Date: 15/03/2025

It may surprise readers that our discussion on Welsh family names in Ireland includes the very French-looking surname Roche. The following is an extract from the entry on Roche (var. Roach, Roache) in The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names of Ireland (2021) (edd. Kay Muhr and Liam Ó hAisibéil):

Locative name from Old French or Middle English Roche ‘rock, cliff, promontory’. The surname may have denoted someone who lived on or by a prominent rock or rocky place or someone who lived in or came from a place so named such as one of those called Roque or Roche(s) in Normandy and neighbouring regions or Roche in Cornwall, Roach Farm in Clyst Hydon (Devon) or Roch in Pembrokeshire. The derived Anglo-Norman family name flourished in Pembrokeshire and was brought > to Ireland (particularly Munster and Wexford) from Wales in the twelfth century…

It is the last sentence, of course, that gives away our reason for including Roche as a Welsh surname associated with the Anglo-Norman invasion. (Note that whether or not the Roches of Pembrokeshire were actually Welsh-speakers is a moot point.) Edward MacLysaght was not entirely correct in stating that “although Roche is not an indigenous Gaelic Irish surname it can nevertheless be regarded as exclusively Irish to-day, being found in England only in Irish and more rarely French emigrant families” (Irish Families, p.144; 4th edition) – later research has uncovered many English examples of the surname from the medieval period (see The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland s.n. Roche) – but it is certainly true that this introduced surname thrived in Ireland like almost no other. As MacLysaght goes on to point out, “Rochestown occurs six times in Co. Wexford, twice each in Counties Cork and Kilkenny and once each in Counties Limerick, Tipperary, Kildare, Meath, Westmeath and Dublin”. These are only some of the townland names containing the surname Roche, as we will see presently.

First, we should point out that the historical evidence for many of the townlands now called Rochestown in English shows that they were gaelicized as Baile an Róistigh ‘the town(land) of An Róisteach (person surnamed de Róiste (< AN Roche))’ when Irish became the dominant language throughout the colony during the medieval period. For instance, Rochestown (logainm.ie #9430) near Douglas, Co. Cork, is ‘Rochestoun’ (1385) in its earliest attestation and then ‘Ballyn Rochsty’ (1612); Rochestown (logainm.ie #10970) near Kinsale is attested as ‘Ballenroch’ (1655). One of the two townlands named Rochestown (logainm.ie #27613) in Co. Kilkenny was still called ‘bollanroshtha’ (c. 1900) by the last native Irish-speakers. In the 16th century, Rochestown (logainm.ie #31173) in Co. Limerick is found in official sources as ‘Ballemroste’ (1525) and ‘bhaile in róistig’ [gen.] (c. 1550) in Irish sources (see Logainmneacha na hÉireann I: Contae Luimnigh, p.27), while Rochestown (logainm.ie #48067) in Co. Tipperary is attested as ‘Balin Roche’ (1508), ‘Ballinrusty’ (1582).

Of course, sometimes the modern forms of townland names used in English reflect the Irish version of the name. Ballinrostig (logainm.ie #12419) in Co. Cork and Ballinroche (logainm.ie #30613) in Co. Limerick clearly reflect derivation form Baile an Róistigh. In Co. Cork, Ardarostig (logainm.ie #9497), Carrigarostig (logainm.ie #12369), Farranastig [sic] (logainm.ie #9672), Gearagh (logainm.ie #10123) and Gortroche (logainm.ie #9967) are derived from Ard an Róistigh ‘the height of An Róisteach’, Carraig an Róistigh ‘the rock of An Róisteach’, Fearann an Róistigh ‘the (church)land of An Róisteach’, Gaorthadh an Róistigh ‘the (wooded) river-valley of An Róisteach’ and Gort an Róistigh ‘the field of An Róisteach’, respectively. In Co. Galway we find the same surname in Clogharoasty / Cloch an Róistigh ‘the stone structure (castle) of An Róisteach’ (logainm.ie #20030) and Tonaroasty / Tóin an Róistigh ‘the bottom(land) of An Róisteach’ (logainm.ie #20168), and the original form of Roxborough (logainm.ie #19922) was Creig an Róistigh ‘the rocky ground of An Róisteach’. Curraghroche is the name of two townlands, one in Co. Limerick (logainm.ie #31579) and one in Co. Waterford (logainm.ie #49447), both of which are derived from Currach an Róistigh ‘the wet land of An Róisteach’ (note that currach can mean ‘wet land’ or ‘(grassy, shrubby) moorland’), and the original name of Ashfort (logainm.ie #31540) in Co. Limerick was Eanach an Róistigh ‘the marsh of An Róisteach’.

There is a definite bias towards the west and the southwest in these examples. But it would be wrong to presume that similar gaelicization did not take place in the other heartland of the surname Roche in Ireland, namely Co. Wexford and surrounding areas in the southeast. Both Clonroche / Cluain an Róistigh ‘the pasture, meadow of An Róisteach’ (logainm.ie #52381) and Raheenarostia / Ráithín an Róistigh ‘the (little) ring-fort of An Róisteach’ (logainm.ie #53377) clearly reflect gaelicized forms of the surname. Raheenroche (logainm.ie #27210) in neighbouring Co. Kilkenny is also from Ráithín an Róistigh ‘the (little) ring-fort of An Róisteach’, and another example is found as a defunct historical placename located near Kiltealy in northwest Co. Wexford: ‘Rahinroch’ (CGn. 31.205.18787), ‘Rathinroch’ (CGn. 37.253.22616) and ‘Rahinrochetie’ (Inq. Lag. Car.I 4).

The presence of the Roche family was so substantial in Co. Wexford that a large portion of the barony of Shelmaliere East was frequently referred to as the territory of ‘Rochelande’ (Fiants §959) (see H. Murphy, Family Names of County Wexford, p.205). Although no record of the gaelicized version of this placename survives, there is incontrovertible evidence that the Roches of this territory had themselves been gaelicized by the 16th century at latest (see C. Ó Crualaoich, ‘Some evidence in Tudor Fiants, Calendar of patent rolls and Inquisitions for Irish among families of Anglo-Norman descent in county Wexford between 1540 and 1640’, Studia Hibernica 34, pp.85–110). Indeed, just outside Wexford town in Forth – usually considered to have been one of the most anglicized baronies in the country (see for example R. Roche, ‘Forth and Bargy — a place apart’, in Wexford: History and Society, edd. K. Whelan & W. Nolan (assoc.)) – there is significant evidence that the Roches of Newbay had adopted the Irish language and at least some native customs. Further to late 16th-century references to Irish-language epithets – e.g. ‘Walter Oge’ [Ualtar Óg ‘Walter junior’] and ‘Walter Reagh’ [Ualtar Riabhach ‘Walter the grey(-haired)’] Roche of Newbay (1575) (see P. & H. Hore, History of the town and county of Wexford VI, p.388) – it has even been established, thanks to the remarkable research of independant scholar Mary Golden, that in the early 1600s a son of the proprietor of Newbay (‘Alexander fitz Phillip Roche’ in official records) was fostered with the Gaelic McDavymore [Mac Dáibhí Mhóir] sept of northeast Co. Wexford (see C. Ó Crualaoich & K. Whelan, Gaelic County Wexford 1550-1650: a  story never told, forthcoming).

Forth may have been considered the jewel of the colony as far as old English customs were concerned, but no custom could be more Gaelic than this type of fosterage arrangement. The more we uncover historical evidence of this kind to bolster the already unambiguous onomastic data, the more we understand the fact that the Irish language (and indeed some Gaelic traditions) managed to pervade almost every corner of the Anglo-Norman colony, even reaching into areas formerly presumed to have been impenetrably English.

(Conchubhar Ó Crualaoich & Aindí Mac Giolla Chomhghaill)

• Baile an Róistigh/Rochestown
• Ard an Róistigh/Ardarostig
• Fearann an Róistigh/Farranastig
• Gort an Róistigh/Gortroche
• Gaorthadh an Róistigh/Gearagh
• Baile an Róistigh/Rochestown
• Carraig an Róistigh/Carrigarostig
• Baile an Róistigh/Ballinrostig
• Creig an Róistigh/Roxborough
• Cloch an Róistigh/Clogharoasty
• Tóin an Róistigh/Tonaroasty
• Ráithín an Róistigh/Raheenroche
• Baile an Róistigh/Rochestown
• Baile an Róistigh Thuaidh/Ballinroche North
• Baile an Róistigh/Rochestown
• Eanach an Róistigh/Ashfort
• Currach an Róistigh/Curraghroche
• Baile an Róistigh/Rochestown
• Currach an Róistigh/Curraghroche
• Cluain an Róistigh/Clonroche
• Ráithín an Róistigh/Raheenarostia or Rochestown

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