The Tipperary Antiquarian

  I was reminded to reread Sheahans "Nenagh and its Neighbourhood" recently and its amazing what you come across when you go back to a book. I came across a few missing medieval graveslabs mentioned in it of great importance. One was at Knigh graveyard and is mentioned on pg 42 as follows. "one of the O'Fogarty family whose tombstone bears an inscription in Irish". I've checked the Ormond Histoical Society survey of the graveyard and there is no mention in it. Anyone ever come across it? As far as I know inscriptions in Irish from that period are rare in North Tipperary. Another missing Gaelic graveslab, this time at Templechally, Ballina, Co. Tipp. Unlikely to be found again but just interesting to known it may have existed. Sheehan in Nenagh and its Neighbourhood has this to say about it "Tombstone of Doctor James Hickie (Medicinae Doctor Peritissimus). Died 1648. Who forfeited in 1641 among the' Irish Papists' of those times....

"Here Lyeth The Body of Calib Minnit Who was Barbously Murdered By John Chery, Ann Parker, James McDowel and others, at Crannagh Duff in Dowharra, the 2nd day of April, Ano Domini 1707." From Knigh Graveyard in North Tipp. A heck of a message to leave in stone when it is still being discussed 313 years later. According to Daniel Grace's book on the area (Portrait of a Parish - Monsea & Killodiernan) - Calib Minnitt was a philanderer and may have gotten Miss Ann Parker pregnant and refused to marry her. She was probably a relative of Captain John Parker. She set up to meet him again at Crannagh Duff and gave him one last chance to agree to marry her. When he refused, she dropped her handkerchief and some of her father's tenants appeared and murdered him! It finishs by saying that the murderers were never prosecuted as Miss Parker had been dishonoured but the Minnits carved their names on his headstone for posterity. It also mentions that Minnit may have been char...

  The O'Meara Inscription on Toomevara Priory. I've made an attempt at highlighting it as best as I could in the picture attached. I've done it purely from the photo so there may be some errors. Rev. John Gleeson in 1915 pg 469 gives the following which he says "A returned America, Mr. Michael O'Meara, late of Bawn, took a cast of the inscription, and submitted it to an expert, as follows :- "Clara Meara dum Tamulo Jacet haec progago, Cui aether Precibus Paude, Viator Iter Gulielmo -Undecipherable- Helene Burc Paude Cruoris iter-illa via me Ritis stravit sedes Terra er Apcit marmor eu haec lec Tor sit Tibi testis Or, 1664, Educet Malo" I can make out a lot of it but the 1664 line at the end seems to be missing now? From archaeology.ie, it is thought to translate as "While the renowned offspring of O'Meara reposes in this tomb. To whom O Traveller happily open Heaven by thy prayer. To William. To Ellen Bourke open heaven. By the...

  Recorded as being a tomb of the MacEgan clan (on archaeology.ie) of the nearby Aghnameadle Castle and thought to date to the 18th / 19th C. The MacEgans were hereditary Brehons of the O'Kennedys and had a great place of learning here. There is no evidence of burials such as graveslabs within. The doorway is likely to have been built from a reused doorway from the nearby church ruins. It is recorded in Toomevara, an Unbroken Chain pg 10 "The Mac Egan had a school there which was similar to a modern day university. The remains of their castle still stands as a monument to their greatness. They are buried in a stone vault in Aghnameadle graveyard. Lady Margaret Mac Egan who is reputed to have had her horse shod with silver shoes is buried here". On pg 49 of the above it states "The MacEgans were hereditary Brehons to the O'Kennedys of Ormond. They lived in Aghnameadle Court up until 1738 As when Howard MacEgan.,the owner at the time died. After that it pas...

Is Metal Detecting for archaeological objects legal in the Irish Republic?  " Summary of Key Points The unregulated and inappropriate use of detection devices causes serious damage to Ireland’s archaeological heritage and is subject to severe penalties under the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014 It is illegal to be in possession of a detection device at monuments and sites protected under the National Monuments Acts to use a detection device to search for archaeological objects anywhere within the State or its territorial seas; without the prior written consent of the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Archaeological objects are broadly defined in the National Monuments Acts and objects may come within the terms of the definition regardless of their age or degree of antiquity, e.g. 20th century material It is illegal to promote the sale or use of detection devices for the purposes of searching for archaeological objects It is illegal to dig or excava...

Its hard to believe that this site not far from Birr / Kinnity in Offaly was once on the border between the Province of Meath and Munster. The nearby River Camcor acts as the boundary between Ely O'Carroll and Fir Cell. It was originally a monastery founded by St. Barrind. In 1184 there was a meeting here between the Kings of Meath and Thomond. At this meeting Art O'Maelsechlainn was treacherously slain by Diarmuid O'Briain during what were supposed to be peace talks. When the Normans arrived a Motte and Bailey was built (possibly by Hugh De Lacy) which again shows its strategic importance of this boundary between two kingdoms. Unfortunately the Bailey here was bull-dozed in the 1970s.

Copyright Andrew Dunn - www.andrewdunnphoto.com In the Arra area there are not one but two Gallows Hills marked on the old OS maps. Both known as Knocknacrohy or Cnoc na Croiche. Both I believe are attributed to the Mac I Briens who are thought to have ruled the area with an iron fist. The first is at Pallas more. I don't have a lot of details on it. The old OS maps show two possible locations for it. Copyright OSI / NMS This one seems to show it on the east of the road and likely at the highest point (694). Copyright OSI / NMS This one doesn't give a clear location for the hill. Personally I always equated the mounds in the field marked on the map above with the red arrow as being the location of the Gallows. I could be wrong though, that is why I've put together this post.  Copyright Google Street view Ive marked the various mounds with red arrows on Google Streetview. So if anyone knows the definite location of Gallows Hill at Pallas, I'd be d...

Copright OSI I first came across some folklore on duchas.ie relating to a well where Brian Boru is meant to have washed his wounds following the Battle of Soloheadbeg in 968. "The Danes came to the hill of Brogue in the year 968. Brian Boru was going to Solohead to fight a battle with them. Brian won the battle. So after the battle Brian washed his wounds beside a well near Solohead and since then the district around it is called King's Well. At that time there was no town in Tipperary. The town was at Greenane about a mile outside the present town of Tipperary." https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4922296/4867865/5055948 I posted about it over on my facebook page, asking if anyone can came across this well or the placename. Thanks to the magic of facebook and people helping each other on it, Barbara Daly Ledwidge gave me a lead that the northern edge of Tipperary Town is known as Kings Well on google maps. A check on archaeology.ie was able to reveal the locati...

Aghnameadle Megalithic Tomb in North Tipp. Only discovered and recorded in 2017 by Tom Bán of Wovenworld bushcraft , it just shows that large structures can remain unknown in Ireland even today. Well done to Tom for finding this and bringing it to the attention of the NMS. The area seems to be one of settlement for thousands of years with a nearby Motte and a castle belonging to the Egan clan which also doubled up as a medieval university. The tomb it is described as follows on archaeology.ie "Situated in slight hollow in undulating countryside with Ollatrim River 50m to NE and low hillock immediately to N. Field boundary running ENE-WSW immediately to SSE. Present remains consist of two upright orthostats their long axis aligned NE-SW standing 90cm apart with the remains of a large displaced capstone (dims. 1.75m x 1.4m x 0.45m) resting on E orthostat (dims. H 0.7m x L 1.17m x T. 0.3m) forming a small rectangular chamber (approx. dims. L 2.8m x Wth 0.9m). A sec...

From the local signage "for centuries Donohill was where the meal for the surrounding countryside was stored in a tower on the site of this fort. This precious grain was guarded by the O'Dwyers on whose land the fort was on. On their march to Leitrim, O'Sullivan Beare's soldiers, facing starvation, stormed the tower and succeeded in overpowering the O'Dwyers". From Bantry Bay to Leitrum by Sommerville-Large pg 153 "There was one more sharp engagement before O'Sullivan reached the shelter of the hills. The O'Dwyers and the O'Ryans made a half-hearted effort to block the trail, but when the men from Beare advanced, they retreated "stricken with fear". The picturesque graveyard across the road from the Motte where the famous Dan Breen is buried. A really well researched and presented sign on the Beara Breifne way, I hope it is still in good condition.

NOTE: This is currently a work in progress and I ask for any feedback on what I have written. Ryan is one of the top ten surnames by population / number of people in Ireland. It would be nice if there was a simple explanation as to the meaning of the surname Ryan, unfortunately to my knowledge there isn't. The most likely explanation is that it goes back to a King or Chief of Idrone circa 900AD named Rian or Rien. It was around this time that the Irish began taking on surnames and it may be that it was after him his descendants began to be called, O or descendent of Rian. We are not sure how or when exactly the O'Mulryan name came about. It is likely that it means "descendent of the followers of Rian". However, this is not certain. We will see further down in this article that the genealogies suggest they are both descended from the same ancestor circa 900AD. Although other evidence does contradict this. Just what Rian means is not known for sure. Explana...

Are you an O'Meara from Toomevara? Then this may be a carving of one of your forefathers from the 600 years ago. I stumbled across this recently. "Leaning against the inside of the north wall of the ruined church standing on the south of the modern Church is a wedge shaped tombstone. It has a band of inscription down either side and the top half is occupied by an equal armed cross with an inscription below the arms. A band of conventional gothic foliage separates it from a figure of a man carved in deep false relief on the centre of the lower portion of the stone. He is dressed in a tight-sleeved gown arranged in a curious pyramidal fashion below, and with a hood over his shoulders, the gole hanging down his chest in a point. His hands are shown together in front of him below his waist. The top of his head is flat, with what are presumably intended for curls with a band below them. The Black Letter inscription round the sides of the slab is only partly legible. Commencing...

The Mound from the shoreline Two of my interests came together in the rediscovering and recording of a possible burial mound in the Castletown Arra area of Tipperary between Portroe & Ballina. While working through deceased local historian Mikey Joy's archives I came across reference to a place known as the Sally Point in the townland of Townlough Lower. Initially I always thought of Townlough as being up in the "hills", I didn't really realise that the townland stretched all of 2kms down to the lake. It was described as a mound where there was some folklore related to fairies interfering with workers at harvest time. With the scanning work continuing with this large archive of material I didn't think too much more about it but slowly I think I turned it over in my head. I knew that the meaning of the name Townlough was "Tuaim an Lacha" or "Burial Mound by the Lake" and this had always bothered me, what tomb / burial mound was it...

Copyright - OSI I was looking back over some notes I took about possible archaeological features mentioned in the Irish Schools Manuscripts. One was a Danes bed in Lackabrack near the Silvermines."There is a Danes bed in one of Kennedy's fields in Lackabrack. A Dane was coming home from selling eggs. She was asked to take the shortest road she could so she jumped into Kennedy's field and she broke her leg in the fall. She died in that spot and was buried there. That is called her bed where she was buried. The previous owners of the field "Coghlans" ploughed around it and immediately they all got sick. The bed consists of two stones at the sides, one at the head and one at the foot." I wonder could this be a description for the megalithic structure that is just on the townland boundary between Baurnaglanna / Lackabrack. It is described on archaeology.ie as follows "There is no recognisable ancient feature at the position indicated on the OS 6-...

It is 16 years since I last climbed the Mauherslieve Mountain and I'm well overdue a return visit. On top is a large cairn which is likely to be a passage tomb, making it only the 2nd passage tomb in Tipperary. From archaeology.ie "Described in the OS Name Books (1840) as a large heap of whitish stones on the summit.. Under which it is said there is a cave or cellar in which a great number of the neighouring people took refuge in the time of the rebellion... it is not known when this cave was made in the moutain... the entrance to it cannot be seen as it is covered with the large stone above mentioned".  The exact meaning of the word Mauher Slieve Mountain is not definite. It is sometimes translated as the Mother Mountain but I'm not 100% sure if this is accurate. The local pronounciation of it is different to the how "Mau her" is pronounced in Irish. If we see Tempan's paper linked below (Two Moumtain Names, Slieve Felim and Mauhe...