Kilsheelan () is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

within the in the barony of Iffa and Offa East in

County Tipperary County Tipperary ( ga, Contae Thiobraid Árann) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary, and was established in the early 13th century, shortly after t ...

, Ireland. It is also one half of the

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

parish of Kilsheelan & Kilcash in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Waterford and Lismore. It is situated on the north bank of the

River Suir The River Suir ( ; ga, an tSiúr or ''Abhainn na Siúire'' ) is a river in Ireland that flows into the Atlantic Ocean through Waterford after a distance of . The catchment area of the Suir is 3,610 km2.

, east of Clonmel and west of

Carrick-on-Suir Carrick-on-Suir () is a town in County Tipperary, Ireland. It lies on both banks of the River Suir. The part on the north bank of the Suir lies in the civil parish of "Carrick", in the historical barony of Iffa and Offa East. The part on the s ...

, on the N24 and R706 roads. As of 2016, it had a population of 812 people. Kilsheelan is notable in having won the Tidy Towns competition twice, in both 1975 and 1979. It is represented by the Kilsheelan-Kilcash GAA club.

History

Great Southern and Western Railway - 1902 Ireland routemap - Project Gutenberg eText 19329

Excavations in 2006 at a residential development revealed evidence of settlement at the village dating back to early

neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

period. Finds included pottery fragments, stone blades and seeds. The name of the village in Irish is ''Cill Síoláin'', meaning ''church of Síolán/Sillan''. Síolán is thought to be an early Irish saint probably

Sillan Saint Sillan (or Sillian) ( la, Selanus; ga, Síoláin) (died 608 or 610) was early Irish saint and abbot of Bangor Abbey, Bangor, County Down. He was recorded as being a disciple and second or third successor of Saint Comgall, who was the fo ...

, abbot of

Bangor Abbey Bangor Abbey was established by Saint Comgall in 558 in Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland and was famous for its learning and austere rule. It is not to be confused with the slightly older abbey in Wales on the site of Bangor Cathedral. Hist ...

Bangor, County Down Bangor ( ; ) is a city and seaside resort in County Down, Northern Ireland, on the southern side of Belfast Lough. It is within the Belfast metropolitan area and is 13 miles (22 km) east of Belfast city centre, to which it is linke ...

. ''Síolán'' can translate to either "seed-basket" or "cullender/sieve". In 1853 Kilsheelan railway station was opened by the Waterford, Limerick and Western Railway, later taken over by the

Great Southern & Western Railway The Great Southern and Western Railway (GS&WR) was an Irish gauge () railway company in Ireland from 1844 until 1924. The GS&WR grew by building lines and making a series of takeovers, until in the late 19th and early 20th centuries it was the l ...

, it being one of many small provincial stations to serve settlements along the route. It was closed in 1963 to passengers and then to goods in 1976. Until 1984 the station served as a

block post A block post in railway signalling is the signal box at one end of a block section. German practice In Germany, block posts are known as ''Blockstellen'' (abbreviation: ''Bk'') and are defined as railway facilities on the open line that mark the ...

, at which point sidings and loop were removed. The original Great Southern & Western signal box remains extant, being used to house operator of the adjacent manual level crossing on the R706 road.

Historical population

Population shown accounts for the entire parish of Kilsheelan starting in 1831.

Geography

Townlands

There are 21 townlands in Kilsheelan. * Ballinvoher * Ballyboe * Ballydine ''(Baile Uí Dhiana)'' * Ballyglasheen ''(Baile Uí Ghlaisín)'' * Ballyglasheen Little ''(Baile Uí Ghlaisín Beag)'' * Ballynaraha ''(Baile na Rátha)'' * Ballynevin * Butlerstown ''(Baile na mBuitléarach)'' * Clashanisky * Cloghcarrigeen East ''(Cloch Charraigín Thoir)'' * Cloghcarrigeen West ''(Cloch Charraigín Thiar)'' * Clonwalsh * Eustaceland ''(Fearann Iústáis)'' * Gammonsfield ''(Gort an Ghambúnaigh)'' * Gortbrack ''(An Gort Breac)'' * Greensland ''(An tArd Glas)'' *Kilsheelan ''(Cill Síoláin)'' * Knockanclash * Lisbalting * Lisnatubbrid * Mauganstown ''(Baile Mhágúin)'' * Minorstown ''(Baile an Mhionúraigh)'' * Mullenaranky * Poulakerry ''(Poll an Choire)'' * Priorstown * Seskin ''(An Seisceann)'' * Skehanagh ''(An Sceachánach)'' * Temple-Etney

Facilities

Kilsheelan has four pubs, three hairdressers, a church and adjoining cemetery, two shops, a post office, primary school, Playschool, and a car dealership. In 2004, Marilyn Manson married the burlesque performer Dita Von Teese in a ceremony at

Castle Gurteen de la Poer Gurteen de la Poer, or Gurteen le Poer, is an Elizabethan Revival house in County Waterford, Ireland, situated on the south bank of the River Suir, close to Kilsheelan and about 8 km east of Clonmel. The estate belonged to the de la Poers, ...

in Kilsheelan. The castle is the home of artist

Gottfried Helnwein Gottfried Helnwein (born 8 October 1948) is an Austrian-Irish visual artist. He has worked as a painter, draftsman, photographer, muralist, sculptor, installation and performance artist, using a wide variety of techniques and media. His work is ...

since 1998, and was built in 1863 by the de la Poer family.

Transport

The

Limerick–Rosslare railway line The Limerick–Rosslare Main Line is a railway route in the Republic of Ireland that linked the city of Limerick on the Atlantic coast with Rosslare Europort on the coast of the Irish Sea. It also serves the city of Waterford, and at it conne ...

passes through Kilsheelan but the station is closed. Clonmel railway station, some 9 km distant, is now the nearest railway station. Kilsheelan is served by Bus Éireann routes 7 (

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

to Cork), 55 (

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

to Limerick) & 367 (

to Clonmel).

Gallery

Kilsheelan_Bridge_on_the_River_Suir_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1398661.jpg, Kilsheelan Bridge Tower house near Kilsheelan.jpg, A tower house near Kilsheelan Church,_Kilsheelan,_Co._Tipperary_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1388522.jpg, Saint Mary's Church 2013.07.22-2A.Kilsheelan.jpg, Motte in Kilsheelan

References

External links

The Tidy Towns of Ireland "Celebrating 50 years"

Kilsheelan Bridge
– Buildings of Ireland
Saint Mary's Church
– Buildings of Ireland Parishes of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Waterford and Lismore Towns and villages in County Tipperary Civil parishes of Iffa and Offa East