Place Names and Legends of Places
County Clare from the fourth century of our era was united politically with North Munster, Tuath Mumhain, or Thomond, though separated from it by the broad waters of the Shannon. Standing thus by itself, ‘isolated by the Sea, the River, and the enmity of Connaught,’ it might be expected that it would preserve until modern times an unbroken tradition from the prehistoric past, and that a survey of its folklore would show many traces of ancient beliefs still surviving. The battle goddess Catabodva, worshipped in antique Gaul, appears as the Bodbh of battle (cath) in the wars fought by the Princes of Clare in 1014 and 1317, and the spirit that washed the bloodstained clothes and limbs of the then living combatants still, I was told three years ago, foretells calamity by washing clothes in the same waters.[1] Péists or water snakes,—emblems, perhaps, of pagan islanders or devouring seas and lakes,—abound in the legends of a very early date, and are still reputed to seize the cattle, and even human beings, drowned in the lakes of Clare. The place names considered below will show to what an extent our present nomenclature records the mythology and sagas of early days, and I propose in the remainder of this first paper to deal with the banshee, the death coach, and the fairies. The bulk of the traditions since 1790 has been collected from the mouths of the people, and not from books nor from the notes of others, and I have tried, where possible, to gather various versions of the legends without the dangerous aid of ‘leading questions.’
Were we assured of the date of their origin, place names would be our most authentic, and perhaps our earliest, evidence of traditional beliefs and superstitions, but their first records only give a minimum date. To take a few examples:—if we may accept explanations earlier than A.D. 800, the name of Iniscatha, traceable from about 550, embodies the name of a monster, (probably the ‘god or demon of the flood’), dispossessed by St. Senan, the missionary of the Corcavaskin district.[2] Again, Craganeevul near Killaloe recalls the belief in Aibhill, or Aibhinn, ‘the beautiful,’ the tutelary spirit of the ruling house of the Dalcassians, the later O’Briens. If the ‘Life of St. Maccreiche’ be early, it bears out a later belief that the cave of Poulnabruckee, in Inchiquin, commemorates no ordinary badger, but the formidable ‘demon-badger,’ killer of cattle and men.[3]
Following certain topographical lines I give the names as they occur, rather than as grouped according to beliefs. I must also premise that the Dalcassian tribes virtually covered the eastern Baronies of Bunratty and Tulla, with part of Inchiquin, from about A.D. 377; the Corca Modruad, (the royal line of the mythical Queen Maeve and Fergus mac Roigh), were in Burren and Corcomroe from still earlier times, beyond the range of even historical tradition;[4] while a third great independent line, the Corcabaiscinn, occupied the Baronies known down to Tudor times (and still as a rural deanery) as Corcavaskin,—now Moyarta and Clonderlaw, with the Barony of Ibrickan, (which takes its name from a settlement of fugitives from the Norman conquest in Leinster about 1180).
Burren
Irghus or Eerish, a Firbolg in the oldest of Clare legends,[5]
is commemorated by Caherdooneerish stone fort,[6]
on Black Head. Finn MacCumhail gives his name to Seefin, on the same hills.
The ‘silver bells’ of Kilmoon church are said to be recalled
by Cahercloggaun fort and Owenacluggan brook near Lisdoonvarna. In Kilcorney
Parish we have two forts, Lisananima and Caherlisananima, named from ghosts;
the first name is older than 1652. Beara, another Firbolg, brother of
Irghus, gives his name, (found in a poem dating before 1014), to Finnavarra
Point,—but not to Kinvarra, which is akin to Kenmare and Kinsale,
‘Head of the Sea’ or ‘of the brine.’ The name
Bohernamish, or ‘way of the dishes,’ with its legend of the
miraculous rapine of King Guaire’s Easter banquet, about A.D. 630,
is found in the mediæval Life of St. Colman MacDuach.[7]
Corcomroe
The reef of Kilstiffin, Kilstapheen, or Kilstuitheen has a legend of a
sunken church and city, of which the golden domes appear once in seven
years. The submerged forests and bogs inside the reef in Liscannor Bay,
and the record of the great earthquake and tidal wave that split into
three Inis Fitæ [8]
on the same coast (A.D. 799-802), incline one to believe in a basis for
the legend. In Noughaval is a fort called Liskeentha, from ‘fairy
songs’ heard there. Not far away, in Kilfenora Parish, we have a
Boughil or ‘petrified boy,’ and in Carran Parish a Farbreag
or ‘petrified man’; such names, originating in strangely-shaped
rocks, are rather common. A third Firbolg brother, Daelach, gives his
name to the little river Daelach and the townland Ballydeely. In Carran
and Kilmanaheen the belief in the phooka or púca,
a demon horse or goat, is stamped on the Poulaphucas, one of which has
a fine dolmen; such monuments all over Ireland are found connected with
the malignant prototype of Puck. Lisfearbegnagommaun, ‘the fort
of the little men (playing at) hurling,’ commemorates fairy sports.
Ancient Parishes of County Clare
Click on image for larger version
Ibrickan
Poulaphuca in Kilfarboy is, so far as I know, the only mythic name, but
Doolough Lake (Nigricantis) is named in the early ‘Life of Senan’
[9]
as the prison of the fearful ‘Cata’ of Iniscatha, while the
‘Legend of the sons of Thorailbh mac Stairn’ [10]
locates the cavern whence the ferocious ‘Faracat’ launched
itself on the heroes’ spears, beside its waters. Dunbeg Bay is the
scene of a curious merman story.[11]
Moyarta
At Loop Head, the south-western extremity of the county, we find a Poulnapeiste
and a line of forts,—Cahercrochain, Cahersaul,
Dundahlin, and Cahernaheanmna,—connected with the monster killed
by Dermod O’Duine and the brothers Crochaun, Sal, and Dahlin, whose
sister (‘the one (lone) woman’) gave her title to the last
fort.[12]
Iniscatha commemorates its dragon, and Lisnarinka fort the ‘dances’
of its fairy dwellers.
Clonderlaw
Turning inland, up the Shannon and Fergus confluence, Tobersheefra (‘elf’s
well’) and Poulaphuca are named from the fairies and púca,
and Clondegad from two druids who competed in magic, making ‘two
gads’ (or withes) to sail up the stream.
Inchiquin
Passing on to the settlements of the Dalcassians, we find treasure legends
at Cloghanairgid (‘rock of the silver (money)’) and Skeaghvickencrowe
(‘MacEnchroe’s bush’). Cloghaphuca in Kilnaboy and Poulnabruckee
in Rath, with Toberatasha (‘spectre’s well,’ perhaps
recording an apparition akin to that of Avenel), represent various supernatural
beings. Seefin, Caherussheen, and Tirmicbrain near Corofin commemorate
Finn, his son Oisin, and his dog Bran. The old pre-Norman Fenian tale
of Feis tighe chonain is located on the high ridge over Inchiquin
Lake, and connects Finn with the district and with a ‘hunting lodge’
at Formoyle, but the first name (‘seat of Finn’) has been
lost since 1839.[13]
In the weird terraced hills of bare crag behind Kilnaboy legend meets
us at every turn. Slievenaglasha, the Glasgeivnagh Hill, Mohernaglasha,
Leabanaglasha, and Mohernagartan, ‘Smith’s Fort,’ commemorate
the Irish Vulcan, Lon mac Leefa (Liomhtha), and the wonderful ‘glaucous
cow,’ the Glas, whose hoof prints mark the rocks in every
direction. Inchiquin Lake has a beautiful swan-maiden tale,[14]
but it ‘names no name.’ Still in Kilnaboy we find, near the
tall brown peel tower of Ballyportry, a Cloughaphuca and the enchanted
Lake of Shandangan.[15]
Ruan Parish has Cahernanoorane, taking its name from ‘fairy melody.’
Lisheenvicknaheeha (‘the little fort of the son of the night’)
seems ghostly, but the constituent is also an ancient personal name, Macnahaidche,
in use down to at least 1084. In Dysert, Crush banola and the basin stone
near it are connected with a curious legend which I reserve. Banola or
Manawla is really the historic Tola, living about A.D. 637. Drehidnavaddaroe
Bridge may commemorate a ghostly ‘red dog,’ like the dogs
of Cratloe and Ennistymon in this county, and the Maelchu of
Kerry.
Islands
This small district, although containing the ‘capital’ of
Thomond from about 1220, is of little note in names. Poulnaclug contains
the hidden bells of Dromcliff Round Tower. Knocknabohilleen probably had
a ‘Boughil’ or ‘Farbreag’ (see Corcomroe supra).
Fairyhill Fort in Kilmaley, and Music Hill, are connected with the ‘good
people.’ Knockananima near Clare Castle, though superficially a
ghost name, is said to be Cnoc (or Cnock an) na
h iomána or ‘Hurling-field Hill.’
Bunratty
Taking the Upper and Lower Baronies together, both here and in Tulla,
we find an oblique allusion to the fairies in Gortnamearacaun (‘foxglove
field’), called also ‘Thimbletown,’—the foxglove
being the fairies’ thimble. Caheraphuca has a fine dolmen and haunted
fort. Knocknafearbreaga derives its name and legend from the ‘seven’
(recte five) pillar stones, once the seven robbers who ill-treated
St. Mochulla’s tame bull. It is noteworthy that the life of St.
Mochulleus, (sought for vainly by Colgan about 1637 and only recently
found in Austria and published), gives the seven soldiers and
the slaying of the tame bull that ran errands for the saint.[16]
In the Lower Barony the fairies are connected with Lissnarinka (‘fort
of the dance’) in Clonloghan, and perhaps Caherfirogue (‘young
man’s fort,’ 1617), which is now forgotten. Moyeir, Moyross
Parks, and Moyri are variants representing the ancient Magh Adhair, the
settlement of another Firbolg chief and place of the inauguration of the
kings of Thomond from at least A.D. 847 to Tudor times. Slieve suidhe
an righ or Slieve oided an righ (‘king’s seat’
or ‘king’s death hill’), in Glennagross, was connected
with a legend, probably historical, that King Criomthann died there in
A.D. 377 poisoned by his sister, who drank before him to disarm his suspicion
and secure the kingship for her son.[17]
Tulla
In the mass of hills near the Shannon, Carrickeevul, Tobereevul, and Glennagalliach
(‘hag’s glen’) commemorate banshees (see below). Knockaunamoughilly
is named from a ‘Boughil,’ and other ‘sham men’
appear at the Farbreagas in Cloontra and Cloongaheen. Seefin in Kilseily
is another ‘seat of Finn.’ Some names are more doubtful. Lough
Graney, the river Graney, and Tomgraney, are attributed to a suspicious
solar heroine, the lady ‘Gillagreine’ or ‘Grainne of
the bright cheeks.’
