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sen; which, besides the cathedrall, had an abbey of Chanon Regulars, and a nunnery.

But since the year of Christ, 1238, wherein the baronies of Clare, Kilmain and Kera were planted with castles" by the English,

1582, was seized of a chief rent of twenty marks out of the cantred called Moyntermoroghou.-Ing. Rolls Off. Dub. This ter ritory, excepting a small portion to the south, was created the barony of Clare, in A. D. 1585; and it was so named from the castle of Baile an Chlaire, now Clare-Galway, which lies about five miles N. E. of that town. The O'Flaherties possessed this territory from the fifth to the thirteenth century, when they were driven out by the Anglo-Norman Burkes. They then crossed Lough Orbsen (Corrib) and dispossessed the more ancient owners of the territories of Gnomore, Gnobegg, and Conmhaicnemara, the present baronies of Moycullen and Balinahinch lying west of that lake, as will appear in the sequel.

Dunkellin.. In Irish, Dún Caillin. This barony was created in A. D. 1585, and named from an ancient dun or castle within its boundaries. It formed part of the territory of Ui Fiachrach Aidhne, in the south of the present county of Galway; and, with the barony of Clare before mentioned, was included in the more modern territory of Clanrickard in that county, acquired by the families of De Burgo after the English invasion. See Appendix I. for a particular account of that territory, in A. D. 1585.

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• Enaghdun.-Now Annaghdown. We learn above from our author that the diocese of Enaghdun was conterminate with the "seignory" or territory of the O'Flaherties. The extent of both might, therefore, be satisfactorily ascertained from the ecclesiastical survey and taxation of Ireland, made in the time of Pope Nicholas, A. D. 1291; but that curious record is kept in London, in the department of the Queen's Remembrancer there. The extent of the diocese of Enagh-* dun, at a subsequent period, may be learned from the MS. E. 3, 13, in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, which contains, "the state of the dioceses of Tuam, Enaghdun, and Kilmacduach," in the reign of Elizabeth, and in the time of Christopher Bodkin, who succeeded archbishop Lally, A. D. 1536.-Ware. See also the Regal Visitation of A. D. 1615.

f But. This paragraph seems misplaced. Half of it, viz., as far as the word “Arran," properly belongs to the first, and the remainder to the second paragraph.

8 Kera. In Irish Ceapa. The barony of Carra, or Burriscarra, in the county of Mayo, bordering on the barony of Kilmain, in the same county, was part of the territory of Hy-Fiachrach, the ancient principality of the O'Dowde family. Although

the same [West Connaught] is confined to the limits of Moycullin and Balynahinsy barony's, and of the half baronies of Ross and Aran;

this is one of the richest baronies of Ireland, in point of soil, its present dense population may be classed among the poorest of the kingdom in point of circumstances. But it was not always so. The rich plains of Carra are noticed at an early period of our history; and the inhabitants, emphatically called the "Men of Carra," were formerly distinguished for their bravery, affluence, and hospitality. "Garpaò ċalma fir Ceara" (a brave race, the men of Carra). McFirbis describes these "Men of Carra" and their possessions, in his Book of Hy-Fiachrach, preserved in MS. in the Library of the Royal Irish Academy, Dublin. This is one of the most interesting fragments of Irish history now remaining, and has recently been published by the Irish Archæological Society. From it we learn that several of the kings of Connaught formerly resided in Carra, and that O'Murry, O'Gormog, and O'Tierney, were its lords under the O'Dowdes, kings of Hy-Fiachrach. In A. D. 1273, Flann O'Tierney, lord of Carra, was slain by the O'Murrys in a contest about the lordship.-Four Masters. The English De Burgos immediately after dispossessed these old proprietors, and established themselves in the territory. Some of the descendants of the former lords of Carra, particularly the O'Tierneys, may yet be traced within the barony, but most of them reduced to extreme poverty. Robert

Downing, in his Description of Mayo, written about A. D. 1684, and preserved in the MS. Library of Trinity College, Dublin, I. I, 3, states, that "The barony of Scarra (recte Carra) or Burriscarra, lyeth next to Kilmaine, which standeth upon the brink of a great lough, called Lough Carra, by the ancients Fionn lough Carra, which is said to have been one of the three loughs of Ireland that first sprung. On it is a small abbey, or rather nunnery, called Annagh or Any. It was founded and given by Thomas Burke, the chief of the Burkes of Mayo, to the abbot of Cong, upon condition, that if any woman of his posterity would vow chastity, the abbot of Cong should maintain her during her life, as appears by the several inquisitions after the dissolution of Cong."-See Archdall's Monast. p. 500, Abbey of Cong. In A. D. 1585, Carra was created a barony, retaining its ancient name. For further particulars concerning it, see Mayo Composition, Appendix I.

h Planted with castles.-This is recorded by the Four Masters as follows: A. D. 1238, "Capléna do dénaṁ hi Muintir Munchada hi c-Conmaicne Cuile agus ac-Ceapa, lár na barúnaib rémráite."— "Castles were built in Muintir Murchadha [the barony of Clare], in Conmaicne Cuile [the barony of Kilmain] and Ceara, by the aforesaid barons;" i. e. by the English adventurers in Ireland. These were,

Aran; and in the time of Malachias Mac Aodha of West Connaught extraction', archbishope of Tuam [ab. A°. 1313, ad. Ann. 1348], after

principally, the Burkes, many of whom. afterwards took the surnames of Mac Philbin, Gibbons, Jonine or Jennings, Mac Huberts, Mac Tibbotts, Mac Meylers, &c. The adjoining districts were possessed by the Berminghams (afterwards called Mac Feorais), the Jordans, Costellos, Prendergasts, Mac Morrises, Stauntons (afterwards called McEvillys), Fitzsimonses (afterwards called Mac Rudderys, recently Knights), Fitzstephens, &c. All these families are descended from the Anglo-Norman adventurers or soldiers who came to Ireland in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries; but having afterwards became

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more Irish that even the Irish themselves," their possessions were nearly all confiscated in the seventeenth century. Their descendants are consequently much reduced from the opulence of the original founders; but many of them yet preserve rank and respectability in the country. The Annals of the Four Masters contain, in great part, the history of these families.

i Aran. These baronies of Moycullin and Ballynahinsy, and the half baronies of Ross and Aran will be found described further on. The extent of Iar-Connaught, viz., of Ross, Moycullin, and Ballinahinch, is estimated in Irish acres, by the able engineer, Mr. Nimmo, in his valuable "Report on the Bogs to the west of Lough Corrib" (printed as an Appendix, No. 12,

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a long debate for many years before and in his time, the cathedrall of Enaghdun was, Anno 1321, united to the see of Tuam, by the finall decision of Pope John the twenty-second.

The half barony of Rosse lies furthest to the north, the barony of Moycullin to the east, the half barony of Aran to the south, and the barony of Balynahinsy to the west.

It is thirty-two miles long from Galway to Slimhead; and

people of this district had plenty of corn for their own consumption after paying their landlords. Potatoes, which were then unknown, are now, generally speaking, the principal food; and even they sometimes fail, of which there have been, in latter years, some awful instances.

i West Connaught extraction.—Our author's meaning seems to be that Malachias Mac Aodha, i. e. Malachy Mac Hugh, or Hughes, was of the same extraction as the O'Flaherties of West Connaught. This ancient and respectably descended family of Hughes, is now pretty generally spread over this province. For its pedigree down to the archbishop, see Mac Firbis's great Book of Genealogies, preserved in the Library of the Royal Irish Academy, p. 201. It is also given by O'Ferrall (who here agrees with Mac Firbis), in his curious Book of Irish Pedigrees, preserved in the Herald's Office, Dublin, as follows: "Mac Hugh of Monteach; 96. Canfaola, son of Colgan, the thirteenth Christian king of Connaught (see No. II in the O'Flaherty Pedigree, Appendix II.); 97. Dungal or Toole (second son of Canfaola, Amalgadh, the ancestor of O'Flaherty, being the oldest);

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98. Cumscragh; 99. Donn; 100. Cosgry; 101. Murias; 102. Conang; 103. Gownan; 104. Cosgrach (some call him Flann abrad) a quo Clann Coscry; 105. Rory; 106. Hugh, a quo the surname Mac Hugh; 107. Muredach; 108. Teige; 109. Hugh; 110. Donogh; 111. Melaghlin; 112. Donald; 113. Melaghlin McHugh, a canon in Elphin, and made bishop there, 1309; archbishop of Tuam, 1313; and (as also elsewhere stated by our author) governor of Connaught, jointly with Edmond Burke, son to the red Earl of Ulster, in 1333; died 1348. He was a learned antiquary, and writ the book called leabar Mhic Ɑoda, now [1709] extant."—Orig. in loc. citat. See Ware's Account of Archbishop Mac Hugh, vol. i. p. 610.

k Slimhead.-Ceann leime; in Mackenzie's "Maritim Survey," and other modern maps and charts, improperly called Sline, or Slyne, head. This is the most western point of Conamara, and our author must have calculated its distance from Galway, according to the "long Connaught miles" ("magnis milliaribus Conaciensibus," de Burgo, Hib. Dom. p. 308, n. (e)), for it is at least fifty miles, modern

(setting aside the Isles of Aran) sixteen miles broad, from Killin', opposite to Aran, to the Salmon Leap of Easroe.

It is surrounded on the east with Loughmeasg, the isthmus and river of Cong", Lough Orbsen, and the river of Galway; on the south

English measure, from that town to the light house at Slimhead. Harris incorrectly says: "I judge the name Slime-Head should be written Slin-Head, Slin signifying a shoulder."-Harris's Ware, vol. ii. p. 202. This is one of the numerous errors which should be corrected in a new edition of that work.

1 Killin-Easroe.-At Killin (Cillín) are the ruins of an old church, near the south-west point of Casla Bay. Easroe, Earpuaò, lies at the head of the Killery, Caol faile ruao, near the mearing of the counties of Mayo and Galway.

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Loughmeasg.-mearga, now called Lough Mask. This lake will be found mentioned again in the sequel.

Cong. In Irish, Conga and Conga Feċin, a border town between Mayo and Galway counties, formerly celebrated for a richly endowed monastery, founded by St. Fechin (but, according to Ware, by Donal Mac Aodha mhic Ainmhire, monarch of Ireland) in the seventh century. Cong is situated upon an island or isthmus formed by the openings of the subterraneous river flowing from Lough Mask into Lough Corrib. The plain of Moytura, Irish Mag Tuineaò, famous for a decisive battle fought there at an early period, between the Firbolgs and Tuatha de Danans,

early invaders of Ireland (see Four Masters at A. M. 3303) lies within the parish of Cong, to the right of the road leading from the town of Cong to the village of the Neale. Here were to be seen the remains of an ancient fort, called Carai Mhic Tuipe; lately demolished in order to erect the glebe house of Nymphsfield on its site.

The Annals of the Four Masters inform us, that in A. D. 1198, Roderick O'Conor, king of Connaught and monarch of Ireland, died at Cong, and that his remains were conveyed to Clonmacnoise, and intombed at the north side of the altar of the great church there. Cathal Crovdearg (the red-handed), king of Connaught, having leagued with William Fitz-Adelm de Burgo, or Burke (the first of the Burkes who came to Ireland), they marched to Cong, where they spent the Easter. While there, this William Burke, and the sons of Roderick O'Flaherty, entered into a conspiracy to murder Cathal, but it was providentially discovered and defeated. A. D. 1226, Nuala, queen of Ulster, and daughter of Roderick O'Conor the monarch, died at Cong, and was interred in the canon's church there.

The remnant of a splendid cross, which formerly belonged to the monastery of

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