Featured themes 13/04/2026

Carpets of wild garlic
Crewhill / Creamhchoill ‘wild-garlic wood’
(see logainm.ie #25421)

Date: 13/04/2026

Nowadays, most of the garlic we use in everyday cooking is imported from the Far East. However, at this time of year the Irish countryside provides us with an abundant, if vastly underused, native alternative. Practically overnight, whole swathes of moist, shaded areas – such as the woodlands along the River Liffey in Lucan, Co. Dublin – become carpeted in wild garlic, with its characteristic leaves and unmistakable aroma. The striking effect readily explains the proliferation of the Irish word creamhchoill ‘wild-garlic wood’ in townland names across the country. (Creamhchoill is a close compound of creamh ‘wild garlic’ [etymologically related to the English word ramsons] + coill ‘wood’.)

As well as being easy to recognize, areas producing wild garlic were also highly prized in early Irish society. In his essential book Early Irish Farming (EIF), based mainly on an analysis of early legal texts, Fergus Kelly reveals many details of the traditional early Irish diet and other aspects of native culture all but erased from the national consciousness after the destruction of Gaelic society in the 17th century. One text explicitly states the esteem in which creamh (OIr. crem) ‘wild garlic’ was held in the early period. The plant was so highly valued that every year, just before Easter, a client was obliged to provide his lord with a creimhfheis (OIr. crimḟeis) ‘garlic feast’ – consisting of wild garlic, cheese and milk – on pain of a fine (EIF pp.308-309). (We may note in passing that the early texts also show that garlic-flavoured butter was on the menu in Gaelic Ireland (ibid., p.326), over a thousand years before the arrival of garlic bread with modern Italian cuisine.)

The importance of creamh ‘wild garlic’ to our Gaelic ancestors is also reflected in numerous townland names. The most direct reference is An Chreamhach, the forerunner to Knavagh (logainm.ie #21264) in Co. Galway, which means simply ‘the place abounding in wild garlic’. However, by far the most common placename referring to creamh is the abovementioned Creamhchoill ‘wild-garlic wood’. This Irish name produces a variety of anglicized versions such as Crophill (logainm.ie #25013) and Crewhill (logainm.ie #25421) in Co. Kildare; Crawhill (logainm.ie #44483) in Co. Sligo; Craffield (logainm.ie #55217) in Co. Wicklow; Cranfield (logainm.ie #63045) and Crankill (logainm.ie #62934) in Co. Antrim; and Cranfield in Cos. Down (logainm.ie #67021) and Tyrone (logainm.ie #64206). Note the tendency towards analogy with the unrelated English placename elements field and hill in these anglicized forms. The townland name Greamhchoill (logainm.ie #35416) in the Co. Mayo Gaeltacht (formerly Graghil in English) is a development from this same word Creamhchoill via the prepositional phrase i gCreamhchoill ‘in Creamhchoill’. (In the late 20th-century one local explanation of the name was based on analogy with grean ‘grit, gravel’ + poill ‘holes’!)

The same word also occurs in townland names in conjunction with other generic elements, e.g. Cluain Creamhchoille / Clooncraffield ‘(wet) pasture of (the) wild-garlic wood’ (logainm.ie #43547) in Co. Roscommon, and Deramfield / Doire Chreamhchoille ‘(oak-)wood, grove of (the) wild-garlic wood’ (logainm.ie #5238) in Co. Cavan.

Far less common than Creamhchoill are the following references to woods of wild garlic in the form of open compounds, likely to be of later origin: see for example Killycramph / Coill an Chreamha ‘the wood of the wild garlic’ (logainm.ie #4729) in Co. Cavan, and Derrycraff / Doire Chreamha ‘(oak-)wood, grove of wild garlic’ (logainm.ie #37526) in Co. Mayo. Killycramph, the name of two townlands in Co. Fermanagh (logainm.ie #59847; #60938), also appears to derive from Coill an Chreamha or Coillidh Chreamha ‘(the) wood of (the) wild garlic’ (see placenamesni.org).

Occurrences of creamh ‘wild garlic’ are not restricted to townland names denoting woodlands, although that collocation is significant. There are numerous instances of the placename Cluain Creamha ‘(wet) pasture, meadow of (the) wild garlic’: we find it anglicized as Cloncrew (logainm.ie #31745) in Co. Limerick; Clooncraff (logainm.ie #43986) in Co. Roscommon; and Coolcraff [sic] (logainm.ie #33013) in Co. Longford. As it happens, three separate examples of Cluain Creamha fell victim to big-house rebranding during the 18th century: in Co. Offaly it became [Cloncraff or] Bloomhill (logainm.ie #41358); in Co. Longford, Mountdavis (logainm.ie #103036); and in Co. Roscommon, Mountdillon (logainm.ie #44249).

Other names of more or less low-lying places containing references to creamh include Eanach Creamha ‘marsh of (the) wild garlic’, which is the forerunner to both Annacroff (logainm.ie #39266) and Annacramph (logainm.ie #41059) in Co. Monaghan; Gleann Creamha ‘valley of (the) wild garlic’, anglicized Glengraff (logainm.ie #18148) in Co. Galway and Glencrue (logainm.ie #46351) in Co. Tipperary; Tamhnach an Chreamha / Tawnaghaknaff ‘the green field of the wild garlic’ (logainm.ie #36790) in Co. Mayo; and Currach an Chreamha / Curraghacnav ‘the wet land of the garlic’ (logainm.ie #49862) in Co. Waterford. (We will discuss the variation between -cr- and -cn-/-kn- in subsequent notes.)

Townlands on higher ground include Drumgramph / Droim gCreamha ‘ridge of (the) wild garlic’ (logainm.ie #40102; #40113) in Co. Monaghan and Lettercraff / Leitir Creamha ‘hillside of (the) wild garlic’ (logainm.ie #20876) (alongisde Lettercraffroe / Leitir Creamha Rua ‘(the) red Leitir Creamha’ (logainm.ie #20877)) in Co. Galway. We find Corr an Chreamha ‘the round hill of the wild garlic’ anglicized as Corcraff (logainm.ie #4910) in Co. Cavan and twice as Corracramph, in Cos. Donegal (logainm.ie #14240) and Leitrim (logainm.ie #30129). We also find creamh qualifying the generic element ros, whose semantic range includes ‘point, headland’, ‘(wooded) height’ and simply ‘wood’. The close compound Creamhros (logainm.ie #15878) – anglicized Croaghros – refers to high ground on the banks of Lough Swilly in Co. Donegal and the open compound Ros an Chreamha (logainm.ie #10627) – anglicized Bettyville! – refers to elevated ground near Kanturk in Co. Cork.

Even islands can be named after this popular little plant. Anyone in the vicinity of Westport in Co. Mayo at this time of the year might fancy a trip out to Clew Bay to see if Crovinish / Creimhinis ‘wild-garlic island’ (logainm.ie #37260) remains true to its name.

These Irish townland names provide more evidence for the popularity of wild garlic in Gaelic Ireland, further to the special mention it received in the early legal texts. So next time you are tucking into a nice garlicky meal, as well as daydreaming of Lombardy, Tuscany and Venice you might also consider the fact that your Gaelic forebears were just as fond of the very same flavour, in the form of the native creamh.

(Conchubhar Ó Crualaoich & Aindí Mac Giolla Chomhghaill)

Carpets of wild garlic Crewhill / Creamhchoill ‘wild-garlic wood’ (see logainm.ie #25421)

Carpets of wild garlic
Crewhill / Creamhchoill ‘wild-garlic wood’
(see logainm.ie #25421)