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Date: 05/01/2026

The period between 25th December and 6th January is known in Irish as Idir an dá Nollaig “between the two Christmases”. The latter date — the Catholic feast of the Epiphany — is sometimes called Nollaig Bheag “little Christmas”, but is probably best known as Nollaig na mBan “women’s Christmas”. While we know of no direct mention of Nollaig na mBan in townland names, references to women occur frequently. Examples are very often found in respect of land held by religious orders, as in the case of Ballynagalliagh/Baile na gCailleach “the (town)land of the nuns” (#45165) in Sligo and Kilnagalliagh/Cill na gCailleach “the church of the nuns” (#7286) in Clare. It is important to note that in placenames cailleach (gen. sg. caillí) generally has the sense “nun”, which was formerly the primary meaning of the word — the now more commonly understood sense “hag, witch”, although it was used in the old sagas, is far less common in placenames (cf. eDIL s.v. caillech). However, in some cases verifiable examples of cailleach meaning “hag” can be found hidden in the historical evidence. One such example is the name of a place which will have been encountered during the week of Nollaig na mBan “women’s Christmas” by the tens of thousands who have resumed their daily commute to Dublin, namely Downs/An Dún “the fort” (#55524). The well-known Glen of the Downs in Wicklow is called Gleann Dá Ghrua “glen of the two hill-brows” (#113096) in Irish, but its English appellation actually derives from two neighbouring townland names: Downs/An Dún “the fort” (#55524) and Downshill/Cnoc an Dúin “the hill of the fort” (#55515), just west of the glen. The dún “fort” in question, which sits on a hilltop in Downshill, is usually referred to in historical sources as ‘the Downe’ or later ‘Downs’, which both clearly reflect the underlying Irish name. However, in 1547 we find it called ‘Down calybere’ in a pardon to ‘Caloaghe M‘Edo … O’Byrne’ [Calbhach mac Aodha Ó Broin (Calbhach the son of Aodh O’Byrne)], a form which suggests an underlying Dún Chaillí Béarra “fort of the Cailleach Bhéarra”. The Cailleach Bhéarra was the mythological goddess figure of native Irish culture generally called the Hag of Beara in English. The Irish form of the placename implied by the anglicized spelling ‘Down calybere’ happens to be confirmed in an account of the traditional inauguration sites of Ireland given in Foras Feasa ar Éirinn (FFÉ) (c. 1630) by Seathrún Céitinn (Geoffrey Keating):

Ar Dhún Caillighe Béirre do gairthí Ó Brain, agus Mac Eochadha do ghaireadh é.

“Ó Broin/O’Byrne [i.e., the Chief of the Uí Bhroin/O’Byrnes] used be declared at Dún Chaillí Béarra, and it was Mac Eochaidh/Kehoe (Keogh) who declared him”.

FFÉ iii, p. 14

Interestingly, Céitinn also record that it was the same learned family of Mac Eochaidh/Kehoe who inaugurated the Chief of the Cinnsealach/Kinsella sept of north Wexford, at a place called Leac Mhic Eochaidh “the flagstone of Mac Eochaidh/Kehoe”:

Ar Leic mic Eochadha do gairthí tighearna Cinnsiolach; agus Mac Eochadha do ghaireadh é.

“Cinnsealach/Kinsella [i.e., the Chief of the Cinnsealach/Kinsella sept] used be declared at Leac Mhic Eochaidh, and it was Mac Eochaidh who declared him”.

ibid.

The site of Leac Mhic Eochaidh lies 15km northwest of Gorey on the Wicklow border (in the townland of Loggan/An Logán (#53297). The last recorded assembly at Leac Mhic Eochaidh was in 1592, and neither this name nor Dún Chaillí Béarra are now well-known.

(Conchubhar Ó Crualaoich & Aindí Mac Giolla Chomhghaill)

Date: 05/01/2026

As we cross the threshold of New Year many of us in Ireland will be hopeful that the negative effects of climate crisis may be mitigated in the coming years by an urgent increase in the use of renewable energy sources such as wind, tide and sun. In regard to wind, it is unfortunately true to say that we can sometimes have too much of a good thing. Enormous and violent wind storms are not an event solely associated with climate change, and the historical record documents many such storms in the past. In this country, probably no storm is as well known in folk memory as Oíche na Gaoithe Móire ‘the Night of the Big Wind’, which struck Ireland and northwest Europe on January 6, 1839, the Feast of the Epiphany or Nollaig na mBan ‘women’s Christmas’ as it is generally called in Irish. John O’Donovan and Thomas O’Conor from the Topographical Department of the Ordnance Survey were caught in the wind and snow while on fieldwork in Co. Wicklow, and the former’s graphic account of the experience can be found in the Ordnance Survey Letters, Co. Wicklow (pp. 205–208).

While it may seem counterintuitive, the generation of electricity by wind turbines can be problematic in overly windy conditions. The locations preferred by engineers may not, in fact, be particularly noted for strong winds, but must rather guarantee steady winds. Thus, while viewing a map of windfarm locations in the State (seai.ie: windatlas), it is interesting to note that none of the places seem to have any reference to wind in their Irish names, despite the fact that they must all be relatively windy. That is not to say that Irish-speakers ignored the wind when naming places, as even a quick search on logainm.ie for the element gaoithe, the genitive singular form of gaoth ‘wind’, will show. There are also other words for ‘wind’, ‘gust’, etc., found in townland names also such as siota, as in Ballyhitt / Baile Shiota ‘town(land) of (the) gust’ (logainm.ie #54388) in Co. Wexford, which interestingly lies next to the townland of Coldblow (logainm.ie #54389), but we will confine ourselves to the ninety-odd townland names that contain gaoth ‘wind’ (gen. sg. gaoithe ‘of wind’), ranging geographically from Bennnageeha / Binn na Gaoithe ‘the (mountain) peak of the wind’ (logainm.ie #24732) in Co. Kerry to Drumnagee / Droim na Gaoithe the ridge of the wind’ (logainm.ie #61785; placenamesni.org) in Co. Antrim. Indeed, like Binn na Gaoithe and Droim na Gaoithe, many townland names containing gaoth refer to elevated sites: see Ardgeeha / Ard Gaoithe ‘height of (the) wind’ (logainm.ie #48326) in Co. Tipperary; Ard na Gaoithe ‘the height of the wind’, precursor to Ardnageeha (logainm.ie #12645) and Ardnageehy (logainm.ie #12070) in Co. Cork; Knockaunnageeha / Cnocán na Gaoithe ‘the hillock of the wind’ (logainm.ie #19121) in Co. Galway; Cnoc na Gaoithe ‘the hill of the wind’, forerunner to Knocknageeha in Cos. Clare (logainm.ie #7880), Monaghan (logainm.ie #41018), Mayo (logainm.ie #34989; #37430) and Sligo (logainm.ie #45070; #45675); Knocknagee in Co. Kildare (logainm.ie #24906); as well as Knocknageehy in Cos. Cork (logainm.ie #9135) and Mayo (logainm.ie #35638). Cornageeha / Corr na Gaoithe the round hill of the wind’ also refers to elevated windy locations in Cos. Roscommon (logainm.ie #42357), Leitrim (logainm.ie #29398; #29474; 30085; #30164); Sligo (logainm.ie #45503) and Mayo (logainm.ie #36825). Anglicized as Cornagee, the same Irish name occurs in Cos. Roscommon (logainm.ie #43065), Cavan (logainm.ie #3748; #5578) and Fermanagh (logainm.ie #59021; placenamesni.org). Other elevated locations in which gaoth ‘wind’ is referred to in the name are Mulgeeth / Maol Gaoithe ‘bald hillock of (the) wind’ (logainm.ie #25547) in Co. Kildare and Tulligee / Tulaigh Ghaoithe ‘mound of (the) wind’ (logainm.ie #9006) in Co. Cork.

We are all familiar with the experience of standing in a street into which the wind tends to funnel and blow a gale; similar topographical conditions gave rise to the commonly repeated placename Bearna na Gaoithe ‘the gap of the wind’ anglicized as Barnageehy (logainm.ie #13695) in Co. Cork and translated as Windgap (logainm.ie #49060) in Co. Waterford. In north Co. Kildare the English townland name Windgates (logainm.ie #25472) is attested as ‘Lez Wyndyates’ as early as 1475; remarkably, however, an even earlier reference ‘Bernegeyh’ (1305) – found nowhere else in the anglicized written records – confirms the authenticity of the name ‘bearna na gaoithe’ recorded from a local Irish-speaker in 1838. In contrast, no evidence survives to indicate the Irish name for Windgate (logainm.ie #55044) near Greystones in Co. Wicklow, possibly a creation of early English-speaking colonists (‘Le Windgates’ 1280). We do know, however, that the old name for the modern townlands of Jockeyhall / Leaca an Mheantáin (logainm.ie #30621) and Tonbaun / An Tóin Bhán (logainm.ie #30625) in Co. Limerick was Bearna na Gaoithe (‘leithsheisreach bhéirne na gaoithe’ c. 1550).

A number of terms denoting structures such as lisín ‘(little) ring-fort’, lios ‘ring fort’, ráithín ‘(little) ring-fort’ and dún ‘fort’ are also found with gaoth, and one presumes that they were located in windy locations: see for example Dungeeha / Dún Gaoithe ‘fort of (the) wind’ (logainm.ie #31881) in Co. Limerick; and Lisheennageeha / Lisín na Gaoithe the (little) ring-fort of the wind’ (logainm.ie #21733) in Co. Galway. Indeed, Raheenagee / Ráithín na Gaoithe (logainm.ie #52501) in Co. Wexford was sometimes called Cnoc Ráithín na Gaoithe ‘the hill of the (litte) ring-fort of the wind’, referring to the elevated topography.

We also have Lisnageeha / Lios na Gaoithe ‘the ring-fort of the wind’ (logainm.ie #35682) in Co. Mayo (‘Lissnegihie’ 1617), which has the exotic alias Antigua (earliest surviving attestation 1783). The fact that this latter name itself contains a very, very indirect reference to ‘wind’, insofar as Antigua is one of the Leeward Islands of the Caribbean (Eng. leeward ‘sheltered from the wind’), is almost certainly a coincidence. In Ireland, after the dispossessions of the 17th and early 18th centuries, many of the new houses and estates of the landed gentry were given fashionable names unconnected with the landscape or pre-existing toponymy. The new names often reflected the rapid expansion of the British Empire, which was spearheaded by the navy: witness Gibraltar in Cos. Dublin, Meath, Monaghan and Wicklow, or Portobello in Cos. Dublin and Roscommon, etc. In this period, Antigua was well known throughout the Empire for the key role it played in the Atlantic slave trade, not only through its own sugar plantations but as the location of a naval base built in 1725 to protect British interests in the area. (Antigua is also found as a field-name in England; see Field, A New Dictionary of English Field Names.)

To return to placenames referring to features of the Irish countryside, however; most of us are probably familiar with the image of a lone hawthorn tree bent and sculpted by the prevailing westerly winds. It is little surprise that this very image finds its way into native Irish placenames in the guise of Shenageehy / Sceach na Gaoithe ‘the hawthorn of the wind’ (logainm.ie #17991) in Co. Galway. (To this day, even outside the Irish-speaking areas the common word for ‘hawthorn’ is skeagh, an anglicization of Irish sceach.) The English-language formation Annefield (logainm.ie #34993) in Co. Mayo clearly has nothing to do with either wind or hawthorns, but it replaced another Sceach na Gaoithe ‘the hawthorn of the wind’. (It is interesting to note in passing that Annefield (logainm.ie #11114; #26629; #53637; #57110) and its variant Annfield (logainm.ie #17262; #26786) were quite fashionable among the Anglo-Irish gentry, finding their way into the names (or aliases) of a number of townlands created during the abovementioned period. However, not every Annefield or Annfield is of English origin: Annfield (logainm.ie #47110) in Co. Tipperary is actually a half-translation of Gort Eanaigh, pronounced roughly *Gort-anna in the local Irish dialect, meaning ‘field of (the) marsh’.

There are a great many other placenames that contain the element gaoth 'wind’ also, but we will mention only another few here. The Irish townland name Baile na Gaoithe ‘the town(land) of the wind’ is anglicized Ballynageeha (logainm.ie #18789) in Co. Galway; Balgeeth (logainm.ie #38083) in Co. Meath; and Ballinagee twice in Co. Wicklow (logainm.ie #54875; #55120) and once in Co. Wexford (logainm.ie #54531). It is interesting to note that the last-mentioned Baile na Gaoithe, now lying within the bounds of Wexford town, lies next to the townland of Whitemill where a windmill is shown on the Down Survey barony map c. 1655 (see downsurvey.tcd.ie: Forth); the terrier to the relevant parish map records both a windmill and a watermill (downsurvey.tcd.ie: Forth, St. Peter’s). Placenames mentioning windmills are also found elsewhere, of course: in Co. Longford we have Mullingee / Muileann Gaoithe ‘(the) windmill’ (logainm.ie #32941) where, in the absence of archaeological remains, the Irish placename itself represents the only evidence for the existence of a windmill. There is a townland known in English as Windmill (logainm.ie #47552) near Cashel, Co. Tipperary (‘Windmill’ 1609), an early reference to which provides us with the descriptive Irish form ‘Botherewolyngyhy’ (1553) [Bóthar an Mhuilinn Ghaoithe] ‘the road of the windmill’; later references show that the Irish name of the townland itself was, or had morphed to, Baile an Mhuilinn ‘the town(land) of the mill’ (‘Baile an Mhuillin’ 1840; cf. ‘Milltowne alias Windmill’ 1666). The townland names Windmill in Cos. Kildare (logainm.ie #25511), Louth (logainm.ie #33619; #34008) and Westmeath (logainm.ie #51663) are likely to be of English origin, along with Windmill Lands (logainm.ie #17092) in Co. Dublin.

To finish our discussion we will return to Wexford town, where we find what was surely the crowning glory of renewable wind energy in Early Modern Ireland. In a small area just outside the 17th century town, the Down Survey barony map depicts no less than 17 windmills, which must be an Irish record (downsurvey.tcd.ie: Forth). The area in which this cluster of windmills was located – not too far from the abovementioned Ballinagee / Baile na Gaoithe ‘the town(land) of the wind’ – is still sometimes referred to locally as Windmill Hill. As ever, in Baile na Gaoithe we see that our Irish-speaking forebears were well in touch with the lie of the land when it came to placenames, and we also note the central role played by renewable power in the 17th century, something we are (slowly) trying to replicate in our own day.

Down Survey Barony Map c. 1655. (Library of Trinity College Dublin: https://downsurvey.tchpc.tcd.ie/down-survey-maps.php#bm=Forth&c=Wexford)

(Conchubhar Ó Crualaoich & Aindí Mac Giolla Chomhghaill)

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Date: 29/12/2025

Returning from Belfast by bus the year before last, one of the writers of this note was engaged in conversation with a fellow traveller who referred to Saint Stephen’s Day as “Boxing Day”. The use of that term is something of a shibboleth in Ireland and grates on many an ear; but is Saint Stephen really that specific to native Irish – rather than simply Catholic – culture? If placenames are anything to go by, it seems not. Saint Stephen the Martyr, to whom Saint Stephen’s Day refers, was not considered important enough to feature in the native Irish calendar of saints. Nor is he commemorated in any townland or parish name of Irish origin; the civil parishes of Saint Stephen’s Within/Paróiste Stiabhna (Laistigh) (#2841) and Saint Stephen’s Without/Paróiste Stiabhna (Lasmuigh) (#2843) in Waterford City are English coinages.

The Irish name Stiabhna seen in those translated forms was a borrowing from Anglo-Normans, who introduced the cult of Saint Stephen into Ireland. Many other forms of the name are attested in Irish, e.g. Steimhín, Stiana, Steimhne, Stiofán, Steafán, Stíbhin (see D. Ó Corráin & F. Maguire, Gaelic Personal Names (1981); see also corpas.ie s.nn. Stíbhin; Steafán). Forms of the name such as Stiabhna, Stiana reflect derivation from the Old French version of the name, Estievne/Estienne (cf. Logainmneacha na hÉireann I: Contae Luimnigh, p. 53; see “Stiamna < Stémni < AN (E)steph(e)ne” in Risk, ‘French loan-words in Irish’ I (1970) §13)), while Stiofán, Steafán, et var., reflect later borrowings from English Stephen. (The Irish forms confirm that the English name on which those later borrowings were based contained /f/, which was originally a “spelling-pronunciation”; see Ox. Dict. Family Names s.n. Stephen.) The wide variation still found in Irish today is certainly not new, as evidenced by the 18th-century Dublin scribe Tadhg Ó Neachtain. He used forms of Steafán in his Irish versions of names such as Saint Stephen’s Green (‘(ag) Faithcheadh S[an] Stepháin’) and Stephen Scroop (‘an Deputi Stephon Scroop’, referring to a 14th-century deputy lieutenant of Ireland), but he used a form closer to Stiabhna in his Irish version of the surname of the early Anglo-Norman invader Robert Fitz-Stephens (‘Roibert Mc Stiophna’). Strangely, when referring in Irish to his own personal friend and fellow scribe Stephen Rice, from Co. Kerry, he used both forms (‘Stiophán (Ó) Maolcraoibhe’ and ‘Stiabhna Ríghis’)!

Stephen was very popular as a personal name and surname (Stephen(s)) among the Anglo-Normans and their descendants. However, unlike Liam (< William), Seán (< Jehan), Sinéad (< Jennet), etc., it was not widely adopted by the Gaelic Irish. Therefore, when we find Stephen(s) as a personal name or a surname in an Irish townland name there is a high chance that the eponym was of Anglo-Norman, or occasionally of New English, origin.

In Stephensland/Fearann Stíbhin (#53503) in New Ross, Co. Wexford, the name appears to be derived from a Cromwellian, Colonel Stephens, who obtained sequestered lands in the area in the 1650s (Logainmneacha na hÉireann IV: Townland Names of Co. Wexford, p.1609). This assumption is slightly complicated by the fact that the surname Stephen(s) is also attested in New Ross as early as 1367, but the placename is not attested prior to the arrival of the aforementioned soldier. We find an Irish placename with exactly the same meaning in Farranstephen/Fearann Stíbhin ‘Stephen’s land’ (#24798), Co. Kerry. Note that despite its Irish-language origin, that name almost certainly owes its creation to earlier Anglo-Norman settlement. So too Stephenstown (#54034) in South Wexford, where the placename possibly contains a personal name, whence the recommended Irish form Baile Stiofáin (Logainmneacha na hÉireann IV: Townland Names of Co. Wexford, p.1609).

In contrast, historical forms of Stephenstown and Stephenstownbeg (logainm.ie #47808) near Cashel in Co. Tipperary (e.g. ‘Ballynstaffanagh’ (1637)) definitely reflect the surname: the Irish forerunner was Baile an Steafánaigh ‘the town(land) of An Steafánach [the person surnamed Steafán < AN Stephen(s)]’, using a substantivized form of the gaelicized surname as discussed in previous notes. We find two different Irish forms in Co. Limerick: in the evidence for Stephenstown (logainm.ie #30924) anglicized forms such as ‘Ballystephen’ (1588) clearly reflect Baile Stiofáin ‘the town(land) of Stiofán’ (Logainmneacha na hÉireann I: Contae Luimnigh, p. 53). (Stiofán may represent either the surname or the personal name, as is the case with the English form Stephenstown.) The evidence for Ballysteen (#32110), on the other hand, reflects an earlier Baile Stiabhna (ibid., p.53).

Stephenstown/Baile Stiofáin in Cos. Kildare (#25955) and Dublin (#16733) appears to be of Anglo-Norman origin, whether a personal name or a surname. The same seems to be true of Stephenstown (#38628), Co. Meath, although research has yet to be completed on the townland names of that county.

With the same caveat in mind, we come to the interesting case of Rathstephen (#38269) in Co. Meath. The evidence collected thus far points to yet another Irish variant of the name Stephen. Rather unexpectedly, the local Irish form was recorded as ‘Ráth Stín’ in 1836. This form is also reflected in earlier anglicized forms such as ‘Rastyne’ (1628). Of particular note is ‘Rasteene als. Steevenrath’ (1629). The evidence appears to indicate that medial -bh- in the name Stíbhin (or possibly more likely Stiabhna, with non-palatal -bh(n)-; cf. Baile Stiabhna/Ballysteen above) had been vocalized (turned into a vowel) in the local Irish dialect. If that was the case, it may provide the answer to another problem that has long dogged placename researchers.

The official name of the Co. Westmeath town Clonmellon in the Irish language is the well-attested Ráistín (logainm.ie #1413957). The evidence demonstrates that this was the traditional name used by native speakers of Irish in the Westmeath/Meath area during the 19th century, and it was even locally remembered in the early 20th century. There is no evidence to show that any other Irish-language name was used in reference to the town. Nonetheless, the etymology of Ráistín has always been obscure. The reason why the recent research into Rathstephen (#38269), Co. Meath, is of such interest is that it implies that Ráth Stíbhin/Stiabhna, or similar, could be reduced to Ráth *Stín in the dialect of this general area. The origin of the second element no doubt having become opaque to later Irish-speaking users of the placename, development to Ráistín — by analogy with the common noun ráistín ‘shovel’ (see FGB s.v.) — would merely require a shift in stress in the pronunciation. Therefore it seems that Clonmellon/Ráistín, quite remarkably, may also represent an earlier Irish placename consisting of ráth ‘ring-fort’ + gaelicized reflex of the Anglo-Norman name Stephen.

The next time that you approach Saint Stephen’s Green and look up at the nameplate bearing the Irish form Faiche Stiabhna, spare a thought for researchers of Irish townland names who have to deal not only with Stephen but with Steafán, Stiabhna, Stíbhin, Stiofán and others – and none of them directly referring to the saint celebrated last week.

(Conchubhar Ó Crualaoich & Aindí Mac Giolla Chomhghaill)

Date: 22/12/2025

Only one example of the word Nollaig "Christmas" as a placename element seems to occur among the townland names of Ireland, i.e. Buaile na Nollag/Boleynanollag, the name of a townland in south-east Co. Galway.
However, there are examples in different parts of the country of placenames based on festivals or specific times of the year, such as Boolanacausk/Buaile na Cásca "the boley of Easter" in Clare (logainm #7433), Lisbalting/Lios Bealtaine "(the) ringfort of May" in Tipperary (logainm #48350) and Carrickhawna/Carraig Shamhna "(the) rock of Halloween" in Sligo (logainm #44706).

(Conchubhar Ó Crualaoich & Aindí Mac Giolla Chomhghaill)

Buaile na Nollag/Boleynanollag

Date: 15/12/2025

With one eye on the popular post-Christmas race-meeting of Leopardstown later this month, we will continue with last week’s theme of horses in Irish townland names. The frequency of these references is no doubt connected to the high status held by the horse in early Irish society. For proof of this one need look no further than the economic value of the horse in Gaelic Ireland, which although variable could often far exceed that of the highly-prized cow (see ‘Horse-values’ in Fergus Kelly, Early Irish Farming, pp.99–101). (One early Irish poet gossiped that a certain patron never paid for poetry in horses, only in cows: ‘Ro-cúala / ní tabair eochu ar dúana; / do-beir a n-í is dúthaig dó — / bó’; see McLaughlin, Early Irish Satire, pp.134–135 §1.) A 17th-century account of the Gaelic Irish makes clear that the horse was still of central importance in native culture, and was a much desired object during raids into neighbouring territories:

[These] horse corsers are such as steale garrens and horses in one end of the kingdome and doe send them by exchaunge to thother End, and of theis Irishrie doe mainteine and keepe soe manie, as their meanes …
(Discource on the mere Irish of Ireland, p.37)

The small sample of townland names given last week contained the elements capall ‘horse’ or ‘mare’; each ‘steed, horse’; gearrán ‘gelding, small horse; pack-horse’ or simply ‘(male) horse’ (borrowed by the Anglo-Norman colonists as garran, as in the extract above); and láir ‘mare’. There are many more, such as graí, a collective noun meaning ‘horses’ – mainly surviving in Modern Irish as the word for stud (farm) – e.g. Lios na Graí ‘the enclosure, ring-fort of the horses’ the forerunner to anglicized Lisnagry in Cos. Limerick (logainm.ie #31286) and Galway (logainm.ie #20129), as well as Lisnagree in Cos. Kerry (logainm.ie #22549), Waterford (logainm.ie #50232) and, again, Galway (logainm.ie #20321).

The element searrach ‘foal, colt’ – originally a substantivization of an adjective meaning “spirited, mettlesome, lively, unstable” (eDIL s.v. serrach) – is, perhaps fittingly, more problematic. Though far less common than capall or each, placenames containing searrach can be found in all parts of the country. When it occurs as a qualifier it can reasonably be taken to refer to the young horse: Cluain Searrach ‘pasture of (the) foals’ is the forerunner to Cloonsharragh (logainm.ie #22529) in Co. Kerry and Clonsharragh (logainm.ie #53345)in Co. Wexford. In Co. Laois there is Aghaterry/Achadh an tSearraigh ‘the field of the foal’ (logainm.ie #28889).

However, when searrach occurs as a simplex placename, it is unlikely to be the same word (cf. FGB s.v. searr ‘sickle’; eDIL s.vv. 1 serr, 2 serr). Metaphorical usage of animal names for topographical features is very common, and horses are no exception. See the many examples of Cinn Eich ‘head of (the) horse’ (see logainm.ie), and the various examples of An Gearrán Bán ‘the white horse’ as a name for a conspicuous rock: one in the Donegal Gaeltacht (logainm.ie #1395981), another anglicized Garraunbaun Rock (logainm.ie #117002) in Co. Kilkenny and another giving name to the townland Garraunbaun (logainm.ie #18034) in Co. Galway. However, searrach in the sense ‘(topographical feature comparable to a) foal’ can probably be ruled out in the case of Sharragh/Searrach (logainm.ie #45963), Co. Tipperary, the name of a thin strip of flat land protruding into a bog.

Similarly, the island name Serough Island/An Searrach (logainm.ie #8857) in Co. Cork is perhaps more likely to be a derivative of another word siorra ‘pinnacle (of rock); reef’ (pace Mac Cárthaigh, Dinnseanchas 6 (1974) 39: “colt [island]”). (Compare the islands in the Mayo Gaeltacht called Na Siorracha (#1399850) “the reefs” (Mac Gabhann, Logainmneacha Mhaigh Eo 4: 432).) Also in Munster, the island off An Blascaod Mór named Oileán na Searra (#1394519) referred to Na Searra, the cliffs overlooking it, according to Tomás Ó Criomhthain; there are another set of cliffs named Na Searra (#1394889) near An Mhin Ard. (Cf. Faill na Siorra (#1419742), a cliff on the Co. Kerry side of the Derrynasaggart Mountains, and Droichead na Siorraí/Pearson’s Bridge (#1417198), near Béal Átha Lice/Ballylicky, Co. Cork.)

We cannot be entirely certain, therefore, whether Carrigeensharragh/Carraigín Searrach (logainm.ie #48377) in Co. Tipperary originally referred to young horses or to sharp rocks!

That being said, it is striking how often references to horses feature in combination with generic elements referring to elevated ground. Further to the Co. Cavan example discussed last week, Corr na Lárach/Cornalara ‘the round hill of the mare(s)’ (logainm.ie #3847), see also:

Allt na gCapall ‘the height, cliff of the horses’ (logainm.ie #14973) in the Gaeltacht of Co. Donegal;
Mullacapple/Mullach an Chapaill ‘the summit of the horse’ (logainm.ie #33594) in Co. Louth;
Knockacappul/Cnoc an Chapaill ‘the hill of the horse’, as found twice in Co. Sligo (logainm.ie #44586; #44923);
Dromacappul/Drom an Chapaill ‘the ridge of the horse’ (logainm.ie #8358) in Co. Cork;
Knocknagapple/Cnoc na gCapall ‘the hill of the horses’ in Cos. Cork (#9958), Tipperary (#47979; #48473) and Wexford (#53230);
the Gaeltacht names Droim na Searrach ‘the ridge of the foals’ (logainm.ie #15473) in Co. Donegal and Iomaire an tSearraigh ‘the ridge of the foal’ (logainm.ie #34500) in Co. Mayo;
Burns Mountain/Cruach an tSearraigh ‘the rick, stack of the foal’ (logainm.ie #14163), Co. Donegal;
Tullynasharragh/Tulaigh na Searrach ‘the hillock, mound of the foals’ in Co. Leitrim (logainm.ie #29588; #29874);
Knockatarry/Cnoc an tSearraigh ‘the hill of the foal’ (logainm.ie #33341) in Co. Longford.

The collocation occurs so frequently that it is tempting to infer that hillsides and other elevated ground were favoured locations for the racing and/or keeping of horses. As always in this current series of notes, however, we must stress that these informal examples are given to provide a flavour of the research at the Placenames Branch; the ongoing compilation of more accurate distribution statistics is a separate process. And it must be remembered that we are not wanting for references to horses in lowlands and declivities either, such as Lognagappul/Log na gCapall ‘the hollow of the horses’ (logainm.ie #12970) in Co. Cork and Pollnagappul/Poll na gCapall ‘the hole, pool of the horses’ in Co. Leitrim (#29175). Another Pol a Gappal [Poll na gCapall] ‘the pool of the horses’ referred to a deep spot on the Glencullen River in Co. Dublin.

(Conchubhar Ó Crualaoich & Aindí Mac Giolla Chomhghaill)

Date: 08/12/2025

The language shift from Irish to English has been so complete in most parts of Ireland that it is no surprise to find even the most straightforward Irish placenames misinterpreted as if they contain English-language lexemes. A number of years ago, while conducting fieldwork in Co. Wexford, one of the present writers met a local informant who was steadfast in the opinion that the townland of Kilpatrick got its name from a man called Patrick having been killed there. The informant thought it ludicrous to suggest that placename might have something to do with an Irish-language precursor such as Cill Phádraig ‘the church of Saint Patrick’!

As can be imagined, the anglicized form of the townland name Ballyhorsey/Baile an Hórsaígh (logainm.ie #55518) in Co. Wicklow is ripe for reinterpretation as having some connection with horses. In fact the placename contains a gaelicized version of the locative surname de Horseye introduced by the Anglo-Normans (see Liam Price, Placenames of Co. Wicklow, p.367; cf. Ox. Dict. Family Names s.n. Horsey). However, if you look in the right places, you will find that horses do feature very frequently in Irish townland names.

The standard Modern Irish term capall ‘horse’ is not the only form in which these references occur (e.g. Crocknagapple/Cnoc na gCapall (logainm.ie #14977), Co. Donegal). Quite a few townland names preserve the word each ‘steed, horse’, which has mostly fallen out of use in Modern Irish – though it remains very much alive in Scottish Gaelic (see Faclair s.v. each) – e.g. Coolnaneagh/Cúil na nEach ‘the corner, recess of the horses, steeds’ (logainm.ie #49983) in Co. Waterford, Lissaneagh/Lios an Eich ‘the ring-fort of the horse’ (logainm.ie #45722) in Co. Sligo. The word gearrán ‘gelding; small horse; pack-horse’ also occurs with some frequency, e.g. Cashelgarran/Caiseal an Ghearráin ‘the stone fort of the gelding, etc.’ (logainm.ie #45499) in Co. Sligo and Cappaghnagarrane/Ceapach na nGearrán ‘the plot of the geldings, etc.’ (logainm.ie #48412) in Co. Tipperary.

Another term found in many townland names is láir ‘mare’. One interesting example is Cornalara/ Corr na Lárach ‘the round hill of the mare(s)’ (logainm.ie #3847) in the parish of Shercock, Co. Cavan. As in most of the later dialects of Irish spoken north of a line roughly from Dublin to Westport, the Irish word láir ‘mare’ had fallen out of general use in southeast Cavan by the 19th century. The contrast found in standard Modern Irish as capall ‘(male) horse’ : láir ‘mare’ was instead expressed by the pair gearrán ‘(male) horse’ : capall ‘mare’ (sometimes beithíoch/each for gearrán; see Wagner, Linguistic atlas and survey of Irish dialects I (1958) p.52). (‘Fan beo, a ghearráin, is gheobhaidh tú féar!’ was the Co. Armagh version of the proverb ‘Mair, a chapaill…!’. Note also ‘capall—láir i Laighnibh’ [“capall means a mare in [North] Leinster”] in Tadhg Ó Neachtain’s manuscript dictionary (c 1738); his father was from the Connaught side of Athlone.)

In any event, when the Irish scholars of the Ordnance Survey visited this part of Co. Cavan in 1836, they found that local native speakers had reinterpreted the second element of the placename Corr na Lárach “the round hill of the mares” as “threshing place” (as if láthair (bhuailte) ‘threshing-floor’, gen. sg. láithreach). It is just possible that the original meaning of the placename lingered on in a local legend still repeated in the 1920s, a couple of generations after the language shift to English in this area: “enchanted mares” were said to bring their foals up from Cornalara Lough at night, to the safety of the hilltop. However, similar tales were told about many of the lakes in the drumlin belt of South Ulster!

(Conchubhar Ó Crualaoich & Aindí Mac Giolla Chomhghaill)

Corr na Lárach/Cornalara

Date: 01/12/2025

While the main Christmas dish in Ireland has doubtless been the imported turkey in relatively recent years, it was formerly goose that occupied that honoured position. In this regard, it is notable that references to birds are not uncommon in townland names, which include the odd reference to the goose. Hence in Mayo we find Magheranagay/Machaire na Gé "the plain, stretch of level ground, field of the goose" which is found as translated 'Goose Park' in the Tithe Applotment Book from 1830 (see logainm.ie: #35800). In Cork we have Lackenagea/Leacain na Gé "the hillside of the goose" and in Leitrim Lisnagea/Lios na Gé "the ringfort of the goose". It is interesting to note that livestock is often referred to in placenames containing lios, ráth and ráithín, all essentially meaning "ringfort", which suggests that these structures were often 'recycled' after their original use, e.g. Lisnagore/Lios na nGabhar "the ringfort of the goats"; Lisnamoe/Lios na mBó "the ringfort of the cows"; Lisnamuck/Lios na Muc "the ringfort of the pigs"; Lisnageeragh/Lios na gCaorach "the ringfort of the sheep"; Lisnagoneeny/Lios na gCoinníní "the ringfort of the rabbits"; Lisnagree/Lios na Graí "ringfort of the horses"; Lissaneagh/Lios an Eich "the ringfort of the horse"; Rathnabo/Ráth na Bó "the ringfort of the cow"; Rathnageeragh/Ráth na gCaorach "the ringfort of the sheep"; Rathnaconeen/Ráth na gCoinín "the ringfort of the rabbits"; Rathanally/Ráth an Eallaigh "the ringfort of the livestock, stock".

(Conchubhar Ó Crualaoich & Aindí Mac Giolla Chomhghaill)

Machaire na Gé/Magheranagay

Date: 01/12/2025

Some years ago, while discussing the commercialization of Christmas, one of the current writers’ sons – whose first language is Irish – commented unequivocally that the advertisement of Christmas wares and hanging of decorations prior to December was in all circumstances wrong. As it turned out, this strongly held opinion was not derived from a deep objection to the desecration of religious festivals or any such philosophical argument; rather, the underlying reason was simply that the Irish for December is Mí na Nollag ‘the month of Christmas’, whereas November is called Mí na Samhna ‘the month of Halloween’, and therefore Christmas decorations in Mí na Samhna ‘the month of Halloween’ did not make any sense. We might wonder whether Irish society would be as open to the premature celebration of Christmas in November (‘the month of Halloween’), now firmly established, if Irish were still the vernacular language of the majority of the country.

The question of how bilingualism influences a person’s worldview is one for another day, although matters concerning Christmas also raise other intriguing linguistic questions. For example, it is likely that the famous English-language Christmas carol Away in a Manger sounded most peculiar to people in Ireland when they first heard it, as the word manger is not at all common in Hiberno-English. Curiously, however, a related form of the same word was in fact in use for hundreds of years in the Irish language. English manger is a borrowing from French, and its French forerunner was first brought to Ireland by French-speaking Anglo-Normans, who themselves began speaking Irish within a few generations; the French word was directly gaelicized as mainséar. (See Henry Risk’s seminal ‘French loanwords’ in Études Celtiques 14 (1974) p. 83: ‘mainnsér < AN manger (OF mangeūre)’; the Irish word is described as a ‘Romance loan-word’ in the Dictionary of the Irish Language (eDIL) s.v. mainnsér). From there, mainséar appears to have become quite productive in Irish: it is found in townland names and other placenames in all four provinces, from Donegal to Cork and from Mayo to Wicklow. Thus we have Cúige na Mainséar / Quignamanger ‘the fifth of the mangers’ (logainm.ie #34135) – in which cúige ‘fifth’ refers to a portion of land – at Ballina in Co. Mayo (in an area which was actually part of Co. Sligo until the redrawing of the boundaries under the Local Government Act 1898); Doire na Mainséar / Derrynamansher ‘the (oak-)wood, grove of the mangers’ (logainm.ie #14506) in Co. Donegal; Log an Mhainséir / Logavinshire ‘the hollow of (at) the manger’ (logainm.ie #30622) in Co. Limerick; and Móin an Mhainséir / Monavanshere ‘the bog of (at) the manger’ (logainm.ie #11397) in Co. Cork. The historical references to An Mainséar / Manger (logainm.ie #54939) in Co. Wicklow such as ‘Mangerterelegh … Maunger, Tirlegh’ (c. 1540) Ir. Mon. Poss., ‘Mangertorlaght’ (1541) Fiants (Hen.) §211, ‘Manger Treleghe (1551) Fiants (Ed.) §775, and ‘Manger Tereleighe’ (1559) Fiants (Eliz.) §1367, suggest an earlier Mainséar Thoirealaigh ‘the manger of Toirealach’, although the identity of this Toirealach is unknown.

The townland name An Mainséar / Manger (logainm.ie #28184) in Co. Laois may be a recent English coinage, as we have found no references prior to the 19th century. We don’t have enough information on the name Manger in Co. Fermanagh to draw any certain conclusions about its origin, but the existence of the minor name ‘Manger Beg’ in the townland, probably from An Mainséar Beag ‘the small manger’ (placenamesni.org), certainly suggests Irish origin. The evidence for the name of the townland An Mainséar / Mountelliott (logainm.ie #53494), next to New Ross in Co. Wexford, is somewhat problematic. The original name is most certainly of Irish origin and the generic element appears to have been mainséar (‘Mangers’ 1713, etc.) while its English-language replacement, Mountelliott (1786), apparently derives from the big house and its later New English residents (see Logainmneacha na hÉireann IV: Townland names in Co. Wexford (2016) for discussion). A more transparent example from Co. Wexford is found in the defunct ‘Manshearinneagh’ (1654) Civil Survey, p. 55, near Blackwater on the boundary of the civil parishes of Castle Ellis and Skreen. This ‘Manshearinneagh’ points to an underlying Mainséar an Eich ‘the manger of the horse’ or …na nEach ‘…of the horses’.

That last placename brings us closer to the imagery of the donkey in the manger frequently found in the Christian tradition. We find a reference to the birth of Jesus in an Irish-language poem from 1814: ‘Nuair rugadh É go dearbh / A mainséar fuar an asail / Go bocht úiríseal dealbh gan ionmhas gan aer’ (corpas.ria.ie: Dánta Dé, dar tús ‘Céad glóire leis an Athair…’, line 1087). (Note that a here is an older spelling of the preposition i ‘in’; leg. ‘I mainséar fuar an asail’.) Similar references are found in various pre-20th-century Irish poems (see corpasria.ie s.v. mainséar), indicating that the asal ‘donkey’, itself a loanword from Latin asellus (dil.ie s.v. asal), had a well-established place in Gaelic Christian tradition. So while lifelong exposure to Irish might cause one to baulk at the erection of Christmas decorations in November rather than ‘the month of Christmas’ itself, the asal is certainly welcome in any nativity scene involving the mainséar.

(Conchubhar Ó Crualaoich & Aindí Mac Giolla Chomhghaill)

Date: 24/11/2025

We are now on the threshold of the mid-winter month of December and it is likely that some farmers can still be seen harvesting. Given that many of the December crops are tubers – turnips, carrots and the like – we will look at some occurrences in townland names of the word meacan ‘any tap-rooted plant, as a carrot, a parsnip’ (Dinneen 1904 s.v. meacan), also found as meacan bán ‘parsnip’, meacan buí/dearg ‘carrot’ and meacan ráibe ‘turnip’ (FGB s.v. meacan).

The word seems to have been used in the sense of ‘(cultivated) root’ in the early literature (eDIL s.v. mecon). (Note that an early law-text specified that barley and wheat were best grown in tír trí mecon cona tuar téchta ‘land of three roots with proper manuring’: see Kelly, Early Irish Farming, p.229.) Meacan is not a cast-iron diagnostic of agricultural activity, however, as it also occurs in the names of various uncultivated, more or less edible species (FGB ibid.; cf. Dinneen 1927: 721 s.v. meacan). (Note for example the local interpretation of Mackan/Na Meacain (#29361) in Co. Leitrim: “Meacain … so called, according to Old Moran, from the abundance of wild carrots it produced” (1836).)

That being said, when meacan is found in combination with the generic gort ‘field’ we can perhaps presume that cultivation is implied: thus Gortavacan/Gort an Mheacain (logainm.ie #30089) in Co. Leitrim can be explained ‘the field of the cultivated root’ and Gortnamackan/Gort na Meacan (logainm.ie #19987) in Co. Galway ‘the field of the cultivated roots’. We have mentioned in earlier notes the common repurposing of disused defensive/domestic enclosures to serve an agricultural purpose: it is possible that this is the origin of the names Lisnamacka/Lios na Meacan (logainm.ie #39371) in Co. Monaghan and Ranamackan/Ráth na Meacan (logainm.ie #19678) in Co. Galway, both signifying ‘the ring-fort of the (cultivated/edible) roots’, although of course wild growth is equally likely in dilapidated structures. When found with topographical elements, however, the plausibility of meacan as a cultivated crop can be questioned. Thus, while Cloonmackan/Cluain Meacan ‘pasture of (the) (cultivated/edible) roots’ (logainm.ie #6698) in Co. Clare might point to agriculture, other examples such as Lugnamackan/Log na Meacan (logainm.ie #45087) ‘the hollow of the (edible?) roots’ in Co. Sligo and Altnamackan/Alt na Meacan ‘the height, abyss of the (edible?) roots’ (logainm.ie #56385) in Co. Armagh (see also placenamesni.org Altnamackan) are more unlikely.

The derived adjective meacanach also occurs in substantivized form in placenames, apparently denoting a place ‘abounding in (cultivated/edible?/wild) roots’. Examples include Mackanagh/Meacanach (logainm.ie #48694) and Mackney/Meacanaigh (logainm.ie #46548) in Co. Tipperary. Mackinawood/Coill na Meacanaí (logainm.ie #48541) – also in Co. Tipperary but unrelated to either of the preceding examples – is perhaps better explained as ‘the wood of/at An Mheacanach [placename]’ (see ‘Mackinagh’ (1726), ‘Mackina Wood’ (1840)) whereas Gortnamackanee/Gort na Meacanaí (logainm.ie #22082) in Co. Kerry, owing to its generic gort, might be more likely to refer to a field in which tuberous root crops were cultivated, i.e., ‘the field of the place abounding in carrots, parsnips, turnips, etc.’

The explanations above are all based on the conventional interpretation of meacan as denoting a plant of some description. However, T.S. Ó Máille – having noted figurative usages in literature – suggested in relation to 18 examples of meacan (and derivatives) in placenames around the country that the term “seems to be applied frequently to a thick lump and hence, in toponymy, to a hill, or short ridge” (‘Meacan in Áitainmneacha’, Dinnseanchas II (1967) pp. 93–97). The metaphor is reasonable but more research is required to establish whether this is anything more than pure coincidence.

(Conchubhar Ó Crualaoich & Aindí Mac Giolla Chomhghaill)

Date: 17/11/2025

Still on the theme of the supernatural in placenames – following on from previous notes on the púca ‘a sprite; a ghost; a bogey-man’ – we turn to the Irish word péist, a borrowing from Latin bestia, initially meaning ‘(mythological) beast, monster’, developing to ‘(creeping) reptile’ and then simply ‘worm’ (eDIL s.v. píast; cf. FGB s.vv. péist, piast, biast).

Poll Péiste ‘pool, hole of (the) worm’ is the forerunner to two townland names in Co. Wexford, namely Poulpeasty (logainm.ie #1383824) near Taghmon and Pollpeasty (logainm.ie #52389) near Clonroche. It is interesting to note the collocation of péist with poll ‘pool, hole (cave?)’, similar to the many repetitions of Poll an Phúca “the pool, hole of the pooka” noted previously. There are even more examples as minor names. In the Gaeltacht we have Poll na Péiste (logainm.ie #1396883) in Co. Donegal and Poll na bPéist (logainm.ie #1399110) on the island of Árainn in Co. Galway (see Placenames (Ceantair Ghaeltachta) Order 2011). Other examples recorded from native Irish speakers during the 20th century include Poulnapeasta/Poll na Péiste (logainm.ie #1419995) in Co. Clare and Poulnabeast / Poll na bPiast (logainm.ie #1421720) in Co. Waterford.

P.W. Joyce explained Poll Péiste as “hole or pool of the péist or monstrous reptile” (Irish Names of Places Vol. 3, p.531). In keeping with Joyce, the foregoing examples could be explained ‘the hole or pool of the (fabulous) beast(s)’ or simply ‘(the) worm hole’. Indeed, the official English version of the townland name Poll na bPéist ‘the pool, hole of the worms/beasts’ north of Galway city is Wormhole (logainm.ie #20983).

We saw in a recent note that the referent of Pollaphuca/Poll an Phúca (logainm.ie #55309) near Arklow, Co. Wicklow, was a spring well in the south of the townland (called Puck’s Hole in English), from which a stream rises and flows down through a little glen. The abovementioned townland of Pollpeasty/Poll Péiste near Clonroche, Co. Wexford, also took its name from the source of a stream. This was given the corrupt name St. Paul’s Well on the first edition of the OS 6ʺ map (repeated on OS 25ʺ), but corrected to Pollpeasty on the revised OS 6ʺ map of 1925.

One townland name that explicitly unites worm and well is Tobernapeastia/Tobar na Péiste (logainm.ie #26830) in Co. Kilkenny. In this case we can be sure that the péist was not mythological but painfully mundane! The tradition recorded from the Irish-speaking locals in 1839 was that they used to wash their hands in the well-water “chúm siúbhal péiste do leigheas”, i.e. “to cure a bout of the worm-trouble” (Ordnance Survey Letters (Kilkenny) I: 188) (cf. Dinneen s.v. siubhal ‘[fit of] trouble’; Ó Dónaill s.vv. 3 seol, seolán; eDIL s.v. 1 séol (b)). Therefore Tobernapeastia/Tobar na Péiste, literally ‘the well of the worm’, is more accurately explained – at least in the later local understanding of the name – as ‘the well of (the cure for) the worm(-disease)’, and can be compared other well-names such as Tobar na Súl ‘the well (that cures disease) of the eyes’ and Tobar na gCluas ‘the well (that cures disease) of the ears’. Dr. Pádraig Ó Dálaigh (then Higher Placenames Officer at the Placenames Branch) visited Tobernapeastia in 2016 and discovered that the well was known locally as The Well of the Worms (see the thesis The Holy Wells of County Kilkenny). The name of the spring well at Pollpeasty, Co. Wexford (St. Paul’s Well (!) SO 6ʺ), may have the same curative origin.

Not all of the examples are necessarily mundane: in some placenames it is hard to escape the feeling that péist was originally intended to invoke some kind of legendary creature. One of the many lakes among the hills of Skreen in Co. Wexford – near Curracloe and Blackwater – is recorded in 16th-century sources as ‘Loghnebeist’ (Civil Survey Vol. IX, p.60) and ‘Loughnepeast’ (Inquisitions Leinster Jac. I 23). The local pronunciation is [lɔknə ˈbiːʃt], and the underlying name appears to be Loch na bPiast. According to the erstwhile owner of the land in which the lake is located – the late Jack Harding of 1960 All-Ireland hurling fame – the water level of this lake tends to rise during dry periods and fall during wet spells. This appears to have led to the belief that some kind of piastanna (péisteanna) in the sense ‘fabulous beasts’ were trapped at the bottom of the lake (cf. Irish Names of Places Vol. 1, p.197: “the imprisonment of these demonical monsters is commonly attributed to St Patrick”). A similar natural phenomenon may also lie behind other names containing péist: see for instance the note by the Northern Ireland Place-Name Project concerning Drumbest/Droim na bPiast “the ridge of the beasts, worms” (logainm.ie #62247) in Co. Armagh (‘Drimnebest’ (1669)), situated just north of a lake described in 1831 as “unfathomable in its centre” (placenamesni.org s.n. Drumbest).

Other occurrences of péist, et var., include:

Ailt na Péiste (logainm.ie #1395256)
Altnapaste/Allt na Péiste “the height, ravine of the beast, worm” (logainm.ie #16101)
Lisnapaste/Lios na Péiste “the ringfort of the beast, worm” (#13907) in Co. Donegal
Cappanapeasta/Ceapach na Péiste “the plot of the beast, worm” (logainm.ie #6161) in Co. Clare
Cornapaste/Corr na Péiste “the round hill of the beast, worm” (logainm.ie #40033) in Co. Monaghan
Gortnapeasty/Gort na Péiste “the field of the beast, worm” (logainm.ie #11332) in Co. Cork
Emlaghpeastia/Imleach Péiste “boundary land of the beast, worm” (logainm.ie #22412) in Co. Kerry.

(Conchubhar Ó Crualaoich & Aindí Mac Giolla Chomhghaill)

Featured themes

Nollaig na mBan “women’s Christmas”: Women, nuns, hags, the O’Byrnes and inaugurations
Downs/An Dún “the fort”
Dún Chaillí Béarra “the fort of the Hag of Beara"
(see logainm.ie #55524)

Gaoth ‘wind’ in townland names: the renewable energy of yesterday
Muileann Gaoithe / Mullingee
‘(the) windmill’ (logainm.ie #32941)

Saint Stephen’s Day and the many borrowed faces of Stephen
Clonmellon/Ráistín (logainm.ie #1413957)

Buaile na Nollag/Boleynanollag
"the boley, cattle fold of Christmas"
See logainm #21027

Foals, sickles and reefs
Clonsharragh/Cluain Searrach
‘pasture of (the) foals’
(logainm.ie # 53345)

Horses, steeds, geldings and mares

Cornalara/ Corr na Lárach ‘the round hill of the mare(s)’
(logainm.ie #3847)

Machaire na Gé/Magheranagay
"the plain, stretch of level ground, field of the goose".
See logainm #35800

I mainséar fuar an asail ‘In the cold manger of the donkey’
Cúige na Mainséar / Quignamanger
‘the fifth (land-portion) of the mangers’ (logainm.ie #34135)

Turnips and hills
Gortavacan/Gort an Mheacain
(logainm.ie #30089).

What’s in a worm?
Pollpeasty/Poll Péiste
(logainm.ie #52389).

Featured themes

Nollaig na mBan “women’s Christmas”: Women, nuns, hags, the O’Byrnes and inaugurations Downs/An Dún “the fort” Dún Chaillí Béarra “the fort of the Hag of Beara" (see logainm.ie #55524)

Gaoth ‘wind’ in townland names: the renewable energy of yesterday Muileann Gaoithe / Mullingee ‘(the) windmill’ (logainm.ie #32941)

Saint Stephen’s Day and the many borrowed faces of Stephen Clonmellon/Ráistín (logainm.ie #1413957)

Buaile na Nollag/Boleynanollag "the boley, cattle fold of Christmas" See logainm #21027

Foals, sickles and reefs Clonsharragh/Cluain Searrach ‘pasture of (the) foals’ (logainm.ie # 53345)

Horses, steeds, geldings and mares Cornalara/ Corr na Lárach ‘the round hill of the mare(s)’ (logainm.ie #3847)

Machaire na Gé/Magheranagay "the plain, stretch of level ground, field of the goose". See logainm #35800

I mainséar fuar an asail ‘In the cold manger of the donkey’ Cúige na Mainséar / Quignamanger ‘the fifth (land-portion) of the mangers’ (logainm.ie #34135)

Turnips and hills Gortavacan/Gort an Mheacain (logainm.ie #30089).

What’s in a worm? Pollpeasty/Poll Péiste (logainm.ie #52389).

Nollaig na mBan “women’s Christmas”: Women, nuns, hags, the O’Byrnes and inaugurations
Downs/An Dún “the fort”
Dún Chaillí Béarra “the fort of the Hag of Beara"
(see logainm.ie #55524)

Gaoth ‘wind’ in townland names: the renewable energy of yesterday
Muileann Gaoithe / Mullingee
‘(the) windmill’ (logainm.ie #32941)

Saint Stephen’s Day and the many borrowed faces of Stephen
Clonmellon/Ráistín (logainm.ie #1413957)

Buaile na Nollag/Boleynanollag
"the boley, cattle fold of Christmas"
See logainm #21027

Foals, sickles and reefs
Clonsharragh/Cluain Searrach
‘pasture of (the) foals’
(logainm.ie # 53345)

Horses, steeds, geldings and mares

Cornalara/ Corr na Lárach ‘the round hill of the mare(s)’
(logainm.ie #3847)

Machaire na Gé/Magheranagay
"the plain, stretch of level ground, field of the goose".
See logainm #35800

I mainséar fuar an asail ‘In the cold manger of the donkey’
Cúige na Mainséar / Quignamanger
‘the fifth (land-portion) of the mangers’ (logainm.ie #34135)

Turnips and hills
Gortavacan/Gort an Mheacain
(logainm.ie #30089).

What’s in a worm?
Pollpeasty/Poll Péiste
(logainm.ie #52389).