Ballinahown Explained

Ballinahown
Native Name:Irish: Baile na hAbhann
Native Name Lang:ga
Settlement Type:Village
Pushpin Map:Ireland
Pushpin Label Position:right
Pushpin Map Caption:Location in Ireland
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name:Ireland
Subdivision Type1:Province
Subdivision Name1:Leinster
Subdivision Type3:County
Subdivision Name3:County Westmeath
Unit Pref:Metric
Population As Of:2006
Population Urban:250
Population Rural:3001
Population Density Km2:auto
Utc Offset1:+0
Timezone1 Dst:IST (WEST)
Utc Offset1 Dst:-1
Coordinates:53.3505°N -7.849°W
Elevation M:128
Blank Name:Irish Grid Reference

Ballinahown,[1] also spelled Ballynahown, is a village in County Westmeath on the N62 regional road in Ireland. It is 10km (10miles) south of Athlone and 5km (03miles) east of the River Shannon. It contains the Roman Catholic St. Colmcilles Church, completed in 1902 to a design in the Early English Gothic-style by William Hague.

History

For more than nine centuries the village was the residence of the Malone family, who resided in Ballynahown House, a country house and estate on the site of an old castle.[2]

Sport

In 2012, Mark Rohan, a former Under 21 footballer from Ballinahown who played with Westmeath until he had a motor cycle accident, won two gold medals in the 2012 Summer Paralympics in the individual H1 handcycle time trial and road race.[3]

Geography

Ballinahown is 10km (10miles) south of Athlone and 5km (03miles) east of the River Shannon by air.Clonydonnin Bog is located to the east of the village. An example of a Midlands Raised Bog, it consists of high bog, fringed areas of cutover bog, scrub and low-lying agricultural land. It is inhabited by species such as ling heather (Calluna vulgaris), cross-leaved heath (Erica tetralix), bog asphodel (Narthecium ossifragum), carnation sedge (Carex panicea) and cottongrass (Eriophorum spp.).[4]

Landmarks

The village contains the Roman Catholic St. Colmcilles Church, which was designed in the Early English Gothic-style by William Hague. Construction began on 11 October 1896 but Hague died in 1899 and was completed after his death by his younger partner T. F. McNamara, who finished it in 1902. It opened on the 15 October 1902. According to the Irish National Inventory of Architectural Heritage, it consists of a "four-bay nave, single-bay transepts to the east and west, a shallow single-bay chancel to the north and a two-stage tower (on square-plan) adjoining to the west end of the entrance front (south), having corner pinnacles and a spire on octagonal plan over (with lucarnes)".[5]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Baile na hAbhann/Ballinahown . Placenames Database of Ireland (logainm.ie) . 17 October 2021.
  2. Web site: Baronstown 1275. Irish Times. 21 March 2020.
  3. Web site: Ireland win gold and two bronze and Brands Hatch. RTE. 5 September 2012. 21 March 2020.
  4. Clonydonnin Bog Nha Site, npws.ie, 2002, Retrieved 21 March 2020.
  5. Web site: St. Columcille's Roman Catholic church, BALLYNAHOWN, Ballynahown, County Westmeath. Irish National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. 21 March 2020.