Kilmore, County Wexford

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Kilmore
Irish: An Chill Mhór
County Wexford

Pub in Kilmore in 1979
Location
Grid reference: S992070
Location: 52°12’21"N, 6°32’59"W
Data
Population: 132  (2016)
Local Government

Kilmore or Killmore is a village and townland in south County Wexford, about ten miles from Wexford town.

History

The Marian shrine south of Kilmore

The name 'Kilmore' is from the Irish an Chill Mhór, meaning 'the big church'.[1] According to mid-19th century sources, its Yola language name was Kilmoor.[2]

Evidence of ancient settlement in the area includes a number of ringfort sites in the surrounding townlands of Sarshill, Lannagh and Rickardstown.[3] An ecclesiastical enclosure, in the townland of Grange, contains the former parish church of Kilmore.[3] The ruined church, which is "probably of early origin", contains a number of early 17th century memorials.[4] The existing church within the village, St Mary's Roman Catholic church, dates to 1802.[5]

The Kilmore Carols, a tradition of carol singing at St. Mary's RC Church in Kilmore, has taken place at Christmas time since the 1750s.[6] In all, there are thirteen carols, eight of which are sung during the Christmas period, the first at first Mass on Christmas Day and the last one on Sunday nearest Twelfth Day.[7]

References

  1. An Chill Mhór / Kilmore: Placenames Database of Ireland
  2. Poole, Jacob (1867) (in en, mul). A Glossary, with Some Pieces of Verse, of the Old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland. Kessinger Publishing. pp. 110. ISBN 9781164528180. 
  3. 3.0 3.1 Archaeological Inventory of County Wexford. Dublin: Government Stationery Office. 1996. 
  4. Whitty, M. J. (1872). "The Whitty monument in the ruined church of Kilmore, County of Wexford". Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 12: 59–64. 
  5. "Catholic Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Anne and Saint Joseph, Sarshill, Kilmore, Wexford". National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/15620004/catholic-church-of-the-blessed-virgin-mary-saint-anne-and-saint-joseph-sarshill-kilmore-co-wexford. Retrieved 11 January 2023. 
  6. "Kilmore carols". http://www.askaboutireland.ie/reading-room/life-society/traditions-and-customs/the-kilmore-carols/index.xml. 
  7. "The Kilmore carollers". Irish Times. 22 December 1998. https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/the-kilmore-carollers-1.228070. Retrieved 11 January 2023.