or province of Connaught, which was itself, anciently, the most extensive of the five provinces, or curgeaba, into which Ireland was originally divided.

с

Lough Orbsen.-Or Oirb, now corruptly Corrib. For an account of this lake, and of the river and town of Galway, mentioned immediately after in the text, see further on in this treatise.

d Kilmain, Clare, and Dunkellin.—Kilmain, in Irish, Cill Mheadoin, a barony in the south of the county of Mayo; of which that part lying south of the River Robe was the ancient territory of Conmhaicne cuile toladh, one of the five Conmhaicnes of Connaught, for which see our author's Ogygia, P. iii. ch. xlvi. p. 276. This was the ancient seignory of O'Talcarain. Ap Conmaicnecuile at clor, O Talcarain.—O’Dugan's Topogr. Poem, Stanz. 55. See also Lynch's Cambr. Evers. p. 27; and O'Brien's Dict., in voce Conmhaicne. The race of O'Talcarain has long since become extinct. After them the O'Conors, of the Siol-Muireadhoigh race, seem to have acquired power and possessions in this district. In A. D. 1155, the church of Kilmain was burned. -Four Masters. The O'Flaherties at an early period acquired some small portions of the southern part of this rich district, which bordered on their own territory of Ui bruin seola; but the entire was afterwards possessed by the Anglo-Norman adventurers, chiefly the Burkes and their

sen;

descendants, who built the castles mentioned in the text. In the thirteenth century, this territory was the scene of great warring and contention, between those adventurers and the native tribes, the O'Conors and the O'Flaherties.-See the Annals of the Four Masters, particularly at A. D. 1225, et sequent. In A.D. 12655 a conference took place at Kilmain, between Tomaltach O'Conor, Archbishop of Tuam, and the Prendergasts, at which many of the Archbishop's people were slain. Id. See Ware's account of this dispute, where he incorrectly calls this place. Kilmethan. In A. D. 1585, the ancient district of Conmhaicne cuile toladh was created the barony of Kilmain, so called from the ancient church there. Archdall was unacquainted with the site or name of this foundation.-See Monast. p. 503. In A. D. 1789, Sir John Browne, Bart., was created Baron Kilmain of the Neale, in the county of Mayo.-Ir. Peerage.

Clare. This was the ancient territory of U bruin Seola, the original inheritance of the O'Flaherties, or Muintir Murchada (from Morogh, the son of Maonach, who died A. D. 891.-Four Masters), which included the districts of Ui Bruin Ratha and Clann Feargaile, in the latter of which Galway was situate. It was also called Muintir Murchadha, from the tribe name of the possessors. Rickard Earl of Clanrickard, who died 24th July, A. D.

1582, was seized of a chief rent of twenty marks out of the cantred called Moyntermoroghou.-Ing. Rolls Off. Dub. This territory, 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.

e

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 Enaghdun, 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

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. "Garraò calma fir Ceapa" (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

Aran;

Downing, in his Description of Mayo, written about A. D. 1684, and preserved in the MS. Library of Trinity College, Dublin, I. 1, 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. A. D. 1585, Carra was created a barony, retaining its ancient name. For further particulars concerning it, see Mayo Composition, Appendix I.

In

h Planted with castles.-This is recorded by the Four Masters as follows: A. D. 1238, "Capléna do dénam hi Muintir Munchaỏa 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,