Fiontar & Scoil na Gaeilge in DCU will hold an interesting workshop on Thursday July 23, entitled ‘Placenames and Ecology in the European Context’, to coincide with Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union from July 1 to December 31, 2026. Discussion will include placenames referring to extinct or altered ecosystems – woodlands, bogs, etc; the role of language and placename heritage in the light of climate change; evidence in placenames for climate change or changes in usage; evidence for historical distribution of animals and plants; references to soil formations / geology and use of this evidence in contemporary contexts, such as ecology education, species restoration, rewilding, flood protection and rewetting, etc.

In regard to the final two themes mentioned above, i.e. ‘flood protection’ and ‘rewetting’, placenames doubtless often provide us with a lead as to an area’s suitability for rewetting or its inclination to flood. This is true throughout Europe, particularly where the same language has been spoken over many centuries, i.e. older placenames can often straightforwardly reflect topography prior to eighteenth-, nineteenth-, and even twentieth-century drainage. Thus, most speakers of southern German dialects will readily understand why places such as Murnau, Landau and Mainau often feature in news reports as having suffered floods during times of heavy rain ─ the final element in those placenames, namely Au, signifies a “floodplain” and “meadow” in southern dialects. Floodplains, despite their inherent fertility, are often problematic for tillage due to their tendency to be overwhelmed during heavy rains, whence their frequent sole use as meadows or pasture in the early period. Only last August (2025) Reichenau in Lake Constance, the probable location for the composition of the famous 9th-century Irish poem Mise agus Pangur Bán, suffered considerable flooding after extensive rain (see: thw.de BW). This should not be unexpected given the meaning of that placename (‘Richen Owe’ 1270; see: Reichenau: Ortslexicon), i.e. “(the) noble (rich) flood plain”. Similarly, English speakers should not be surprised to hear of flooding in Titchmarsh in England in January 2024, given that marsh is still used and understood as an area of wetland in that language (see: Titchmarsh flooding). Thus, for planners in primarily Anglophone countries it is patently obvious that one should take great care in assessing applications for development in areas that contain marsh in their name. It is for that reason that one should not be surprised to hear of severe flooding in housing estates at Marshes Lower (logainm.ie #33954) and Marsh South (logainm.ie #33953) in Dundalk in 2026 (see: dundalkleader.com). In fact most of the buildings in these particular townlands appear to be built on marine deposits, either estuarine sediments or marine sands and gravels (see: EPAMaps). Notably, the local Irish name ‘méirsi’ [méirsí], doubtless borrowed from Middle English mersche “marsh” (see: A Concise Dictionary of Middle English), as found in a reference to neighbouring Marsh North / An Méirse Thuaidh (see logainm.ie #33952), was explained in 1836 by John O’Donovan as ‘méirsi, a name given to pasture land on which the tide comes in’ (Ordnance Survey Parish Name Book). Subsequent events have proved O’Donovan’s explanation of the name only too accurate.

As we know, however, languages change over time. Even in countries such as England, where a relatively stable linguistic situation has prevailed over the last thousand years (excluding Cornwall, of course), many of the words in placenames referring to wetlands and flood plains are no longer understood in the vernacular. Therefore the meaning of the placenames in which they occur can often only be elucidated through research. Moreover, in countries where there has been a major language shift in more recent times the information provided by placenames can be even more difficult to obtain. This is true, not only in many European countries where there were huge population movements with resultant language shifts, particularly after WWII, but in particular in all countries with indigenous Celtic languages, where there has been an almost total replacement of these languages by English – or, in the case of Brittany, French – in the last two centuries. It is for that reason that the majority of townland names (c. 60,000) in Ireland are utterly meaningless in their English form, as most are, in fact, no more than anglicized phonetic approximations of Irish placenames. For example, Clonderalaw (logainm.ie #6909) in County Clare is utterly meaningless in its anglicized form, but the underlying Irish name, Cluain idir Dhá Lá, brings its meaning to full light, i.e. “the pasture, (wet) meadow between two marshes” (lá < Middle Irish loth (var. lath), see dil.ie s.v. loth “mud, mire: quagmire, marsh”). The marshes in question, no doubt, are the two areas of marine sediment that bound this townland east and west. Notably, these are marked as Liable to Floods on the Ordnance Survey (OS) 6ʺ map (first edition). This same pattern, in which the meaning of a townland name only comes to light through determination of the underlying Irish name is repeated tens of thousands of times in Ireland.

The situation outlined above clearly demonstrates a necessity for the study of townland and other placenames of Irish origin, not only in a broader historical, genealogical, cultural and linguistic context, but also in an ecological context. The last theme is particularly relevant given that Ireland’s traditional pattern of dispersed settlement has resulted in the names of an extraordinary number of townlands (Ireland’s smallest administrative unit) referring, not specifically to human settlements (villages, towns) as would be the case in much of Europe, but to topographic features within the townland itself.
Significantly, many of these feature references to wetlands of different types, e.g.

• boglach / bogach ‘a place abounding in soft boggy ground’; bogán ‘soft ground’
• caochán ‘marsh rill; boghole’; caorán ‘moor’; caoth ‘boghole, swamp-hole’; corcach ‘marsh’;  criathrach ‘(pitted) bog’; curchas ‘reedy marsh; riverside meadow’; currach ‘wet bog, marsh’
• eanach ‘marsh, swamp, fen’
• feadán ‘watercourse; gully’; féith ‘swamp, marsh’’
• gaoth ‘stream; estuary’; gaothlach ‘marsh, swamp’; greallach ‘mire, puddly ground’
• inis (var. inse) ‘island; holm, water-meadow’
• lá ‘quagmire, marsh’; léana ‘low-lying grassy place, water-meadow’; loch ‘lake, sea-inlet’; luachair ‘rushes; rushland, rushy place’
• móin ‘peat bog, bogland (not always peat bog)’; moing ‘over-grown swamp, mossy fen’; mongán ‘overgrown swamp, overgrown stream’
• portach ‘peat-bog (literally: ‘place of embankments’)’
• riasc ‘marsh, bogland, moor’
• seascann ‘sedgy bog, marsh’; slapa (slaba) ‘slob, mud, ooze’; slaprach ‘wet, soggy, land’
• tonnach ‘quaking bog, quagmire’; and turlach ‘winter lake; mere; marsh’

Moreover, some of these terms are exceedingly common in Irish townland names, e.g. móin ‘peat bog; bogland (not always peat bog)’, even in what might now be considered prime agricultural areas where the placename elements in question must reflect an earlier landscape prior to widespread drainage and land ‘improvements’; they are fossils of times past. Additionally, we also have a number of placename elements that are not understood to refer directly to wet land in Irish, but there is an indirect implication of wet land in their use. For example, imleach (see dil.ie s.v. imlech) , a reasonably common element in placenames, doesn’t itself refer to wetland but to ‘land bordering on a lake or marsh’. Similarly, the exceedingly common element buaile ‘boley, seasonal pasture; milking-place in summer pasturage; yard, enclosure’ (see dil.ie s.v. búaile; FGB s.v. buaile), does not in itself mean ‘wet land’ but the meaning ‘seasonal pasture’ clearly implies land only suitable for cattle (husbandry) at certain times of year. The nature of boolying was the movement of cattle onto land near one’s home when it became suitable – that is to say, dry enough – for grazing. Thus, we can see why placenames such as Ballinaboola / Baile na Buaile ‘the town(land) of the boley, summer pasture’ (logainm.ie #53514) in Co. Wexford and Ballynaboola / Baile na Buaile (logainm.ie #50334) in Co. Waterford might have received their names: both of these townlands are, to this very day, prone to extreme and long-lasting floods, and the reason can be seen clearly by reference to soil maps. Ballinaboola / Baile na Buaile in Co. Wexford, between New Ross and Wexford town, contains large areas of alluvial soil (i.e. flood-plain) as well as an area of lacustrine soil (i.e. a lake-bed) south of the N25 road, exactly where flood waters can remain for months after heavy rains, as occurred during the winter/spring of 2025/2026. It is clear that such land would only support grazing after an extended dry period.

(Subsoil map at Ballinaboola, County Wexford. Lacustrine soil marked with +: https://gis.epa.ie/EPAMaps/)

In the case of Ballynabola / Baile na Buaile in Co. Waterford, between Waterford city and Passage East, no lacustrine (lake-bed) soil is recorded, but there is a large area of alluvial soil (flood-plain), and this is found exactly where inundations occur on a yearly basis to this very day. It is of course true that many of the townlands containing buaile in their name may only feature small areas that are liable to flooding or remaining wet over long periods of time, but examples such as these clearly demonstrate that these townlands deserve extra attention when it comes to planning applications.

(Subsoil map of Ballynabola, County Waterford. Alluvial soil marked with +: https://gis.epa.ie/EPAMaps/)

An even more common element in Irish placenames that may often indirectly refer to wet land or land prone to flooding is cluain. This element features in over 1,500 townland names, and while it is generally translated as ‘pasture, meadow; glade’, Julius Pokorny traces the word back to Indo-European *klop-ni- (Indogermanisches etymologisches Woerterbuch, p.603), from the root *klep- meaning ‘feucht’, i.e., ‘damp’. Dr Pádraig Ó Cearbhaill, former Chief Placenames Officer at An Brainse Logainmneacha / the Placenames Branch, noted that the majority of townlands with cluain in their name in Co. Tipperary lie next to rivers and streams, while over half contain peat bog or wet land, and many others are situated next to bogs (see Logainmneacha na hÉireann III: Cluain i logainmneacha Co. Thiobraid Árann, pp. 17–19). In fact, only a tiny handful reflect none of these features (ibid.), which itself indicates that the word cluain may have over time developed the meaning of ‘meadow’ as secondary to an original ‘wet meadow’. Others have described cluain as a name ‘associated with those parts of Ireland where patches of dry ground alternate with bogs’, or meaning ‘a fertile clearing surrounded by an expanse of bog’ or ‘a fertile piece of land, or a green arable spot, surrounded or nearly surrounded by bog or marsh on one side, and water on the other’ (see ibid., 17). In any case, given the very fact that cluain is generally found next to a watercourse or bogland it should come as no surprise that many areas so named are liable to floods. Thus we see that two separate parts of the abovementioned Clonerdalaw / Cluain idir Dhá Lá ‘(the) pasture, (wet) meadow between two marshes’ in Co. Clare are marked Liable to Floods on the OS 6ʺ map. Similarly, a large portion of famous Clonmacnoise / Cluain Mhic Nóis (< Cluain Maccu Nóis ‘(the) pasture, (wet) meadow of (the tribe, kindred of Maccu Nóis’) in Co. Offaly is also marked as ‘Liable to Floods’ in winter months on the OS 25ʺ map. The town of Clonmel / Cluain Meala ‘(the) pasture (wet) meadow, of honey’ (logainm.ie # 67189) in Co. Tipperary is, of course, well-known for flooding events, but it is particularly notable that the likewise-named Clonmel / Cluain Meala (logainm.ie #41657) in Co. Offaly also lies next to a large area of land marked as Liable to Floods on the OS 25ʺ map, in neighbouring Ballygarrett / Baile Ghearóid ‘the town(land) of Gearóid’ (logainm.ie #41648). Another neighbouring townland, Clonbolloge / Cluain Bolg ‘(the) pasture, (wet) meadow of the Boilg; (the) pasture, (wet) meadow of gaps, of bumps’, not only bounds on the same area marked as liable to flooding, but a review of soil maps (see: EPAMaps) demonstrates that this area consists of alluvial soil (flood-plain) which extends into both Clonmel and Clonbulloge townlands (see below).

(Subsoil map of Clonmel, Ballygarrett and Clonbolloge, County Offaly Alluvial soil marked with +: https://gis.epa.ie/EPAMaps/)

Ominously, a housing estate, Figile Manor, has recently been built on this floodplain (c. 2005), but it is at least reassuring that the risk of flooding here has evidently been recognized, and according to a recent risk assessment flooding may be largely restricted to green areas of the estate (Strategic Flood Risk Assessment: Co. Offaly); time will tell! Be that as it may, neither the placenames Cluain Bolg or Cluain Meala, nor the location of Figile Manor, appear to have raised any red flag for planners just over 20 years ago, which resulted in the regrettable situation that most of this estate is built on a flood plain which, unfortunately for its residents, is almost guaranteed to flood to some extent in the future. Notably, a brief internet search turned up scores of reports of flooding events in townlands where a number of the placename elements mentioned above are found, indicating that planners may be missing a trick by not systematically using such placename elements in their deliberations on the suitability of certain sites for development. Take for example:

• Annagh / An tEanach “the marsh” (Co. Mayo) 2021 ‘Flooding at Annagh, Castlebar’ (The Connaught Telegraph)
• Ballyboggan / Baile Bogáin “town(land) of (the) boggy ground” (Co. Dublin)
• 2025 ‘A number of three recent past flood events occurred within or around the Masterplan boundary’ (Baile Bogáin Masterplan Strategic Flood Risk Assessment)
• Cork / Corcaigh “marsh” (Co. Cork)
• 2026 ‘There were some 292 floods reported over the period 1841-1988’ (AI)
• Corkagh / Corcach “marsh” (Co. Dublin)
• (2020) Council Minutes: ‘To ask the Chief Executive if the cause of the flooding that occurred near the Duck Ponds in Corkagh Park two weeks ago not dissipating quickly has been established and might same happen again?’ (Meetings: Southdublin.ie)
• Clonlara / Cluain Lára “(the) pasture, (wet) meadow of (the) mare” (Co. Clare)
• (2020) ‘Residents of Springfield, Clonlara … were moved from their homes and around 7,000 sandbags and pumping stations were delivered to ten houses in the village.’ (Irish Times)
• Curragh / An Currach “the wet bog, marsh” (Co. Kildare)
• (2018) ‘Roads through parts of the Curragh are also under water. ’ (kildarenow.com)
• Grallagh / An Ghreallach “the mire; puddly ground” (Co. Wexford)
• (2015) ‘Beef farmer … who lives in Grallagh, Co Wexford, said: ‘The farm and the roads around it are completely flooded.’ (Irish Farmers Journal)
• Seskin / An Seisceann ‘the sedgy bog, marsh, swamp’ (Co. Kilkenny)
• (2012) ‘Money for flood relief … at the Seskin Bridge in Lisdowney is included in the latest round of funding ...’ (kilkennypeople.ie)
• Turlough / An Turlach “the winter lake” (Co. Mayo)
• ‘The extensive, recurring groundwater floods that originate at turloughs also represent the primary form of groundwater flooding found in Ireland (Journal of Hydrology, November, 2012; see sciencedirect.com)

It seems, then, that the correlation between placenames containing elements of the type mentioned above and flooding events should make such Irish placename elements an exceedingly useful tool for planners and developers alike.
(To be continued next month.)

(Conchubhar Ó Crualaoich & Justin Ó Gliasáin)

Last week’s contribution concerning the theme of wells, springs and fountains in Irish placenames focused of the element tobar ‘well, fountain, spring, source’ and its occurrence in placenames that sometimes reflect the reputed curative properties of their waters, all the while barely mentioning other terms that can also refer to a ‘well’, ‘spring’ or ‘fountain’ such as tiobra, or its more commonly occurring variant tiobraid (a fossilised oblique form of tiobra) as in Tipperary / Tiobraid Árann ‘the well, spring, fountain, source of (at the) Ára (possibly an old name of the river flowing through Tipperary town (see Onomasticon DIAS s.n. ára))’, and fuarán as in Carrownaworan / Ceathrú na bhFuarán ‘the quarter (land) of the springs, fountains’ (logainm.ie #45715) in Co. Sligo.

While tiobra / tiobraid ‘well, spring, fountain, source’ cannot be considered at all rare in townland names, it is particularly noticeable that it rarely occurs in conjunction with a personal name, as is the case in Tibberaghny / Tiobra Fhachna ‘the well of Fachna (< Mid.Ir. Fachtna)’ (logainm.ie #26492) in Co. Kilkenny. This contrasts greatly with placenames containing tobar ‘well, fountain, spring, source’ of which there are many more examples with personal names, as in Toberphelim / Tobar Féilim ‘Féilim’s well’ (logainm.ie #32934) in Co. Longford; Toberjarleth / Tobar Iarlatha ‘Iarlaith’s well’ (logainm.ie # 21995) in Co. Galway and Toberrory / Tobar Ruairí ‘Ruairí’s well’ (logainm.ie #43913) in Co. Roscommon. Not to mention the ubiquity of townlands and wells called Toberbride / Tobar Bhríde (sometimes also Tobar Bríde, i.e. with a fossilised form of gen. Bríde without initial lenition) ‘St. Brigid’s well’ or Toberpatrick / Tobar Phádraig (sometimes also Tobar Pádraig) ‘St. Patrick’s well’. This implies that tobar was far more commonly used than tiobra / tiobraid, but it is worth noting that tiobraid was not at all uncommon as a qualifier, as seen in placenames such as Aughatubbrid or Chatsworth/ Achadh Tiobraide “field of (the) well, spring, fountain, source” (logainm.ie #26541) in Co. Kilkenny; Baile na Tiobraide ‘the town(land) of the well, spring’ is the forerunner to Ballintubbert (logainm.ie #28120) and Springhill (earlier ‘Balletibred’) (logainm.ie #28860) in Co. Laois, as well as Ballintubbrid (logainm.ie #31887) in Co. Limerick. We also have Kiltubbrid / Cill Tiobraide ‘church of (the) spring, fountain’ (logainm.ie #40330; #40825) in Co. Monaghan; Clontubbrid / Cluain Tiobraide ‘meadow, pasture of (the) spring, fountain’ in Cos. Mayo (logainm.ie #36824) and Kilkenny (logainm.ie #27473); Ballintubbrid / Baile na dTiobrad ‘the town(land) of the springs, fountains’ (logainm.ie #52227) in Co. Wexford; Lisnatubbrid / Lios na dTiobrad ‘the ringfort of the springs, fountains’ (logainm.ie #48375) in Co. Tipperary; Kiltubbrid/Cill Tiobrad ‘church of springs, fountains’ (logainm.ie #29335) in Co. Leitrim; while Cluain Tiobrad ‘meadow, pasture of springs, fountains’ is the forerunner to Clontibret (logainm.ie #1979) in Co. Monaghan, Cloontubbrid (logainm.ie #30033) in Co. Leitrim and Cloontubbrid in Cos. Mayo (logainm.ie #35972) and Kerry (logainm.ie #23901). The frequency of tiobraid in combination with cluain ‘meadow, pasture’ is particularly striking, and although the specific reason for this is unclear, it may be connected to the fact that while cluain is generally explained as meaning a “meadow, pasture” or similar (see FGB, Dinneen cluain; DIL clúain), Julius Pokorny (Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, I 1959 p. 603) traces the word back to Indo-European *klop-ni-, from the root *klep- meaning ‘feucht’ “damp” (cf. Pádraig Ó Cearbhaill, Logainmneacha na hÉireann III: Cluain i Logainmneacha Co. Thiobraid Árann, p. 19). This suggests that cluain originally referred to ‘wet’ pasture, and this was often likely caused by the present of springs therein, although a riverside location appears to be the most common feature of placenames with cluain.

Unlike either tobar or tiobraid, which commonly feature in the beginning of placenames (as the generic) and also as a qualifier as seen above, the word fuarán (< Old Irish úarán ‘spring, ‘a well spring or fountain’’) or any variant thereof, appears to occur as the generic element in initial position of placenames in barely any modern townland name. This observation might lead one to suggest that fuarán wasn’t particularly productive as a word in spoken Irish, but it does, in fact, occur relatively frequently as a qualifier in townland names, which largely undermines any presumption that it wasn’t commonly used in Irish. For example, we have Carrownaworan / Ceathrú na bhFuarán “the quarter (land measure) of the springs” (logainm.ie #45715) in Co. Sligo; Aghanoran / Achadh an Fhuaráin ‘the field of the spring’ (logainm.ie #33002) in Co. Longford; Carrickanoran / Carraig an Fhuaráin ‘the rock of the spring’ in Cos. Kilkenny (logainm.ie #27169) and Monaghan (logainm.ie #40895); Knockanoran / Cnoc an Fhuaráin ‘the hill of the spring’ in Cos. Wexford (logainm.ie #54079), Laois (logainm.ie # 27962) and Cork (logainm.ie #8924); along with Coolanoran / Cúil an Fhuaráin ‘the recess of the spring’ (logainm.ie #32158) in Co. Limerick. Additionally, Baile an Fhuaráin ‘the town(land) of the spring’ is the forerunner to Ballynoran, as found in Cos. Tipperary (logainm.ie #47427) and Cork (logainm.ie #12063), as well as Ballinoran (logainm.ie #31077) in Co. Limerick. In regard to the etymology of fuarán which goes back to Old Irish úarán (dil.ie s.v.), it is generally understood by linguists to be connected to the forerunner of Old Irish úar ‘cold’ (see J. Vendryes, Lexique Étymologique de l’Irlandais Ancien; T U, 1978), and this is clearly how it was understood when the placename An Fuarán ‘the spring, ‘a spring well or fountain’’ was translated as ‘Coldewelle’ [Coldwells] in Co. Kildare as early as 1243 (see logainm.ie #25820).

A further derivate of Old Irish úarán ‘spring, ‘a spring well or fountain’ is the variant órán (Ó Dónaill s.v. órán), as found in a small number of placenames in Connaught, where one finds, for example, Oranbeg / Órán Beag ‘spring, small’ (logainm.ie #18799), and the very well-known neighbouring Oranmore / Órán Mór ‘spring, big’ (logainm.ie #18476) in Co. Galway. Notably, while Oranmore / Órán Mór is attested as ‘Uarán Mór’ in written sources, spoken Irish forms of the name recorded in the 1960s clearly reflect an initial long Ó /oː/ as in /oːrɑːn moːr/, a fact to which recognition was given in the official Irish form of the names, Órán Mór and Órán Beag.

As a qualifier we also find órán ‘spring, fountain’ in a handful of townlands in Co. Galway such as Barnanoraun / Barr na nÓrán ‘the (hill-)top of the springs” (logainm.ie #18055). A number of streams are depicted as having their source in this townland on the Ordnance Survey 6″ map — it is, then, certainly true to its name. Two further townlands that contain this element in Co. Galway are Lisheenanoran / Lisín an Óráin ‘the (small) ringfort of the spring’ (logainm.ie #18424) near Corrandulla, and Oranhill / Cnoc Óráin ‘hill of (the) spring’ (logainm.ie #18615) next to Oranmore. It is also possible that órán, when found as the final element in a number of other placenames refers to a ‘spring’, but sometimes this may also be a reflex of the homophonous personal name Órán (< Early Mod. Ir. Odhrán), e.g. Cloonoran / Cluain Óráin ‘meadow, pasture of (the) spring; or Órán’s meadow, pasture’ (logainm.ie #20540) in Co. Galway (see also Castlebellew / Cluain Óráin Íochtarach (logainm.ie #20538) and Cloonoranoughter / Cluain Óráin Uachtarach (logainm.ie #20527); along with two townlands called Gorteenoran (logainm.ie #30371) and Georgia or Gorteenoran (logainm.ie #30390) in Co. Leitrim, which are both from an original Goirtín Óráin ‘(small) field of (the) spring; or ‘Órán’s (small) field’.

In the case of Oran / Órán (logainm.ie # 2114) in Co. Roscommon there can be no doubt about its origin as it is attested a number of times in Irish literary sources, both in the simplex form of ‘Uarán’, and with qualifiers as in ‘Fuaran Mhoighe h-Oi’ ‘Órán of Maigh nAí’ (Maigh nAí is a defunct territorial name) and ‘Uarán nGaraidh’ (et var.) which retain the more conservative spellings (f)uarán ‘spring, fountain’. Anglicised ‘Oraneclabby’ recorded circa 1660 reflects another longer version of this placenames namely Órán Uí Chlabaigh ‘Órán of Ó Clabaigh’ (< Uarán), and this association with the surname Ó Clabaigh is no accident or once-off. In 1558 ‘Giolla Colaim O Clapaicch [Giolla Cholaim Ó Clabaigh]’ was described as the successor of St. Patrick at Oran (ARE V, p. 1542), and 100 years earlier in 1454 ‘Cornelius Oclabaid [Conchúr? Ó Clabaigh]’ was recorded as ‘perpetual vicar’ of this parish, i.e. ‘St. Patrick’s de Fuaian [Fuaran]’ (Calendar of Papal Registers X, pp. 704-714). Ó Clabaigh was accused by ‘Maurice Oclabaid [Muiris? Ó Clabaigh]’of having made a ‘simoniacal agreement’ to divide the ecclesiastical income of Oran with ‘Matthew Oclabaid [Matha Ó Clabaigh] who has also formerly claimed a right to that vicarage’. We have, then, three Ó Clabaighs involved in the dispute concerning the fruits of this parish, which is actually no coincidence. This family’s association with the ecclesiastical foundation at Oran was so profound that P. W. Woulfe specifically referred to the Ó Clabaighs function as ‘erenaghs [airchinnigh ‘stewards’] of the church founded by St. Patrick’s at Oran’ (Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall). In this regard it is important to note that clerical families in the Gaelic Irish church, as in this instance, were not as we would imagine in today’s world — in fact the office of parish vicar or comharba ‘successor (of the founder)’ frequently passed from father to son (both being priests). Indeed, in this instance it is possible that both ‘Matthew’ and ‘Cornelius’ were father and son. There certainly seems to be more than initially meets the eye in the history of the placename Oran and it’s Irish precursors!

(Conchubhar Ó Crualaoich & Aindí Mac Giolla Chomhghaill)