Croí Uí Mhaine · The heartland

Croí Uí Mhaine · The heartland

A few fields, a lake, a friary and some old forts in east Galway: the home ground of the Uí Cheallaigh lords and the poets they fed.

An talamh · The land

Stand on the road in Fothannach (Fohenagh) on a still evening and you are in the middle of it. To the south is Cill Chonaill, Kilconnell, where the Annals of the Four Masters record the founding of the friary in 1353 (M1353.7); it stands beside Callow Lough. North and west lie Gallagh, the castle country now called Castleblakeney, Tycooly and Caltra. In between are low green ridges, bog and seasonal lakes, and townlands whose names still carry old words for forts and families.

Ó na foinsí · From the sources

Pailís agus Dún · Pallas and Doon

Elizabeth FitzPatrick (Landscapes of the Learned, 2023, pp. 147–149) argues that the landscape at Pallas, in Fohenagh, was the Ó Ceallaigh court, with An Lios Mór as the lord's seat. In her account the Christmas feast of 1351, when Uilliam Buide Ó Ceallaigh welcomed the poets of Ireland, took place at Doon Fort (An Dún, in Doon Upper), a raised oval platform above Loch na nÉigeas, "the lake of the poets", known today as Boggaun Lough. She also places the Ó Dubhagáin learned family at Ballydoogan and, citing the Book of Lecan, the harper Ó Longargáin at Ballynabanaba. The full story of the feast is on The court page.

Source: FitzPatrick, Landscapes of the Learned (Oxford University Press, 2023), pp. 147–149, summarised in our own words.

Gallagh

O'Donovan's Name Book records Gallagh as "the mansion seat of the head of the O'Kellys". That describes a later seat, not a rival to Pallas: the lords' chief residences shifted over the centuries, and FitzPatrick's court at Pallas belongs to the fourteenth century.

Source: O'Donovan, Ordnance Survey Name Books, Castleblakeney (Killosolan parish), via Galway County Library, People and Places of Galway.

1504

The Annals of the Four Masters (M1504.13) record that three O'Kelly castles, Garbh-dhoire, Muine an Mheadha and Gallach, were demolished by Ulick de Burgo (Mac William of Clanrickard), and that Ó Ceallaigh's complaint to the Lord Justice led on to the Battle of Knockdoe (M1504.14). O'Donovan's Ordnance Survey Letters identify the castles as Garbally, Monivea and Gallagh. The castles were destroyed in the wider conflict; they did not fall at Knockdoe itself. See Scene 7: Knockdoe and the 1504 stop on the time map.

Sources: Annals of the Four Masters M1504.13–14 (CELT T100005E); O'Donovan, Ordnance Survey Letters (Galway), via Galway County Library.

Logainmneacha an chroí · Townland names of the heartland

Official Irish forms are from logainm.ie. Meanings are only given where a source is named; logainm's own explanatory notes have not been checked yet.

Irish forms: Placenames Database of Ireland (logainm.ie), CC BY 4.0. O'Donovan's forms: Ordnance Survey Name Books via Galway County Library, People and Places of Galway.

Mar a insítear go háitiúil · As told locally

Ask around Fohenagh and you will hear the heartland told townland by townland. Tradition records Ballydoogan, Baile Uí Dhúgáin, as the home of the poets. Banba, in O'Donovan's form of Ballynabanaba, is one of the old poetic names for Ireland. Then there is Doon, An Dún, and a little ridge that runs down through the fields with an old fort on it.

A few miles north-west, Ballymacward, Baile Mhic an Bhaird, carries the name of the Mac an Bhaird, a family name associated with hereditary poets. Bees are kept there now, and you can taste the heartland in PA Honey.

As told locally (Garry Lohan).

An líne bheo · The living line

In 1767 Empress Maria Theresa made Festus O'Kelly a count of the Holy Roman Empire, a title separate from the Gaelic lordship of Uí Mhaine. Tradition records that the title Count O'Kelly of Gallagh and Tycooly, granted in 1767, is still borne by descendants.

Source: Dictionary of Irish Biography, "O'Kelly de Gallagh et Tycooly, Gerald Edward" (Festus O'Kelly created a count of the Holy Roman Empire in 1767 by Maria Theresa).

Cuairt · Visiting (access)

Private land. No public access; please don't enter. Map links are for identification only. This applies to the forts at Pallas, Doon and Ballynabanaba and to the other sites below unless they are on a public road.

Positions are approximate.

See them together on the overview map or the time map.

Credits

With thanks to Elizabeth FitzPatrick (Landscapes of the Learned, 2023), the Placenames Database of Ireland (logainm.ie), Galway County Library, and the people of Fohenagh who keep these names. Written in our own words. Data attribution and licences.