In September 2025 our Monthly Morsel dealt with the placename Screggan / An Screagán ‘the rough, rocky, stony ground’ (logainm.ie #1166663), site of the National Ploughing Competition, and it was highlighted that that particular placename does not apparently refer to the quality of the land in that townland, but to a rocky outcrop situated just over the townland boundary in neighbouring Mucklagh / An Mhuclach ‘the place of pigs; piggery’ (logainm.ie #42264). In any case, neither of these placenames have anything to do with ploughs or ploughing, but there is indeed a number of Irish townland names in the country that refer either to plough-land, ploughing or specifically to the plough (or a part thereof), although, as usual, some of the placenames in question are not quite what they seem at first sight.

Should we begin in Co. Mayo, the underlying Irish form of Cornageaghta, namely Corr na gCéachta ‘the round hill of the ploughs’ (logainm.ie #36465), doubtless refers to the small round hill situated in that townland (see: Fiachra Mac Gabhann (2014), Logainmneacha Mhaigh Eo, vol. 10, p. 72). The subsoil here consists of sand and gravel as well as limestone till (epa.ie), the latter of which is no doubt quite amenable to the plough. The name of a further townland in County Mayo, namely Drumkeaghta, which is from Droim Céachta, may be a further reference to the plough, meaning ‘ridge of (the) plough’ (ibid. vol. 6, p. 202). Here there is a ridge located in the south-eastern corner of this townland where one also finds limestone till subsoil, which very much contrasts with the remainder of this townland that is dominated by cutover peat. However, Céacht is also attested as a relatively rare personal name (see dil.ie s.v. Cécht; see also Leabhar Mór na nGenealach, ed. Nollaig Ó Muraíle), in which case this townland name could also be interpreted as signifying ‘the ridge of Céacht (a personal name)’. This might be deemed unlikely given that the name Céacht seems not to have been popular in the post-Anglo-Norman invasion period, essentially for almost one thousand years, but, notably, it wouldn’t be the only placename containing the personal name Céacht. In the Co. Donegal Gaeltacht there is a minor toponym off the coast of Na Clocha Corra (logainm.ie #14530) on the island of Árainn Mhór (logainm.ie #14527), namely Carraig Mhic Céachta ‘the rock of the son of Céacht’ (logainm.ie #1395581), in which the personal name is utterly unambiguous (compare also the the mythological character Mac Céacht in early tales such as Togail Bruidne Da Derga). Returning to the plough (céachta), however, it is without doubt also found in the forerunner of Coolakay near Enniskerry in Co. Wicklow, namely Cúil an Chéachta ‘the recess, nook of the plough’ (logainm.ie #55110). Early historical anglicized forms of the name such as ‘Cowle-Keight’ (1603: CPR) together with some later forms such as ‘Coolekeaghta’ (1761: Powerscourt Papers) leave absolutely no doubt about the underlying Irish form of the name, but for whatever reason the anglicized name ultimately morphed to a most misleading Coolakay! In any case, most of the subsoil in this townland is sand and gravel, which is very likely the arable soil alluded to by the name of this townland, which itself is sandwiched between a large area of rock to the southeast and the Dargle River on the townland’s southern, western and north-western boundaries (see: epa.ie).

Céacht(a) is of course not the only word in Irish that refers to a plough or a portion thereof. In Co. Sligo we have Cloonaraher, which is from Cluain Arathair ‘meadow, pasture of ploughing, (the) plough’ (logainm.ie #45718). A second Cluain Arathair is mentioned in early Irish martyrologies, but its location is unknown (see DIAS Onomasticon). In any case, both of these placenames contain the relatively rare word arathar ‘ploughing equipment, plough; ploughing’ (FGB s.v. arathar), which is uncommon in placenames, but is also found in another defunct historical placename, Druim Arathair ‘ridge of (the) ploughing, plough’ (see DIAS Onomasticon), the location of which is also unknown. In the case of Cloonaraher in Co. Sligo, we find a portion of sandstone till type subsoil, a soil type very much suited to ploughing, in contrast to the surrounding cutover peat soil (see: epa.ie).

Another word connected with ploughing that found much more frequently than those mentioned above is seisreach, which can refer to a ‘plough-team’, ‘plough’ (see FGB s.v. seisreach) or ‘plough-land (as much land as a six-horse plough could plough in a year)’ (see dil.ie s.v. seisrech). Notably, examples of this word in placenames are very much confined to the province of Munster (see map below). Moreover, it is particularly noteworthy that seisreach ‘ploughland’ undoubtedly occurs as the generic element overwhelmingly in Co. Tipperary. Thus, we have Sheseraghkeale / An tSeisreach Chaol ‘the narrow ploughland’ (logainm.ie #46740); Shesheraghmore / An tSeisreach Mhór ‘the big ploughland’ (logainm.ie #45859); Shesharoe / An tSeisreach Rua ‘the red ploughland’ (logainm.ie #46363); and Shesheraghscanlan / Seisreach Scanláin ‘the ploughland of Scanlán (a personal name)’ (logainm.ie #45949).

(Distribution of seisreach “plough-team; plough; plough-land” in townland names.)

Remaining in Co. Tipperary, seisreach occurs as a qualifier in Rathsasseragh / Ráth na Seisreach ‘the ring-fort of the ploughlands’ (logainm.ie #49035) which lies on the edge of Tipperary town. As it happens no ring-fort is recorded here, but the name may refer to one of the enclosures just over the townland boundary in Corrogemore / Corróg Mhór (logainm.ie #49033). A number of townlands in the county also derive their name from An Leathsheisreach “the half-ploughland” (logainm.ie #46002; # 46582; #46812) which was generally anglicised Lahesseragh in the county, but in one instance it was replaced by Landsdown (logainm.ie #46357), a name that refers to the big house at that location. Interestingly, the English name Middleplough (logainm.ie #46530) is also quite well attested as a townland name in Tipperary, and it is, at first sight, unclear whether it is a translation of an original Irish name or an English creation. However, there is evidence that the likes of An Leathsheisreach Chrua “the hard half-ploughland” were translated as ‘Hardplow orse Leisreaghcrua’ (CPR, p. 303), or similar, in which case the presumption that Middleplough is a likely translation of An tSeisreach Láir is wholly unproblematic. Indeed, placenames such as Middleplough don’t appear to be a feature of English toponomy, in which case we can be reasonably confident that it is indeed a translation from Irish in this instance.

Elsewhere, Lahesheragh North & South (logainm.ie #24233; #24234) in Co. Kerry are also undoubtedly from An Leathsheisreach “the half-ploughland”. Seisreach ‘plough, plough-team; ploughland”’ or leathsheisreach ‘half-ploughland’ is also reasonably common as a qualifier in Co. Tipperary placenames (we have already noted Rathsasseragh / Ráth na Seisreach), as in the case of Fearann na Leathsheisrí ‘the land of the half-ploughland’, the forerunner to both Farranlahassery (logainm.ie #48114) near Cahir, and Farran (logainm.ie #48790) near Emly, but they are by no means all confined to Co. Tipperary. Thus, Farranalahesery (loganm.ie #49769) in Co. Waterford is also from Fearann na Leathsheisrí ‘the land of the half-ploughland’, as are Farranlaheshery East and West (logainm.ie #10002; #10166) in Co. Cork, while Ballynalahessery / Baile na Leathsheisrí ‘the town(land) of the half-ploughland’ (logainm.ie #49377; #49376) is also located in Co. Waterford. The English name of Currymount (logainm.ie #11728) near Buttevant in north Cork is from the Big House located there, but its original Irish name was Currach na Leathsheisrí ‘the marsh of the half-ploughland’ (‘Currymount [otherwise] Curraghnalahesery’ CGn. 345.594.235308). In this instance Curry is probably derived from the initial element, but -mount was most likely generated by the erstwhile fashion that caused it to be found in numerous names of big houses throughout the country. To cap off our examples of seisreach as a qualifier in placenames we also have Farrannasheshery / Fearann na Seisrí ‘the land of the plough(land)’ (logainm.ie #8120) in Co. Cork, while two wells named Tobernashesree / Tobar na Seisrí ‘the well of the ploughland’ (logainm.ie #1415346; #1415466) are located in Co. Limerick.

There are no doubt other examples of elements referring to ploughing and the plough or parts thereof in further townland names around the country, take for example coltar (gen. sg. coltair; var. coiltir; cf. dil.ie s.v. coltar) as in Slievecoiltia / Sliabh Coiltir ‘mountain of (the) coltar’ (logainm.ie #53617) in Co. Wexford; or soc ‘a snout; a ploughshare’ as in Tiratick / Tír an tSoic ‘the land of the snout, or ploughshare’ (logainm.ie #45002) in Co. Sligo, but in any case the examples given in this month’s Monthly Morsel suffice to show that references to the plough, ploughing and ploughland are not at all rare in Irish townland names. Indeed, for information on ploughing in the Gaelic Irish tradition one can recommend no better book that Fergus Kelly’s Early Irish Farming, where one can find a host of valuable information on the matter in early Ireland. We can therefore celebrate this month’s National Ploughing Championship in full knowledge that ‘The Ploughing’ continues a practice found in the earliest records of Irish agricultural practice from well over one thousands years ago.

(Conchubhar Ó Crualaoich & Justin Ó Gliasáin)

It is at this time of year (and it is salient to note that the Irish name of September means “middle of the harvest season”) that many turn their attention to the abundance of blackberries which the Irish countryside will bestow over the next two months. All you need to benefit from this bounty is a bucket and the time to spare — and also to be prepared to be endlessly ‘scrawbed’ (Wexford English for “scratched”) by thorns.
One of the few townland names that refers to the sméar “(black)berry” in its original Irish form is Mullaunnasmear/Mullán na Sméar (logainm.ie #52671) near Bunclody in County Wexford, which might at first sight be translated as “the hillock of the blackberries”. However, as we know that the word mullán appears to have developed the further meaning of “green field, lea-field” in placenames of the Southeast, Mullán na Sméar is in this instance probably better translated as “the green field, lea-field of the (black)berries” (see Logainmneacha na hÉireann IV: Townland Names of Co. Wexford, p. 1355). In Munster we have Aghsmear/Áth na Sméar “the ford of the (black)berries” (logainm.ie #46828) and Cappanasmear/Ceapach na Sméar “the plot of the (black)berries” (logainm.ie #46104) in County Tipperary; and Coolnasmear/Cúil na Sméar “the corner, recess of the (black)berries” (logainm.ie #49308; #49309; #49310) in County Waterford.
For fear that anyone might think that blackberries are associated with the south of the country, we must also mention Creenasmear/Críoch na Sméar “the territory of the (black)berries” (logainm.ie #14331) in County Donegal. And we find that in 1834, local Irish speakers called Tullyrossmearan in County Fermanagh ‘Tulaigh Ras Smeurthan’, explained as “hill of the shrubbery of the blackberries” — leading the Placenames Commission to recommend the official Irish form Tulaigh Ros Sméarann “mound, hillock of the wood (or elevated ground) of (the) (black)berries” (logainm.ie #130663) in Ainmneacha Gaeilge na mBailte Poist (1969), after having submitted the name for public consultation on the provisional list of 1962. Although the standard plural of sméar nowadays is sméara, gen. pl. sméar, note that an alternate form ‘smeranna drisi’ is found in a 15th century manuscript, showing inflexion as an n-stem noun — this would produce gen. pl. sméarann as found in the placename (eDIL s.v. 1 smér). (A variant of smér in Old Irish was mér, and that was regularly inflected as an n-stem (eDIL s.v. 2 mér).) It has been suggested that the final element is actually the Irish personal name Méarán (see placenamesni.org). However, the local pronunciation /ˈtoliːrɑ ˈsmeːrən/ seems more in keeping with both the official form Tulaigh Ros Sméarann recommended in 1969 and the local form recorded in 1834.
P.W. Joyce draws our attention to another Ulster example, Drumnasmear (logainm.ie #62416) in County Antrim, which is from Droim na Sméar “the ridge of the (black)berries” (in which we see the more usual genitive plural form sméar), as suggested on placenamesni.org (placenamesni.org). But Joyce appears to be mistaken in explaining the placename Smear/Sméar (logainm.ie #32836) in County Longford as ‘signifying a place producing blackberries’ (The Origin and History of Irish Names of Places, vol. II, p. 325). Simplex names of this type, simply stating ‘blackberry, apple, or sloe’ — unlike the names of certain trees and shrubs — are not typical of townland names in Irish, so this is hardly correct. Some doubt therefore remains as to the true meaning of Smear/Sméar.
Even though, as research stands, there seem to be few other townland names that refer to the sméar “blackberry”, there is no doubt that the blackberry was an important part of the diet of the Gaelic Irish, as were many of our other wild fruits and berries (see Fergus Kelly, Early Irish Farming, p. 306). Indeed, as it is likely that they were cultivated to a degree, due to their importance in the early Irish diet, perhaps ‘wild’ is not entirely the correct word to use. This ‘cultivation’ may well only have extended to leaving briars thrive in certain areas, but nevertheless reference to the plant on which the blackberry grows dris “briar” — and to its myriad derivatives — are extremely common throughout the country, as we will see in next week’s contribution.

(Conchubhar Ó Crualaoich & Aindí Mac Giolla Chomhghaill)