Lough Derg & The Vikings

I posted a photo of a map from Rev Gleeson's "The History of Ely O'Carroll Territory" on my facebook page a few weeks back that I happened to come across.

If you look at Lough Derg (left of map) and examine its eastern side you will see the name "Danes". Now every other name on the map is of a significant family that was a minor lord of that area. Why was Danes put there? Pretty much every other name on the map is either an O or a Mac and there are no variants of the name Dane prominent in that particular area of Tipperary today that I know of.


This got me thinking about the Vikings and Lough Derg. You would imagine that as the Vikings were mariners and used to that lifestyle that perhaps a site at Lough Derg might have appealed to them to settle at some stage? I did a small bit of research online and came across this very interesting paper which looks at this very idea.


http://www.vikingage.mic.ul.ie/pdfs/lecture_vikings_on_the_river_shannon.pdf


Two of its conclusions are
"Shannon was the key waterway leading into interior of Ireland and was used extensively by Viking shipping"
"Evidence for scattered Viking communities in and around the Shannon estuary in
- historical documentation
- archaeology
- placenames"


So if there is evidence for Viking communities in the estuary to the west of Limerick city then why not to the east within Lough Derg?


I had a look over some of the folklore on duchas.ie relating to "the Danes" in the schools on the shores of Lough Derg and came across one that I found interesting. Now I know "the Danes" have been groundlessly attributed with building countless ringforts and even Newgrange at one stage.
However in Terryglass there are a few interesting references;


The first says "When the Danes had well established themselves in Ireland they kept a large fleet of boats on Lough Derg. As they had settled in Connaught they joined the men of this province in their battles against the men of Ormond. The battles were fought between Terryglass and Carrigahorig, a distance of two miles. The latter place - Carraig a Comairc - the rock of the conflict received its name from the many fights it experienced.
Terryglass was a favourite landing place of the Connaught Danes when they intended carrying out raids in North Tipperary. When Danish raids were carried out on the famous Roscrea fairs the plunderers landed from their boards near Terryglass Castle. The people used light large bonfires to warn the unsuspecting fair people and through such help the attackers were beaten off and defeated.
At the present day the field can be pointed out showing the direction the plunderers took after leaving their boats. This field lies between the townsland of Oldcourt and Slevoyre.
In one of their plundering visits the Danes burnt to ashes Terryglass monastery. They found the abbot praying at the altar steps when they entered the little church and without delay they murdered him."
http://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4922122/4854156


So in this it says that "the Danes" kept a large fleet of boats on Lough Derg, if they had boats there then they probably needed a settlement beside them for domestic / military purposes.


Another interesting reference says "A Danish chief who had taken up his abode at Slevoyre" - so could this townland have been the location of a Viking base? http://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4922122/4854155


Slevoir as it is now called is basically Terryglass harbour which is today still used for mooring boats. I wondered about the name Slevoir and checking  http://www.logainm.ie/ga/46098 I found an earlier form of it as Sleiwyre. I thought that the first part probably meant road but the second part looked foreign to me. However it turns out thanks to some help from https://www.facebook.com/groups/102550331629/ that is actually comes from the gaelic for a sandy area near water. So unfortunately "the smoking gun" of a Norse placename that I thought I had was wrong.
The other thing about Terryglass is that it was home to a monastic settlement that was continually sacked by the Vikings so it is unlikely that the two would live side by side without it having being recorded in the annals of the monastery.


I didn't come across any other references in my quick search of the folklore of the schools around the lake but perhaps there is more to be found yet.


So if the Vikings did have a settlement or a base on Lough Derg we don't know where yet. There are many fine rivers and harbours that could have been of use of both the Clare/Galway & Tipperary sides of the lake. One problem is that from a morphological perspective a Viking settlement might not stand out that much in the landscape. It is likely that earth and timber would have been some of the main materials used. Particularly if it was a temporary settlement. Another issue is that the level of the lake has increased due to damming for Ardnacrusha HEP plant and therefore any stone jetties etc might be under water now. A re-examination of artefacts found near the lake may help in identifying a previously unknown site.


Edit:

Danelaw in Tipperary?

"The tribe land of O'Sextons lay along the coast of Lough Derg in the Shannon between Dromineer and Castlelough; it was contiguous to the tribe land of the O'Glissane (Gleeson), whose land lay between Castlelough and Killaloe on the Tipperary side of the lake. The Danes settled in the neighbourhood of the O'Sextons, which may explain the fact that the name is now extinct in North Tipperary, but is found in West Clare".
From "The history of Ely O'Carroll Territory" by Rev. John Gleeson. Pg 52 / 53.
I finally found the reference that backs up the unusual map that Rev. John Gleesson includes in his book showing "Danes" on the east side of Lough Derg around the areas between Castlelough & Dromineer. Rev. John unfortunately referenced very little of his work but as far as I know his father was one of the surveyors with the 1840s Ordnance Survey that travelled around Ireland. I've heard folklore as well that he had many primary manuscripts which he referred to that have since disappeared. He did of course make mistakes and perhaps this is one of them but I do think it justifies looking at this area with a different pair of eyes.

One interesting thing that I have read is that the Vikings may simply have occupied existing settlements so there time here would not be very apparent. For example at Terryglass they may have just occupied the monastery there for a time.