Placenames

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The following is a list of place names associated with Monasterevin. This article is updated periodically with new placenames and information. Please feel free to contact the Society with suggestions and information by clicking here.

 

Country

                Monasterevin is now part of the Republic of Ireland. Previously it was part of the Irish Free State, part of the British Commonwealth! Indeed between 1800 and 1921 it was part of the Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, part of the greater British Empire. Before the Act of Union in 1800 the state was the Kingdom of Ireland ruled by his majesty's government in Dublin. Before that Monasterevin existed in a gray area between the English Pale, the Hiberno-Norman Lords of Kildare and the native Irish of Leix. In its earliest history Monasterevin was its own independent nation, the Tuath of Eimhin.

Province

                Monasterevin lies in the province of Leinster.  A province is one of the major geographical divisions of Ireland. The four provinces are based on the ancient division of Ireland into fifths or "Cuiga". Leinster is also a Duchy under the Irish Peerage and the Fitzgerald’s are styled Dukes of Leinster.

County

                Monasterevin is in the County of Kildare. Kildare was "shired" by King John Lackland of England in 1210 creating an Anglo-Norman territory to be administered for the crown by the Earls of Kildare. The modern county was formed by the 1898 Local Government Act. Parts of Ballybrakan and Harristown were once part of the King's County (modern Co. Offaly).

Barony

                Monasterevin lies in the old barony of West Offaly. Baronies were created in Hiberno-Norman times as an administrative unit. They remained important until 1898. 

The Civil Parishes of the area.

                The Civil Parish is the pre-Reformation Catholic parish that became the smallest division in the Established Church. It was used up until the 1890's as a minor unit of civil administration.

Monasterevin

Lackagh

Ballybrakan

Duneany

Kildangan

Harristown

Nurney

Walterstown

   

Townlands in the Civil Parish of Monasterevin

                The Townland in a Medieval and older territorial division based on a number of plough lands. In later times they formed the basis for rental assessments. The following is a list of townlands, their Irish name and meaning.

Ballyfarsoon : Baile an pearsan. Town of the Parson.

Barraderra : Baire a doire. Top of the oak wood.                 

Clogheen : Cloicin. A small stone or stone house (possibly St. Evin's bell house or oratory).     

Cloncarlin : Cluain Caireallain. Carolan's Meadow (also called Globe Island).

Clonegath : Cluain na gath. Meadow of the spears (possibly meaning battlefield).

Cowpasture : Possibly a commonage area.

Coolnefearagh : Cuail na Fearagh. The men's corner or grassy corner (a place of assembly).

Fearmore : Fiair Mor. Great Meadow.

Gorteen : Guirtin. A small garden or cultivated field.

Gorteenoona : From the same root as Gorteen.

Grangecoor : An out farm of the Cistercian monastery.

Kill : Cill or Coill. A church or wood.

Kilpatrick : Cill Pádraig. St. Patrick's Church.

Larchhill : A hill with a plantation of larch trees ? Does anyone have an Irish name for the area?  

Lughill : Liamh Coill. Elm Wood

Millfarm

Monasterevin : Manistir Eimhin. The Monastery of Evin.

Monasterevin Bog : The Bog of the Monastery of Evin

Moore Abbey :Originally called The House of Monasterevan.

Oghill : Eochaill. Yew Wood.

Oldgrange : The old grange or out farm of the Cistercian monastery.

Passlands : Possibly the land of the pass, associated with the Pass Bridge.

Skirteen : Scairtin. A little cluster of bushes or a thicket.

Stramillian

Toghereen The Little Causeway (tracks over bogs dating to the Late Bronze Age are known throughout the area of Monasterevin).  

 

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