“Cloon” and “Clon” come from the word “cluain,” meaning that names such as Clonmore (“Cluain Mhór”) literally mean “a big meadow.”. Republic of Ireland-specific lists. Become a Friend of IrishCentral - help us to continue bringing Ireland to you, Ancient Irish fort featured on 140AD Ptolemy map of Ireland, Coronavirus live updates: No new deaths reported between NI and RoI today, Remembering Irish transatlantic pilot and hero Colonel James Fitzmaurice, The exemplary Thomas Ashe, Irish revolutionary who died for Ireland on this day in 1917, On This Day: Ireland's last Magdalene Laundry closes in 1996, Tír Na nÓg - The legend of Oisín, Niamh and land of eternal youth, Trump's NI Envoy to visit Dublin and Belfast next week, 4,500-year-old boat among Galway Viking artifacts hoard discovered, Funny phrases Irish use that Americans don’t, Former President of Ireland says some of Church teaching is "long past its sell-by date". Ballybunnion, Ballygibbon, Ballyreilly, “Bally” can very simply be traced back to the word “Baile” meaning homestead or town. Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.
It seems likely that similar place-name systems existed elsewhere in Europe in the Middle Ages and earlier, but Ireland today is the last place they exist. While some Irish placenames might seem unpronounceable to outsiders at first the history and description of those places lie in their names. So one of the Ordnance Survey's first tasks was to standardise the spelling (in English) of all of the rural place-names on the island of Ireland. The Topographical Section of the Ordnance Survey, charged with carrying out this standardisation, went to great lengths to research local traditions and customs and any documentary references to the place in early histories before settling on an English-language version. ... Place-names are also important for family history research - almost all the records of value depend on knowing where people were living, so identifying the relevant place can be vital. Place names in Ireland; List of long place names; Two Irish towns with 19-letter …
But the standard works we still use to identify a historical place-name, the 1851 and 1901 Townlands Indexes came out of the work of the Ordnance Survey.
Cork town named one of Europe’s most beautiful small towns, The Irish hotel that was named the best in the world. This happened in the first three decades of the nineteenth century, after the Act of Union (1800) had brought the administration of Ireland under the control of London. One of the best things about visiting Ireland, however, is the beauty of these place names and the way in which they describe the area they name. Read more: Cork town named one of Europe’s most beautiful small towns, 1. The first step in that administration was to measure the country, a process which … Counties came into existence in two distinct phases. Their boundaries were set in the twelfth century, at the Synod of Kells. If we take Ballyclogh (or “Baile Cloch”), it simply means “the town of the stone.”, 6.
In Ireland, loyalty to a place of origin is unusually strong. Read more: The Irish hotel that was named the best in the world. After the Reformation, the Anglican Church of Ireland became the state Church, and retained the old, medieval parishes. The official bilingual database of placenames in Ireland. The history of that loyalty goes back thousands of years, as reflected in the vast collection of traditional place-name lore. “Carrick” comes from the word “Carraig” meaning “Rock”. Letterkenny comes from “Leitir Ceannain” meaning “Cannon’s Hillside.”, 9. If we take Ballyreilly as an example, the original Irish would be “Baile Uí Raghailligh” or the “Town of Reilly/Reilly’s town.”, Read more: Mayo and the Cliffs of Moher tours, 2. Most county libraries now also have their catalogues available on the internet.
The Townlands indexes often omit sub-townland names and the names of geographical features such as rivers and mountains. A beautiful place to visit in West Cork with a badass name. Pull up the car along your journey and go searching for the geographical features that the place names mention now and again, it gives the small rural towns that extra piece of beauty! The Star of the Sea statue, on the Bull Wall in Clontarf. Find three townlands in your county named after a person or family. In fact, their research preserved a great deal of place-name lore. Venturing outside of Ireland’s best-known spots can be daunting tasks for tourists faced with unpronounceable place names such as Dun Laoghaire (Done Leery), Geashill (Gee-shill), and Altmooskan. These then became the administrative areas used by government.