Churchtown is a translation of Baile an Teampuill, the former ecclesiastical name of the parish, and that in turn was in subsitiution for the older, non-ecclesiastical name of Brú Thuinne which probably means “The Royal House of the Pasture Lands”.
All three names are found together in an extract from the Patent Rolls of Henry VIII, quoted by Brady, vol. II, p.72: as
“1545, February 10 James Roche is presented to R[ectory] Ballintemple alias Broghenny alias Churchtown”.
Since 1591 the old Irish name was anglicised as Bruhenny, and has given rise to several speculations as to its origin. Brú or brúgh, a large house or palace, is certain, and for the second term, Thuinne, it is most likely the genitive of the common word Tonn meaning low-lying or pasture land.
In 1998 the Churchtown Development Association decided to use Brúgh Thuinne as the official Irish language name for Churchtown.
Main source:
Journal of the Ivernian Society,
Vol. VI – October 1913 to September 1914, Cork,
Guy and Company Ltd.
1916, p48
Journal of the Ivernian Society
Vol. VI – October 1913 to September 1914,
Cork, Guy and Company Ltd. 1916, p. 48
