Information about Knockaunakirkeen

Information from O'Donovan's Field Name Books

Standard Name:
Knockaunakirkeen
Irish Form of Name:
Cnocán a Chircín
Translation:
hillock of the little hen
Civil Parish:
Ballinakill in Leitrim Barony
View all place names in this civil parish.
Other Forms of the Name with authority source (if provided) in italics:
Knockaunakirkeen
Cnocán a Chircín
Knockaunakirkeen B. S. Sketch
Knockaunakirkeen Hyath. Clarke, Esq.
Description:
A small townland all under cultivation. There is a s. well in the North end called Tubberouna and about 3 chains East of the well is a cave.
Situation:
In the N. East end of the parish of Ballynakill about 3 miles North of Woodford.

Information From Joyce's Place Names

Translation according to P. W. Joyce:
Knockaunnakirkeen in Galway ; Cnocán-na-circin, of the little kirk or hen, i.e. heath-hen, grouse. See Cearc, vol. ii. p. 298 [reproduced below].
Grouse. We call a grouse in Irish either cearc-fraeigh or coileach-fraeigh [cark-free, colliagh-free]. The former is applied to the female, signifying literally, heath-hen - (cearc, a hen; fraech, heath); the latter to the male (coileach, a cock); but in common use they are applied indiscriminately to male and female. Places named from this bird are almost all wild mountain or moory districts, and any that are not so now, have been reclaimed since the time the places got the names. There is a townland nearly east of Glenties in Donegal, called Cronacarkfree, a name which is slightly corrupted from Cro-na-gcearc-fraeigh, the cro or valley of the grouse. The full name of the bird seldom appears in names however; the word cearc being generally used alone; and although this word means the hen of any bird, yet in its topographical application it is commonly intended for grouse. It is easily recognised in names, as it always takes some such anglicised form as cark, kirky, kirk or gark - the c being eclipsed by g in the last. Derrycark near Belturbet in Cavan, bears its meaning on its face - the oak-wood of (the heath-) hens or grouse; Coolkirky two miles from Ballinhassig in Cork, the grouse-hen's angle or corner (cúil); Glennagark in the parish of Kilcormack in Wexford, and Slievenagark two miles west of Ballina in Mayo, the glen and the mountain of the grouse-hens. There is a well-known castle, now in ruins, on a little island in the western arm of Lough Corrib, called in the Four Masters, Caislen-na-circe, the Hen's Castle; but now anglicised Castlekirk. History tells us that this castle was erected in the twelfth century by the sons of Roderick O'Conor, the last king of Ireland; but local tradition will have it that it was built in one night by two grouse, a cock and a hen, who had been an Irish prince and princess. The other term for a grouse, coileach-fraeigh or coileach simply, i.e. cock, is equally common. The word usually occurs with the first c eclipsed, as it appears in the following names: - Cornaguillagh, in Leitrim, Longford, and Monaghan, represents the Irish Cor-na-gcoilleach, the round hill of the grouse-cocks; Coumnagillagh on the side of Mauherslieve or "mother-mountain", south of Silvermines in Tipperary (com, a mountain glen); Knocknagulliagh near Carrickfergus, grouse-hill, which same name is applied to a hill near Blessington in Wicklow, in the incorrect form of Crocknaglugh; and Glannagilliagh near Killorglin in Kerry, the glen of the grouse-cocks. We often find the word without eclipse; as for instance in Bencullagh, one of the Twelve Pins in Connemara, the name of which signifies the peak of the grouse; Knockakilly near Thurles in Tipperary, in which the genitive singular form appears, the name meaning the grouse's hill; and with the final g pronounced, we have Derreenacullig in the parish of Killaha in Kerry, the little oak-wood of the grouse-cock. The word is a good deal disguised in Rossahilly in Fermanagh which is anglicised from Ros-a'-choiligh, the wood of the (single) grouse-cock. (See Poulanishery, page 291). There is a townland in the parish of Lesselton, east of Ballybunnion in Kerry, now called Kilcock, the name of which is curiously corrupted: the Gaelic name is Cúil-coilig [Coolcollig], the corner of the grouse-cock, which the people have anglicised by changing Cúil to Kil, and translating coilig. The village of Kilcock in Kildare and Kilcock in Roscommon, take their names from the virgin saint, Cocca (Cocca's church, who lived in the early ages of church.

Information From Griffith's Valution

Area in Acres, Roods and Perches:
A.R.P.
34 0 7
Land value at the time in pounds, shillings and pence:
£.s.d.
21 13 9
Building value at the time in pounds, shillings and pence:
£.s.d.
0 0 0
Total value at the time in pounds, shillings and pence:
£.s.d.
21 13 9
Heads of housholds living in the townland at this time:

Townland Information

What is a townland?:
A townland is one of the smallest land divisions in Ireland. They range in size from a few acres to thousands of acres. Many are Gaelic in origin, but some came into existence after the Norman invasion of 1169
Townland:
Knockaunakirkeen is a townland.
Other placesnames in this townland:
Some other placenames in or near this townland are...

Information From Maps

Original OS map of this area.
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Ireland was first mapped in the 1840s. These original maps are available online.
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Knockaunakirkeen
Original OS maps at the Ordnance Survey of Ireland website.
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This link is not a link to the townland that you are currently researching; however, if you follow this link, you will see a search box near the top of the page which you can use to search for your townland.
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Knockaunakirkeen
Information from the Down Survey Website.
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The Down Survey website will tell you who owned this townland in 1641 (pre Cromwell) and in 1671 (post Cromwell).
Down Survey Website
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Information from Google Maps.
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You can use this link to find this townland on Google Maps.
Google Maps
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Information from the National Monuments Service.
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You can use this link to view a map of archaelogical features.
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Archaeological map from the National Monuments Service

Neighbouring Townlands

List of townlands that share a border with this townland:
This is a list of townlands that share a border with this townland.

Population and Census Information

People who lived here:
You can retrieve a list of people who lived in this townland from 1827 to 1911. This list is compiled from the following resources.
  • The Tithe Applotment Books
  • Griffith's Valuation
  • 1901 Census
  • 1911 Census
List of nineteenth century and early twentieth century inhabitants of this townland.
Church records of births, deaths and marriages:
Church records of births, deaths and marriages are available online at http://www.rootsireland.ie. To search these records you will need to know the 'church parish' rather than the 'civil parish'. (The civil parish is the pre-reformation parish and was frequently used as a unit of administration in the past.)
Knockaunakirkeen is in the civil parish of Ballinakill in Leitrim Barony.
Roman Catholic parishes:
This civil parish corresponds with the following Roman Catholic parish or parishes.
  • Abbey & Duniry
  • Woodford
  • Ballinakill (near Duniry)
Church of Ireland parishes:
This civil parish corresponds with the following Church of Ireland parish.
  • Ballinakill
In general, the civil parish and the Church of Ireland parish are the same, but, this is not always the case.

Other Sources

Information from the Logainm database.
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