Knockainey or Knockainy () is a

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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

and village in

County Limerick County Limerick () is a western Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Reg ...

, Ireland. It is in the historical barony of

Smallcounty Smallcounty or Small County () is a historical barony in eastern County Limerick, Ireland. Settlements in the barony include Hospital, Herbertstown, Fedamore and Knockainy. Location Located in County Limerick, the barony of Smallcounty is bor ...

, between the towns of

Hospital A hospital is a healthcare institution providing patient treatment with specialized Medical Science, health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically ...

and

Bruff Bruff () is a town in east County Limerick, in the midwest of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, located on the old Limerick–Cork (city), Cork road (R512 road (Ireland), R512). The town lies on the River Maigue, Morning Star river, with two bridg ...

. There are a large number of archaeological sites in the area, including several on Knockainy Hill in the

townland A townland (; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a traditional small land division used in Ireland and in the Western Isles of Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of medieval Gaelic origin, predating the Norman invasion, and mo ...

of Knockainy West. These remains, which include

cursus Cursuses are monumental Neolithic enclosure structures comprising parallel banks with external ditches or trenches. Found only in the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, relics within them indicate that they were built between 3400 and 3000 BC ...

cairn A cairn is a human-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehistory, t ...

ring fort Ringforts or ring forts are small circular fortified settlements built during the Bronze Age, Iron Age and early Middle Ages up to about the year 1000 AD. They are found in Northern Europe, especially in Ireland. There are also many in S ...

standing stone A menhir (; from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large upright rock (geology), stone, emplaced in the ground by humans, typically dating from the Eur ...

and

ring barrow A ring cairn (also correctly termed a ring bank enclosure, but sometimes wrongly described as a ring barrow) is a circular or slightly oval, ring-shaped, low (maximum 0.5 metres high) embankment, several metres wide and from 8 to 20 metres i ...

sites, form part of a complex traditionally associated with the sun goddess

Áine Áine () is an Irish goddess of summer, wealth, and sovereignty. She is associated with midsummer and the sun,MacKillop, James (1998) ''Dictionary of Celtic Mythology'' Oxford: Oxford University Press pp.10, 16, 128 and is sometimes represent ...

. A nearby

clapper bridge A clapper bridge is an ancient form of bridge found on the moors of the English West Country (Bodmin Moor, Dartmoor and Exmoor) and in other upland areas of the United Kingdom including Snowdonia and Anglesey, Cumbria, Derbyshire, Yorkshire, L ...

, known as ''Clochán Áine'', is also associated with Áine. Knockainy Castle is a 15th or 16th century

tower house A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, to command and defend strategic points ...

, associated by several sources with the O'Grady family, who were stewards to the

Earls of Desmond Earl of Desmond ( meaning Earl of South Munster) is a title of nobility created by the English monarch in the peerage of Ireland. The title has been created four times. It was first awarded in 1329 to Maurice FitzGerald, 1st Earl of Desmond, Maur ...

. The former

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...

church in Knockainy, dedicated to Saint John, was built in the 19th century on the site of a much earlier ecclesiastical enclosure. The building's

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell to ...

dates to the 17th century, and there is an O'Grady family plaque dating to the early 16th century. This church was deconsecrated in 1999 and is now used to host events. The local

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

church, a more modern building, is located to the south. It forms part of the parish of Knockaney and Patrickswell in the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly The Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly () is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church located in mid-western Ireland, and the metropolis of the eponymous ecclesiastical province. The cathedral church of the archdiocese is the Cathedral of the Assump ...

. The local national (primary) school, Knockainey National School or ''Scoil Náisiúnta Cnoc Áine'', had an enrollment of 181 pupils as of January 2024. The local

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sports, amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional Irish sports o ...

(GAA) club, Knockainey GAA, won the

Limerick Intermediate Hurling Championship The Limerick Intermediate Hurling Championship is an annual hurling competition organised by the Limerick County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association for the third tier hurling teams in County Limerick, Ireland. The series of games are play ...

in 2001.

References

External links

Ordnance Survey of Ireland - Letters - 094 - Parish of Knockainy (transcription via limerickcity.ie)
{{coord, 52.4737, -8.4682, region:IE_dim:10000, display=title Towns and villages in County Limerick Civil parishes of County Limerick