Some notable Cavan surnames
Times Past with historian Jonathan Smyth.
In his latest Times Past column, historian Jonathan Smyth looks at some of the ancient surnames of Cavan...
Without surnames, we might feel out of place, in the same way that having no townland, or street name would affect us. Family names offer identity and have historic meaning, and this is clear nowhere more so than in Ireland where every ancient kingdom boasts its own mighty clan.
Cavan is no exception, and if you casually asked ten people what name you would associate with the county, all ten would likely say O’Reilly; or to be historically accurate, we ought to say the royal and noble ‘Breifne Uí Raghallaigh’. It was so-called because their people inhabited and ruled the mighty kingdom of Breifne, a beautiful region rich in lakes and rivers said to be named after a tribe dating from circa the 8th Century, the Uí Briúin who, having emerged from central Roscommon, captured these lands thereafter becoming Breifne. As in every conflict, there were those who lost.
Occupation of the territory by the Uí Briúin resulted in the defeat of the original Masraighe and Cathraighe tribes. However, old wounds can slowly heal and the Masraighe and Cathraighe were as Fr Dan Gallogly succinctly put it, ‘absorbed’ into the Uí Briúin tribe.
Glan War
Later, Breifne got the chop and was split in two, geographically speaking. West Breifne included what became the baronies of Tullyhaw and Tullyhunco and this was ruled by the O’Rourke clan while the east came under the O'Reilly’s control. The O'Reilly's' principal residence was a fine castle on the hill at Tullacmongan, overlooking Cavan Town from where they administered their kingdom. The O’Reillys ruled from the 12th to 17th century. They also had a few more castles too. These dwellings were situated at Tullyvin, Clogh Uaichtair, Drung, Kilnacrott, and Muff.
The O’Rourkes weren’t always on easy terms with the O’Reillys and rows broke out. One of the largest and most unneighbourly of altercations took place in the Glan Gap where the O’Reillys fought the O’Rourkes and the O’Connors of Connaught. This became known as the Battle of Maigh Sleacht and on that day, it was said that the upper hand went to the O’Reillys who gave their opponents a right royal hammering. However, it was not a decisive win and the costs both to human life and the clan's wealth in fighting the war had left the O’Reillys and O’Rourkes severely weakened, and it is said that neither party had the same power as they had before the battle.
During the 16th century, the English shired the region making a part of it into Co. Cavan and in 1584, Sir John O’Reilly surrendered his lands to Sir John Perrott and in a newly written legal document between the pair, the baronies of Tullyhaw and Tullyhunco (as you will remember, they formerly belonged to O’Rourke) were added to the newly established county of Cavan. For more about this period in history, I recommend Brendan Scott’s ‘Cavan, 1609-1653’, and the Breifne Journal which are available to research in Cavan Library.
McGovern
The Magaurans, or McGoverns, are anglicized versions of the Gaelic surname Mac Samhradhaín. This clan descended from a branch of the Uí Briúin who gave Tullyhaw the name Tealach Eachdach, meaning the territory of Eochaidh. So, who was Eochaidh we may ask? Eochaidh was a 7th Century ancestor of the McGoverns. As lords of Tullyhaw, the clan's seat of power was at Ballymagovern. They previously had a seat at Coologue and Killywillin.
The family held high ranks in the church, with Cormac Magauran appointed Bishop of Ardagh in 1444, and then afterwards, his two relatives became bishops of the same dioceses, firstly, Edmund Magauran in September 1581, and secondly, James Magauran from 1815 to 1829. Edmund rose even higher and was appointed Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of Ireland. However, his life was tragically cut short on June 23, 1593, at the hands of a regiment under Sir Richard Bingham, Governor of Connaught.
He was killed on the Vigil of St. John, otherwise known as Bonfire Night. In a forthcoming column, I will take a closer look at the fascinating story of the McGoverns of Drumlane.
Ó Cléirigh
The Ó Cléirigh clan, also known variously as Clarke, Clark, Clerke, Cleary, Clery, Clerkin, O’Cleary, and O’Clery were an ancient tribe from South Connaught who were scattered in the 13th century when the Normans invaded and conquered their territories. One account states that the Ó Cléirigh name is one of the oldest in Europe dating back to AD 916, and descends from the Uí Fiachrach, who like the Uí Briúin, are also a sept of the dynasts of the sons of Eochaid Mugedón, a 4th Century high king of Ireland. After losing their lands, branches of the clan settled in Mayo, Cavan and Kilkenny. There was a particularly strong concentration of Ó Cléirigh families in the Bailieborough area where their descendants still reside.
Brady
Originating from Mac Bradaigh, that is, the son of Brady, this is a prominent Cavan name which I previously looked at in a column some years ago when writing about the fearless Field Marshall Thomas von Brady. According to Richard Froggatt’s entry on von Brady in the Dictionary of Ulster Biography: ‘Brady was born in Ulster, at Cootehill, County Cavan; some sources suggest a date of 1753. He seems to have moved to Vienna initially to commence an ecclesial career, but he joined the 15th Infantry Regiment as an ex propriis cadet on 21 November 1769.’ He provided ‘10,000 Gulden’ in his will to ‘finance a scholarship in Vienna.’ Another important member of the Brady family was Andrew MacBrady who was appointed the first bishop of Kilmore, in 1454.
Other prominent Cavan names include McCabe, Lynch, Sheridan, Smith, Carolan and McKiernan which are worthy of a further column. As the Canadian writer Kelley Armstrong says, ‘a name is so important … a surname connects you to your past, to your family. Even a given name has meaning - why did your parents pick that particular one?’
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