Kilcavan, County Wicklow
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Kilcavan is an area in south County Wicklow in Ireland, approximately 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) north-east of Carnew. The area, comprising the townlands of Kilcavan Lower and Kilcavan Upper, is located at the southern end of the Wicklow Mountains.
Name[edit]
The Irish language name of the area is Cill Choamháin,[1] referring to a church (cill) associated with a person named Caomhán. Early anglicised versions of this name include a reference, in the Calendar of Patent Rolls of James I (1608), to Killkavane.[1] Other references include Kilkevine (1636), Killcavan (c. 1660), and Kilkeavan (1667).[1] 19th century records, attributed to place-name archivist John O'Donovan, refer to Cill Caemhain or "St Cavan's church".[1]
History[edit]
Former church[edit]
Near the R748 road between Carnew and the Kilcavan Gap, in Kilcavan Upper, is the site of an ecclesiastical enclosure.[citation needed] This circular enclosure is marked as the site of Kilcavan Church on mid-19th century Ordnance Survey maps. Today there is very little left of the church except scattered granite stones and a "crude Latin cross (WI047-006003-)" which is incorporated in a field boundary to the south of the church site.[2]
Kilcavan Church was named after Saint Caomháin, who founded the monastery of Airdne Coemain, now Ardcavan, County Wexford, c. 548.[citation needed] Caomháin may be the same priest named Caeman of Dairinis in other sources, who Saint Finnian of Clonard, visited before he went to Aghowle.[citation needed]
Quarrying[edit]
From at least 1800 until the early 1940s, the slate quarries of Kilcavan provided a source of employment for local inhabitants.[citation needed] The extracted slate, which was "of a dark colour",[3] was mainly exported, but also used locally and elsewhere within Ireland.[citation needed]
In addition to slate and stone for building,[4] the quarries at Kilcavan also exported the component used as a base for the "Battleship Gray" paint used on warships.[5] The slate quarry closed in 1942.[5]
Land use[edit]
In the very early nineteenth century the area was in the control of Lord Fitzwilliam and was originally leased only to Protestants.[6][better source needed] This changed after 1808, and Catholics were given the chance to sub-lease land.[citation needed]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d "Cill Chaomháin Uachtarach / Kilcavan Upper". logainm.ie. Placenames Database of Ireland. Retrieved 19 May 2023.
- ^ Archaeological Inventory of County Wicklow, Dublin: Government Stationery Office, 1997,
WI047-006001- [Church] WI047-006002- [Ecclesiastical enclosure] WI047-006003- [Cross]
- ^ Kinahan, George Henry (1889). Economic Geology of Ireland. Williams. p. 352.
In the southern part of the county, a little north of Carnew, are the Kilcavan slate quarries [..] The slate is of a dark colour and fair quality
- ^ Lewis, Samuel (1837). "Carnew". A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland. Dublin.
At Kilcavan are quarries of building stone and slate, the latter of which is sent into the counties of Carlow and Wexford
- ^ a b "Carnew in Times Past". Wicklow People. 11 April 2002.
- ^ "Nineteenth Century, Kilcavan". kennytree.com. Archived from the original on 1 September 2010.