Castleiney

Castleleiny
Caisleán Laighnigh
Village
Ruins of Castle Leiny, from which the village takes its name
Castleleiny
Location in Ireland
Coordinates: 52°47′10″N 7°47′22″W / 52.786°N 7.7895°W / 52.786; -7.7895
CountryIreland
ProvinceMunster
CountyCounty Tipperary
Time zoneUTC+0 (WET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC-1 (IST (WEST))

Castleiney, officially Castleleiny (Irish: Caisleán Laighnigh),[1] is a village in County Tipperary, Ireland. It is one half of the Roman Catholic parish of Loughmore-Castleiney.[2] It lies within the barony of Eliogarty and is approximately 5 km from Templemore and 7 km from Loughmore. The village is connected to Templemore via the R433, R502 and L3205 roads.

History and name

The village and townland of Castleiney, officially Castleleiny and historically "Castlelyny", derives from the Irish Caisleán Laighnigh or "castle of Laighnigh".[1] In Irish Names of Places (published in 1913), Patrick Weston Joyce suggests that this refers to the "castle of the Lynagh or Leinsterman".[3]

Evidence of ancient settlement in the area includes a number of ringfort and enclosure sites in the townlands of Castleleiny, Ballinroe, Gorteendangan and Gorteenmagher.[4] The "castle" at Castleleiny townland is described in the Record of Monuments and Places as a "late sixteenth/early seventeenth-century fortified house [..] fortified with a bawn wall".[5] The village's Catholic church is dedicated to Saint John the Baptist and was completed c. 1830.[6]

A section of the River Iney, which passes through the village, is sometimes known locally as "the washpen".[7] According to an adjacent stone sign, the name derives from a former practice in which farmers would construct a pen (enclosure) in the area to wash their sheep prior to shearing.[7]

Replacing an earlier school, Castleiney's current national (primary) school building dates from the 1940s and was renovated and extended in 2008.[8]

Sport

The local Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) club is Loughmore–Castleiney GAA. The club has won a number of county titles in hurling and Gaelic football, winning both the Tipperary Senior Hurling Championship and Senior Football Championship "double" in 2021.[9]

Notable people

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Caisleán Laighnigh / Castleleiny (see archival records)". logainm.ie. Placenames Database of Ireland. Retrieved 4 January 2026.
  2. ^ "Parishes in Cashel and Emly Diocese". cashel-emly.ie. Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly. Archived from the original on 19 November 2007. Retrieved 20 February 2010.
  3. ^ Weston Joyce, Patrick (1913). Irish Names of Places. Vol. III. Phoenix Publishing. p. 198 – via archive.org.
  4. ^ Farrelly, Jean; O'Brien, Caimin, eds. (2002), The Archaeological Inventory of County Tipperary. Vol. 1 - North Tipperary, Dublin: Government Stationery Office, ISBN 9780755712649
  5. ^ "NMS mapping data - TN029-081001-" – via heritagedata.maps.arcgis.com. TN029-081001- : House - fortified house : Castleleiny
  6. ^ "Catholic Church Of Saint John The Baptist, Gorteendangan, Castleleiny, Tipperary North". buildingsofireland.ie. National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. Retrieved 5 January 2026.
  7. ^ a b "Tidy Towns Competition 2016 - Adjudication Report - Tipperary North - Castleiney" (PDF). tidytowns.ie. 2016. Retrieved 5 January 2026.
  8. ^ "Castleiney National School - History". castleineyns.ie. Retrieved 5 January 2026. New national schools were provided in Loughmore (1857) and Castleiney (1858). A new school building was provided in Castleiney in 1948 and [..] An extension and upgrading of the school was completed in 2008
  9. ^ "John McGrath the hero once again as Loughmore-Castleiney clinch Tipperary championship double". rte.ie. 8 November 2021. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
  10. ^ Ferriter, Diarmaid (October 2009). "Hayes, John Martin". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Royal Irish Academy. doi:10.3318/dib.003872.v1. Retrieved 5 January 2026. In January 1927 he was appointed to the united parishes of Loughmoe and Castleleiny in Tipperary, where he successfully raised funds for church renovation and dabbled in the promotion of rural industries