Skip to main content

Gallows Hill

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 delighted to know? 

The second Gallows Hill in the area is in the townland of Greenhills, close to Kilmastulla graveyard. 

Copyright OSI / NMS

I have even less information about this one. From Google Streetview and Google Earth there doesn't appear to be any kind of earthworks or cropmarks there. Does anyone have any further information on the Gallows Hill there?

You know staying within your 5km is getting to you when you are writing about Gallow Hills using nothing but Google Earth and Streetview to research! The easing of restrictions can't come soon enough. Stay safe everyone. 

Comments

  1. Unknown14 February 2022 at 12:13

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unknown14 February 2022 at 12:48

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hag Stones, are they an example of authentic Irish folklore or a neo-pagan import?

By Darkone CC BY-SA 2.0 The first time I ever heard of Hag-stones was this year. They are more commonly known as Adder stones and described on wikipedia as follows: " An adder stone is a type of stone, usually glassy, with a naturally occurring hole through it. Such stones have been discovered by archaeologists in both Britain and Egypt ."  In Britain they are also called hag stones , [1] witch stones , serpent's eggs , snake's eggs , or Glain Neidr in Wales , milpreve in Cornwall , adderstanes in the south of Scotland and Gloine nan Druidh ("Druids' glass" in Scottish Gaelic ) in the north. In Germany they are called Hühnergötter ("chicken gods"). In Egypt they are called aggry or aggri . Adder stones were believed to have magical powers such as protection against eye diseases or evil charms, preventing nightmares , curing whooping cough , the ability to see through fairy or witch disguises and traps if looked at ...
3 comments
Read more

The Origins of the surname Ryan

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...
6 comments
Read more

Ryan Family Nicknames

Over 500 individual Ryan Family nicknames - many with townlands associated with them. Click Here
15 comments
Read more