places the move within wider educational change: the former fee-paying grammar school adapted to the 1947 Education Act and subsequently participated in the Craigavon area’s two-tier secondary system. The move brought an established institution into Killycomain’s expanding suburban landscape. [4]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Armagh
- Barony
- Oneilland East
- Civil parish
- Seagoe
- Coordinates
- 54.42423, -6.42831 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 56448 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Killycomain. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Collen, John · Irish Architectural Archive, Dictionary of Irish Architects
- Governor’s Town Visit and Unveiling Plaque at Killycomaine Housing Estate,1954 · Portadown Photos, Mervyn Heatly original photographs and captions
- History of PC · Portadown College
- Portadown College in Killycomain, as photographed in 2009 illustration: based on a Portadown College by P Flannagan. AI-assisted watercolour and ink adaptation; cream paper margins added, incidental clutter omitted and fine details simplified. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2021-12-20. How this page was prepared.