2,300 townlands in placenames book
YOU could forgive Wexfordman Dr. Conchubhar Ó Crualaoich for having breathed a sigh of relief when the two-volume book Townland Names of County Wexford was published.
The publication which is the fourth instalment in the research series Logainnneacha na hÉireann from the Placenames Branch of the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs is the result of 10 years of research by Conchubhar and contains detailed information on about 2,300 placenames in County Wexford, amounting to 600,000 words.
Local historian Bernard Browne performed a Wexford launch in County Council headquarters in Carricklawn following an official Dublin release in the National Library.
The book which is available in Wexford and Dublin bookshops and from the Government Publications Office at the subsidised price of €25 a volume, was co-authoried by Aindí Mac Giolla Chomhghaill who also works with the Placenames Branch.
An indepth analysis of every townland name in County Wexford is included along with a lengthy essay about the historical importance of the research.
The work reveals the wealth of historical information that can be gleaned from placenames when carefully and systematically researched.
The body of placenames provides insight into historical demographics. The extent of Norse and Anglo-Norman settlement in Wexford is well known but analysis of the completed research shows that the Irish language became the vernacular among those groups in most of the county and was even robust enough to coin new placenames in pockets among the Anglo-Normans in the very south of the county.
It has emerged that many apparently Yola placename elements are shown to to be unique to South Wexford as they crop up in other Anglo-Norman placenames elsewhere in The Pale counties of Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Louth.
Some characteristics of the local Irish dialect are also observed. There are numerous references to flora and fauna including animals that have since died out. Hundreds of placenames refer to archaeological features, many of which do not survive in the archaeological inventory. In a number of cases, the names of baileys and mottes etc are accompanied by previously unrecognised Anglo-Norman surnames
Minister of State at the Department of Gaeltacht Affairs Sean Kyne TD described the book as a fine testament to the ongoing work of the Placenames branch whose primary remit is to establish the official Irish forms of the placenames of Ireland.
Placenames researcher Dr. Conchubhar Ó Crualaoich is a former plumber who worked in Australia and Germany before returning to Ireland in 1990 to study for a Degree in German and Old and Middle English from Maynooth University. He obtained a Phd in Old Irish and lectured in Maynooth for six years.
At the Wexford launch of the book, Conchubhar made the point that he didn’t write it in a vacuum. He thanked the historians who came before him and singled out Hore’s History of Wexford, Billy Colfer’s Treasures of Anglo Norman Settlement and Fr. Seamus de Val’s work on Wexford placenames as well as Celestine Murphy’s Between Place and Parish, a guide to the historical administrative divisions of County Wexford published by Wexford Library in 2004.
Conchubhar, a son of Pete and Carrie (nee Burke) Crowley, began learning Irish as an 18-year old with Conradh na Gaeilge in Wexford and remembers the assistance of Pat Cremin and Tom O’ Connor.
His family’s strong Irish connections and involvement in traditional sports and music also had a major influence. His grandfather Jack was a four times All-*Ireland footballer for Wexford between 1915 and 1918 and his father Pete played football for the county in the 1950’s.
Conchubhar who began working with the Placenames Branch 16 years ago is currently researching placenames in County Sligo.