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Samuel Lewis published a topographical survey of several towns and counties in Ireland. He captured and recorded industrial, agricultural, religious, architectural and cultural information for each place. The spelling of placenames reflect that of the time, particularly amongst the classes with whom he consulted. Some of what he reports would not necessarily be accepted by historians today, nevertheless, it is interesting to read what was the accepted wisdoms of the time.

QUIN, a parish in the barony of Bunratty, County of Clare, and province of Munster, five and a half miles (S.E.) from Ennis, on the old road from Limerick; containing 2918 inhabitants, of which number, 173 are in the village. It was anciently called Quint or Quinchy, where, about 1250, an abbey was founded, which was consumed by fire in 1278.

About the commencement of the 15th century, according to the Annals of the Four Masters, a monastery for Franciscan friars of the Strict Observance was founded here by Sioda Cam Macnamara, which is said to be the first house of the Franciscan order in Ireland that admitted this reformation. The buildings, of which the remains still exist, were erected chiefly of a kind of black marble by Macon Dall Macnamara, lord of Glancoilean, whose tomb still remains. The monastery with all its possessions was granted, in 1583, to Sir Turlough O’Brien, of Ennistymon, and in 1604 the buildings were repaired. In the vicinity, Teigue O’Brien, son of Sir Turlough, who had revolted from the English government, was defeated in 1601 by Capt. Flower and mortally wounded.

The village, which in 1831 contained 34 houses, is a station of the constabulary police and has a penny post to Newmarket-on-Fergus. Fairs are held on July 7th and November 1st and petty sessions on alternate Wednesdays. The parish comprises 7290 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe act, of which 5190 only are rated for the county cess; the land is chiefly in tillage, but there is a considerable portion of rocky land, affording a scanty though rich pasture, and about 320 acres of bog; although there is an abundance of limestone adapted both for building and agricultural purposes, and a good supply of sea manure brought up the river Fergus, the state of agriculture is rather backward. The Quin river, which flows into the Fergus, abounds with fine eels. At Ballyhickey is a productive lead mine, the property of Hugh Singleton, Esq., worked by a mining company, the ore, which is of superior quality, is conveyed to Clare, where it is shipped for Wales. The seats are Moriesk, the finely wooded demesne of Lord Fitzgerald and Vesci; Well Park, of the Rt. Rev. Dr. Mac Malum, R.C. Bishop of Killaloe; Quinville Abbey, the handsome mansion of John Singleton, Esq., recently rebuilt in the Elizabethan style; Knopouge Castle, the residence of Wm. Scott, Esq., which formerly belonged to the Macnamaras of Moriesk, and is one of the few ancient castles still inhabited; Castle Fergus, the modern residence of Wm. Smith, Esq., adjoining which are the remains of the ancient edifice; Ballykilty, the residence of John Blood Esq., Dangan, the property of Rich. Creagh Esq., and Lough O’Connell, of Thos. Steele Esq. From a turret on the summit of Mount Cullane, in Mr Steele’s demesne, is obtained an extensive and interesting view of the surrounding country, embracing a number of lakes, of which that called “Lough O’Connell” lies immediately at its base.

The living is a rectory and vicarage, in the diocese of Killaloe; the rectory is united to those of Cloney, Dowry, Kilraghtis, Templemaly, Kilmurrynegaul, and the half-rectory of Tullagh, together constituting the union of Ogashin, in the patronage of the Earl of Egremont; the vicarage is episcopally united to those of Cloney and Dowry, together forming the union of Quin, in the gift of the Bishop.

The tithes amount to £175. 7. 8½., of which £71. 1. 6½ is payable to the rector, £81. 4. 7½ to the vicar, and the remaining £23. 1. 6½ to the prebendary of Tullagh; the gross tithes of the rectorial union amount to £495. 13. 10¼, and of the vicarial union to £279. 13. 10¼. The glebe-house, towards the erection of which the late Board of First Fruits, in 1822, granted £450 as a gift and £200 as a loan, is a commodious residence; the glebe of the union comprises 15 acres. The church is a small plain building with a low tower, erected in 1797, by aid of a gift of £500 from the late Board; and the Ecclesiastical Commissioners have lately granted £100 for its repair.

In the R.C. divisions the parish is the head of a union or district, comprising also the parish of Cloney, each containing a chapel. A new chapel is now in course of erection in Quin; it is a handsome and spacious cruciform structure, in the Gothic style, with a portico of hewn stone; the estimated expense, £2000, is being defrayed by subscription. About 130 children are educated in two private schools. At the village is a dispensary. Quin Abbey is considered to be one of the finest and most complete remains of monastic antiquity in Ireland; it is situated on a gentle slope near a small stream, having an ascent of several steps to the church, which consists of a nave and chancel, with a tower in the centre, and a chapel on the south side of the altar. In the chapel is a rudely sculpted figure in relief of some saint, and in the chancel is the monument of the founder’s family. The cloisters are adorned with coupled pillars and ornamental buttresses, and on the three sides of them extend respectively the refectory, dormitory, and a grand room to the north of the chancel, under all of which are vaulted rooms.

To the north of the large room is a private way to a strong tower, the walls of which are nearly ten foot thick; and adjoining the abbey are the remains of a building supposed to have been appropriated to accommodation of strangers. The south end of the abbey is of a much superior workmanship to the adjoining parts, but the whole is much disfigured by the custom of burying within the walls.

Besides the castles of Knopouge and Fergus before mentioned, there are the remains of the castles of Ballymarkahan, Dangan and Danganbrack. Dangan castle is said to be one of the oldest in Munster, having been built by Philip de Clare, from whom the county of Thomond has since been called Clare. It was with other possessions granted by Chas. II to Pierse Creagh for his services against Cromwell, and still remains in the possession of the descendants of the original grantee. It was formerly a place of strength, and was one of a quadrangular form, flanked at each angle by a small round tower; from the centre rose the donjon or keep. The ruins form a picturesque object in the well-planted demesne of Dangan. The castle of Danganbrack is now in the Scott family, having, with Knopouge, been purchased from the Macnamaras, as Moriesk has more recently been by the father of Lord Fitzgerald and Vesci.

What did the Anglo Normans ever do for us?

We are well aware of the impact of the Anglo-Norman invasion on our history, the undermining of Gaelic society and the replacement of our native structures. Poor old Diarmuid MacMurrough takes a lot of blame for all of this, despite the fact that Henry II in England had already sought and had been given approval by Pope Adrian to invade and civilise us. Henry was just waiting to finish his war in France before sorting us out!

Anyway, in they came, conquered, settled, married and eventually becoming more Irish than even ourselves, ‘níos gaelaí ná na Gaeil féin’! But besides building towns and castles, robbing our women (and probably taking our jobs!), what did the Anglo-Normans do for us – if anything?

Well, for one, they gave us a whole new suite of names, both forename and surname, to choose from.

The Norman influence on Irish surnames

Following the invasion of 1169, a large number of Anglo-French first and last names entered into Ireland. Many, such as Power, Browne, Fleming, Joyce, Burke, Barry, Costello, Nagle, Nugent, D’arcy, Roche and Walsh/Welsh/Wallace, are nowadays considered Irish and are commonly found in Clare. So, too, are those with the Fitz prefix such as Fitzmaurice, Fitzgerald, Fitzgibbon and Fitzpatrick which most people would regard as Irish as the shamrock. Fitz, meaning ‘son of’, can be considered the Norman version of Mac (it derives from the Latin/French ‘fils de’, meaning ‘son of’). Burke came from de Burgh, Roche from de Roiste, Power from de Paor.

In 1366, a law was passed that “Every Englishman do use the English language, and be named by an English name, leaving off entirely the manner of naming used by the Irish.” This was introduced to dissuade the settlers from adopting Celtic prefixes or forms of surname. It didn’t have much affect as many settler families added Mac or ‘O’ and Norman names evolved into an Irish form (eg McHenry, McArthur).

In 1465 a law was passed enacting “that every Irishman that dwells betwixt or amongst Englishmen in the County of Dublin, Myeth, Vriell, and Kildare … shall take to him an English Surname of one town, as Sutton, Chester, Trym, Skryne, Corke, Kinsale; or colour, as white, blacke, browne; or arte or science, as smith or carpenter; or office, as cooke, butler ….”

Many of the trades of the early medieval period such as Archer, Butler, Cooper, Carpenter, Draper, Skinner, Tanner found their way into our surnames. Other introductions from this period came from the mercenary soldiers who accompanied the Norman invasion: Walsh (meaning Welsh), Joyce and Fleming (from Flemish mercenaries) are examples.

Incidentally, the Normans usually took their surnames from the place of their family origins. So, D’arcy originates in Arcy in Normandy. De Clare originates in Clare in Suffolk where the Anglo-Norman family were based. While De indicated their place of origin, Le was used to describe them, eg Le Poer meant ‘a poor person’.

De Burgh – Burke – from a placename in Suffolk, France

Le Botilier – Butler – Occupation bottle steward

De Barra – Barry – from an estate in Wales

Le Waleys – Walsh – the Welshmen

De Angulo – Costello/Nangle – from Nangle Pembrokeshire

What of their influence on forenames?

 Many of the Normans forenames introduced here were of a biblical or European saintly origin.

 In 1922, Reverend Patrick Woulfe wrote extensively on the topic of Irish name origins as follows:

In the same manner Norman and English names became current in Irish families during the thirteenth and subsequent centuries. These have now almost completely supplanted the old Gaelic names. The names borne by the Normans and by them introduced into Ireland, were of three kinds :

 (1) names of Scandinavian origin which their ancestors had carried with them to Normandy ;

(2) names of Germanic origin which the Frankish conquerors had brought across the Rhine and which had ousted the old Celtic and Latin names from France ; and

(3) Biblical names and Latin and Greek names of saints,, which the Normans began to adopt about the beginning of the eleventh century.

Together with these came in a few Celtic names from Brittany, a small number of Anglo-Saxon names, some Danish and Norse names from England, and one or two British or Welsh names. These were nearly all very rare and most of them soon died out. Of the Anglo-Saxon names, only two, Edmund and Edward, survived. Alfred has been revived in recent times. At the period of the Invasion, Frankish names were by far the most popular among the Normans, but Biblical and saintly names were coming rapidly into favour.

The following is a list, in order of frequency, of the more common names borne by the early Anglo- Norman invaders, the Biblical and saintly names of Latin and Greek origin being printed in italics :

William, Robert, Richard, John, Walter, Roger, Ralph, Adam, Hugh, Henry, Thomas, Nicholas, Gilbert, Geoffrey, Elias, Peter (Piers), Osbert, Reginald, Jordan, Simon, Alan, Stephen, Philip, David, Arnold, Alexander, Laurence, Baldwin, Herbert, Martin, Maurice, Godfrey, Andrew, Alfred, James, Samson, Turstein, Warin, Ailward, Daniel, Edward, Gregory, Bernard, Benedict, Hamon, Matthias, Michael, Gerard, Gervase, Lambert, Wilkin, Patrick, Edmund, Edwin, Hubert, Ivor, Joseph, Oliver, Mark.

 The following in alphabetical order were rare :

 Abraham, Adelard, Ailmer, Antony, Augustine, Brian, Clement, Constantine, Estmund, Eustace, Everard, Gocelin, Isaac, Leonard, Luke, Matthew, Miles, Milo, Odo, Osbern, Osmund, Pagan, Ponce, Randulf, Redmund, Rodulf, Silvester, Turold, Ulf, Vincent.

 The following names only came in, or at least became popular, at a later period :

Bartholomew, Christopher, Francis, Gerald, George, Paul, Roland, Theobald.

 Women’s names among the Normans were nearly all of the Biblical or saintly class:

 Agnes, Alice, Amelina, Anastasia, Annabella, Catherine, Cecily, Christina, Dorothy, Egidia, Eleanor, Evelyn, Frances, Honora, Isabella, Johanna, Matilda, Margaret, Susanna.

 The name Mary does not seem to have come into use in Ireland before the end of the16th century. Brigid only began to be used about the same period.

 

Extracted from ‘Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall’, Patrick Woulfe 1922

Out with the old, in with the new

The Anglo-Normans also brought with them new animal species such as the rabbit and fallow deer, new foods such as wheat, orchard fruits, mutton and farming practices such as hay-making. They introduced us to continental European religious saints and practices of the Roman Church. European religious orders soon followed such as the Franciscans, Augustinians, Cistercians, Dominicans etc. These replaced the structures of the native Irish Christian Church.

Up to then, the Irish natives did not adopt the name of saints as they considered this to be placing themselves on a par with the saint. Such naming convention was reserved for those of higher status in the monasteries. This was circumvented by use of the prefix Maol or Giolla meaning follower or servant. The Normans changed all of that and it was now acceptable to be called Peter, James, Michael, John, Mary, Brigid or Margaret.

Very few of us to this day do not have either a forename or surname that is not of Norman origin. Eventually, arising from the Gaelic Revival in the late 19th century, new Irish language versions of these forenames appeared such as Séan, Seamus, Peadar, Máire, Bríd, Mícheál, Cathal and many more appeared.

The Irish Church did not condemn the practice of slave-trading by the Irish until the invasion by the Anglo-Normans and the encroachment of the Roman Church. The story of Patrick (Patricius, son of a Roman administrator), which was introduced here after the Norman conquest, presents the native Irish as uncivilised pagan slavers who needed to be brought to heel. So the Normans inadvertently gave us our native saint and a forename for a good chunk of our population for generations following.

Out with the new, in with the old

Children are rarely given these European saint names today. Authentic Gaelic forenames are much more popular. We are nevertheless, unlikely to see the demise of the Anglo-Normans surnames that were introduced here. But all of us Mikes, Jimmies, Johnnys, Paddys, Kittys, Cathys, Maggies and Bridies can thank the Normans for what they brought us!