The inauguration site of the O'Meaghers of Ikerrin at Sean Ross Abbey near Roscrea, Co. Tipperary

The O'Meaghers were another of the Gaelic Clans of North Tipperary.

King Henry the VIII includes them as one of  "Chief Irish regions and countries of Thomond and Chief Captains of the same" (See History of O'Dwyers for reference).

I first came across a reference to the location of  the inauguration site in "O'Meachair - The Story of a Clan" by Gabrielle Ní Mheachair. On pg 89 it states "Ó Meachair was inaugurated as the king of his clan with a mighty ceremony at the ancient monastery of Sean Ross near the ancient town of Roscrea". However it gave no reference as to where this came from.

I did a bit of research but could find nothing about it online. I then checked "The History of Ely O'Carroll Territory" by Rev. John Gleeson and that seems to be where the original reference comes from.

Gleeson on pg 411 / 412 says "The O'Meagher, as Lord of Ikerrin, was instituted into the chieftaincy of the tuath (thooa) or barony by the abbot of the local monastery; such was the Irish custom. In this case the successor of St. Cronan, who was called in Irish Comarba, who performed the ceremony of institution. This ceremony used to be performed on the summit of one of those artificial green mounds called moats, one of which is found in the parish of Dunkerrin, similar to the green moat of Lorrha, where the O'Kennedy was installed. In the pedigree of the O'Meaghers, given by Cuconry O'Clery, one of the Four Masters, the following reference to this ceremony is found - "The steed and battledress of every Lord of them belong to the Comarba of Cronan and of Inchnamber, and these must go thrice round him, when proclaiming him Lord; and the comarba should be at his shoulder ; and he should rise before the comarba ; and that Machair (O'Meagher) was king of Ely". In the above extract, the word king is used to express the fourth class Irish King, who governed a small territory."

With that I made a visit to Sean Ross itself and they have a nice information board there. The Abbey itself was undergoing renovation / stablisation works at the time of visit.

It says "Tradition asserts that here, too, was the inauguration place of the O'Meachair, chieftains of Ikerrin, who also held the position of prior of Monaincha throughout the middle ages."

I have been researching these places with a view to seeing if there is any pattern to their location / siting in Tipperary & surrounds. It is difficult to know at this remove whether the fact Rev John Gleeson was a clergy-man led to any bias regarding his location of the site at a religious place. Many other inauguration sites had no such connection.

It is interesting to note that there is a small mound to one side of the Abbey.

Where is the inauguration mound of the O'Carrolls?

Inauguration of the O'Neill on 1602 map of Ulster by Richard Bartlett

Following on from my previous post on the possible O'Carroll inauguration mound at Moatquarter, new information has came to light suggesting it is unlikely to be it.

This paper (below) by Paul MacCotter deals with the site at Moatquarter and disagrees with Elizabeth Fitzpatricks assessment of Moatquarter as a possible inauguration mound.

The M7 motorway historical landscape: studies in the history of Ikerrin and Elyocarroll

One of the main points is that he disagrees with Elizabeth Fitzpatrick's location of the mound mentioned in "The History of the Diocese of Killaloe" by Gwynn & Gleeson as being at Moatquarter. If you read the paper he says (pg 51)

"As is from reading Gwynn, the motte he speaks about is not that of Moatquarter but that at Dunkerrin to the north, and it is this motte that the tradition must refer to."

Motte at Frankfort to the east of Dunkerring village - Copyright - OSI

Another point Fitzpatrick used in arguing for Moatquarter was that the mound and nearby church at Dromroe were in different parishes.

MacCotter says this "is inaccurate..... both lay in the same parish in the 17th century."

He then goes on to say that it may in fact be possible to find the location of the mound. He refers to a reference to a pre-invasion royal site of the O'Carrolls in a poem known as Dún Enaigh.

From this he seems to give three potential areas - Rathenny (which is meant to be an alias for Dún Enaigh), and the Cullenwaine / Templeharry areas which may have been the royal estate associated with Dún Enaigh. So from my reading of the paper he seems to think that the likely location of an O'Carroll inauguration mound is within these areas.

I did a review of the 37 townlands within Cullenwaine / Templeharry as to the monuments within each.

Templeharry		Ballintemple			House & fulacht fia
		Ballydonagh			No records
		Brickanagh			Enclosure
		Clonymohan			5 ring-forts & destoyed castle
		Cloonalisk			Designed landscape feature
		Cloonaloughan			No records
		Emmel			No records
		Emmel East			Ringfort
		Emmel West			2 ring-forts, enclosure, castle & house
		Foxburrow			No records
		Gorraun			Megalithic Tomb
		Graffan		x	Graveyard on hill & house - two ringforts in the townland
		Knockbrack			No records
		Knockearl		x	No records
Cullenwaine		Armyhill			No records
		Ballingorraun			Ringfort & enclosure
		Ballinlough			Castle ringfort & enclosure
		Ballycormick			Ringfort & enclosure
		Ballynakill			No records
		Barnagrotty		x	Motte
		Brownstown			No records
		Clynoe			Ringfort & enclosure
		Cullenwaine		x	Graveyard, church, mound, castle, ring-forts, enclosure
		Glaskill			Ringfort & enclosure
		Glendine		x	Motte
		Island			No records
		Knockaspur			No records
		Knockbane			Moated site & ringfort
		Lisdavuck			Ringfort
		Loyer			Designed landscape feature & enclosure
		Moneygall			ringfort, fulachta fia, metalworking, burial ground
		Rath			enclosure
		Rathenny		x	enclosure
		Rathmoyle		x	ringfort 2 banks
		Rosdrehid			No records
		Silverhill			No records
		Snugborough			No records

My rough analysis from the Sites and Monuments Records suggests that the townlands above marked with an x seem to be the most likely sites for an inauguration mound (based on the existing monuments within). An interesting townland with no recorded sites is Knockearl just south of Cloughjordan town which going on placename evidence alone has been included.

It may be that one of these monuments is known by the local name of Dún Enaigh. The simplest solution would be that the enclosure within Rathenny townland was it but from reading the description it doesn't appear as such "No surface remains of any enclosure of archaeological significance, potential enclosure possible identified from aerial photographs taken in 1973 (GSI R 90; S 87). Of doubtful antiquity."

Not a possible inauguration mound of the O'Carrolls of Ely O'Carroll country

UPDATE:

Additional information has come to light regarding this mound and it is in fact probably just an Anglo-Norman Motte - for more on this see here.


This moate in the townland of Moatquarter is described as the following on archaeology.ie

"Situated near S end of a roughly N-S ridge, overlooking a valley, in pasture. The land rises steadily E of the site, though the slope is still overlooked by a motte. A church (OF047-009----) and graveyard (OF047-009001-), rectangular enclosure (OF047-008----) and sunken ways are visible on the opposing ridge to the S-SW. The site consists of a steep-sided, flat-topped mound (max. diam. NE-SW 11m; 8.5m N-S; 9.6m E-W: H 9m) of classic pudding-bowl profile. Enclosed from E to S to NW by a fosse (Wth 1.6m; D 2m) which has been dug into the ridge. The enclosing bank (Wth 1.3m) on the SE side appears to be the remains of the original ridge and is actually a false bank or counterscarp. No bailey visible. A National Monuments Preservation Order no. 4 was placed on this monument in 2008."

Fosse around the mound (with the M7 construction works in the background)

As mentioned there is no visible trace of a bailey (of course this may be traceable via other surveying methods). There is also a church and graveyard site nearby at Drumroe with a bullaun stone.

A closer look

I first found mention of this in relation to being an inauguration mound in Elizabeth Fitzpatrick's wonderful book "Royal Inauguration in Gaelic Ireland c.1100–1600: a Cultural Landscape Study"

It states on pg 94

"Ceathramhain an Mhóta or Moatquarter 'motte', situated in the barony of Ikerrin north Tipperary, has been described in conflicting terms as 'the best known Anglo-Norman earthwork in Ely O'Carroll' and 'the old inauguration site of the kings of Éile'. The opinion that the mound at Ceathramhain an Mhóta was the inauguration place of Ó Cearbhaill derives solely from a local 'tradition' documented in 1929'.

Fitzpatrick also calls into question its proximity to an Anglo-Norman caput at Dunkerrin less than two miles away and the fact that the above mentioned Drumroe is on the other side of a river and in a different parish / county (Often they would go hand and hand together and would stay within the same boundary). She also wonders about the profile of the mound for defense and compares it to another inauguration mound at Coggins Hill, Co. Sligo.

The local 'tradition' she references comes from Gwynn & Gleeson's "History of the Diocese of Killaloe" - it states "Hereabouts was certainly the centre of the Ua Cerbaill rule, and also of the Norman lordship". 

However it is right on the border between two baronies - Clonlisk & Ikerrin. It is actually in Ikerrin and in later times Ikerrin is referred to as O'Meagher country during the reign of Henry VIII. Could it also have been an inauguration mound for the O'Meaghers in later times?

I honestly don't know; the lands controlled and clans in control probably ebbed and flowed with different families in control of different lands at different times. Therefore there could be a multitude of different inauguration sites across Tipperary. However this does not seem likely as records of any of them are so scant. 

O'Loughlin / O'Loghlin Inauguration Site near Kilshanny in Co. Clare.

The picture is of Carn Mhic Tail near Kilshanny in Co. Clare - likely to be the medieval inauguration site of the O'Loghlins. Carleton Jones book on the Burren believes that Carn Mhic Tail was the medieval inauguration site for the O'Connors and O'Loughlins. He says that "Carn Mhic Tail is named after Tailm the ancestor of both Conchobhar and Locklainn, and it was considered the burial place of Tail". He does go on to say that many medieval inauguration sites reused ancient burial mounds so as to legitimise their rule.

Inauguration Sites in Tipperary

Inauguration of the O'Neill on 1602 map of Ulster by Richard Bartlett

I must admit I have a soft spot for royal inauguration sites. This one here was for the O'Neill clan of Ulster. Not that many have been recorded in Tipperary but if you see some of the pre Cromwellian maps of Tipperary / North West Munster there were at least 12 "countries" in the North Western section, all of which would have required an inauguration site. Clues to a site include a sacred tree or bíle, a stone chair or a footprint stone. Generally they were on a height, so on top a mound or barrow. There doesn't seem to be a consistency to their location sometimes they were on the edge of a territory, sometimes in the middle. Sometimes a rival site could be set up during times of civil war.

Here is a list of the "Chief Irish regions and countries of Thomond and Chief Captains of the same"
This was essentially part of King Henry VIII's enemy list in North Munster but also points to these being "countries" in their own right with chiefs that would require inauguration. ...

"O' Brien de Toybrien (Clare and Limerick)
O'Kennedy de Ormond (Tipperary)
O'Carroll de Ely (King's Co.)
O'Meagher de Ikerin (Tipperary)
McMahon de Coroaskin (Clare)
O'Loghlin de Burrin (W. Clare)
O'Grady de Kinall Downall (Clare)
O'Brien de Arra (Tipperary)
O'Mulryan de Owney (Tipperary)
O'Doure (O'Dwyer) de Kylnemanagh (Tipperary)
McBrien Oghonagh (Coonagh) (Limerick)"
Taken from "The History of the O'Dwyers" by Sir Michael O'Dwyer

So from this we can see that the O'Kennedys, O'Carrolls, O'Meaghers, O'Briens, O'Mulryans & O'Dwyers all would have had to have inauguration sites all within the general area of North Tipp. To my knowledge no record has ever been kept of the sites locations. Personally I think this is something that needs to be addressed, is it possible to rediscover these inauguration landscapes?

Woodbine Lodge & it's Fairy Mound

The 'tea-mount' at Shean Forts

I visited these unusual monuments a number of years ago and it was not till I learned of the significance of similar placenames from the writings of Professor Ronald Hicks, that the importance of the name Shean Forts became apparent to me.
Logainm.ie (the placename translator) does not have this particular site within its database but for every other instance of the name Shean - it translates it as An Sián - which means Fairy Mound.

Shean forts - 1840s OS map Copyright Ordnance Survey Ireland | Government of Ireland

The monuments themselves are listed as two ringforts with a designed landscape feature - avenue between them.

Panorama of the complex together (they are approx. 250m in length)

The first ringfort is described on archaeology.ie as

Situated on level ground in undulating pastureland. A circular area (diam. c. 45.5m E-W) defined by an earthen bank (Wth 3.9m; int. H 0.65m; ext. H 3.26m), a fosse (Wth 10.3m; D 3.63m) and an outer bank/walkway (Wth 14.7m; ext. H 1.35m). The main Dublin to Nenagh railway line truncates the NW quadrant (post 1840). A steep-sided, earthen mound occupies the centre of the site (diam. c. 20m; H 4m). The top of this is dug into to a depth of 1.3m. The sharp profile of the defences, the lack of a causeway or entrance, the very broad outer bank, the central mound which could be interpreted as 'tea-mount', the planting of the site with beech trees and the connection to a nearby possible ringfort (TN021-007003) by a tree-lined avenue would all suggest that this may be a tree-ring possibly modifying an existing ringfort.

Fosse of the first ring-fort - must be over 3m in depth

The second ringfort and avenue between are described on archaeology.ie as

Situated on level ground in undulating pastureland. A circular area (diam. 38.8m) enclosed by a steep-sided inner bank (Wth 2.2m; int. H 1.05m; ext. H 3m), a fosse (Wth 6.6m; D 2.1m) and an outer bank (Wth 3.3m; ext. H 1.05m). Causewayed entrance in NE quadrant (Wth 1.8m). The site is planted with beech trees and is connected to a nearby possible ringfort (TN021-007001) by a tree-lined avenue suggesting the possible reuse of a ringfort as a tree-ring.

The avenue between the two - you can make out the width by the green fields on either side. 

There is also mention of a possible souterrain to the east of the first ring-fort but field inspection has ruled out this possibility.

These descriptions refer to the ring-forts being modified to become landscape features by growing trees on them to create what is called a tree-ring. This is the similar explanation for the avenue between the two ring-forts. Also there is a central mound within the first ring-fort that has been interpreted as a 'tea-mount' I assume for the nearby Woodbine lodge to the east. This would be similar to the 'tea-mount' that was built on top of Dowth in Co. Meath.

Gabriel Beranger: View of the Tumulus or Barrow at Douth, Co. Meath, 1775. (Royal Irish Academy).

So a relatively modern interpretation has been applied to the various features here. The two large ring-forts that were adjacent to each other with very deep ditches were turned into a landscape feature by the addition of two linear banks connecting them together. Then a mound was added to one of the ring-forts and all of the features planted with trees.
I haven't been able to find out who were the owners of Woodbine lodge to see whether they would have had the means to carry out these works, so if anyone can help me out with that it would be a great help. It seems like a pretty big project but I suppose it can't be ruled out.  Perhaps the owners of Woodbine lodge added the name Shean forts to them after they completed the landscaping?

The counter argument is based only on placename evidence - namely that these monuments are older than this and part of a 'fairy-mound'. Could older monuments such as barrows have been modified to create ring-forts and then later in relatively modern times the trees were added to them?

These forts are in the vicinity of a number of other significant monuments, Rathurles (which I've written about before here) is only 1.5 km away and the Rathurles Commons crannogs are just 1.5 kms away (as well) and I have speculated before about them being part of a possible  royal landscape associated with the Aenach Urmhumhan or "The Fair of Munster".

Please note that this monument is on private lands and permission must be sought before viewing.

The Fairy Mansion of Shevry

I always wondered about this unusual placename and what it meant. It wasn't till Professor Ronald Hicks posted about his research on placenames associated with Fairy Sídh's or mounds that I came across its meaning. Shevry comes from Siodhbhruigh or Fairy Mansion.
There are a number of ancient remains on the hill. I have only visited the stone pair and barrow but there is also a ring-barrow with a cist in it farther up the hill which may be the inspiration for the placename.
This area is pretty remote so it may be that there is still something up here that is unrecorded or has been destroyed that was the reason for the placename.
I have it on my list for a revisit but have not had the opportunity to do so. Tom Fourwinds of Megalithomania wondered whether the stone pair may have been aligned to the Equinox sunset but back in 2014 I checked this and confirmed that they weren't.