Mohill (barony)

Updated on Oct 23, 2023

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Sovereign state Republic of Ireland Area 254.6 km²		County Leitrim

Mohill, in Irish: Maothail is an ancient barony in County Leitrim, Republic of Ireland.

Etymology

Mohill barony shares its name with Mohill (Irish: Maothail, "soft or spongy ground") village. Historically a variety of corrupted names were used- Irish: Maethail, Maothail, Maothail-Manchan, Maethail-Manachain, midEng: Moithla, Moethla, Maethla, Maothail, and Latin: Mathail, Nouella.

Location

Mohill is found in south County Leitrim, on the Cloone River, containing Lough Rynn and bordering Lough Boderg. It is bordered to the northeast by Carrigallen; to the northwest by Leitrim (both the preceding baronies are also in County Leitrim); to the southeast by Longford, County Longford; and to the southwest by Ballintober North, County Roscommon.

History

Early, this area was also part of Conmhaícne Maig Réin. The Reynolds (MacRannall) were chiefs of an area comprising much of the baronies of Mohill and Leitrim, then known as Muintir Eolais.

Justinian plague of Mohill

Following the death of Manchán of Mohill, the population of Mohill (barony), and the Airgíalla kingdom, were devastated by the Justinian plague, an early phenomena of the Late Antique Little Ice Age c. 536-660AD. Evidence for the Justinian plague is provided by three contiguous townlands, south-west of the present town, all anciently named after Irish: Tamlachta. Recognition the word tamlacht signifies a mass plague burial place is widespread, but most communities retain little knowledge of their own localities experience. Tamlaght (Irish: Taimhleacht) is a pagan name. Confirmed plague mass burial sites here are Tamlaght More, Tamlaght Beg, and Tamlaghtavally, forming a quadrant to the south-west of the town, centred on the former monastery of Mohill.

Tamlaghavally townland: Taibhleacht a' Bhaile or Taibhleacht an Bhealaigh, the plague burial ground of the town or roadway. Taibhleacht is derived from tamh or taimh, an unnatural death as from a plague, and leacht signifies a bed or grave. It was a place where people who died from a plague were buried, generally in a common grave. People who passed the way were accustomed to raise a 'cairn' of stones over the spot by placing single stones over the grave. Tamlaght Beg and Tamlagh More are of the same origin. Some great plague or pestilence has left its name on those three townlands. "

A sudden climate change in the decade after 538 can be observed from dendrochonology studies of Irish trees, and the arrival of the Bubonic plague in Ireland c. A.D. 544, seems to correlate with the westward trajectory of the Justinianic plague, which had reached Gaul by A.D. 543. Another epidemic in A.D. 550, christened the croin Chonaill (redness of C.), or the buidhe Chonaill (yellowness of C.), suggests a fairly widespread outbreak focused on the Shannon area. In the northern half of Ireland, nearly all 41 Tamlachta sites are associated with water, though Mohill may be exception.

The Four Masters state: "543AD, an extraordinary universal plague through the world, which swept away the noblest third part of the human race", and the Annals of Ulster christened the pandemic "bléfed". It is estimated 25–50 million, or 40% of European population, died over two centuries as the plague returned periodically until the 8th century.

"The huge dying off in the 6th century. which is suggested by the number of tamlachta sites would certainly have created fear if not widespread panic. This was a pandemic in which some people dropped dead in less than one day, some fell ill but recovered, and some remained unaffected. Such seemingly random results might have been interpreted by the populace, even preached by the clerics, as evidenced of divine selection."

Mohill was near the Airgíalla kingdom which was uniquely hard hit by pandemic. There was a great surge in ringfort-building after the plague of 545 AD, as the populace on the boundary of devastated regions, Airgíalla and Mohill (barony), sought security from mysterious and widespread death, riving, cattle-raids, enslavement, and worse. These forts (called Raths) were entrenchments the Irish built about their houses.

Museum artifacts

The following are preserved in a collection at the Royal Irish Academy museum in Dublin.

A medieval sword was found buried 0.6 metres (1 ft 11.6 in) deep in hard clay and gravel in the Black river running through the Clooncumber townland, in Cloone parish, county Leitrim. The long narrow sword blade, of the leaf-shape style, measures 39 centimetres (15.4 in) long by 2.5 centimetres (1.0 in) width, imperfect at both extremities, with four rivet-holes on the hand-plate.

A medieval spear-head was found buried 0.6 metres (1 ft 11.6 in) deep in gravel, between Rinn Lough and Lough Sallagh, near Mohill in county Leitrim. This bolt or arrow head measures 10 centimetres (3.9 in) long, with the length of the socket as long as the blade.

Breanross hanging tree

Breanross hanging tree, according to tradition recorded by Irish Folklore Commission, is the stump of a hangman's tree, on which Irish rebels of 1798 were executed c. Friday, September 7, 1798, is still pointed out at Breanross townland.

Cloonmorris Ogham stone

Cloonmorris Ogham stone is an inscribed stone dating to c. 400 – c. 550 was discovered at the ruined Cloonmorris church, in an inverted (top-down) position, and is now enclosed in a pedestal at the churchyard entrance. The defaced inscription is interpreted as: QENUVEN[--, expanded as QENUVEN[DI--, and translated to QVENVENDANI, `(hair of the) head' + `fair' + diminutive suffix. This c. 0.85m long stone has ecclesiastical association, is not a definitely post-apocope Ogham inscription stating- "G..T..........QENUVEN". The Cloonmorris stone is probably the memorial of one "Qenuvin-dagnas", who is called in later Irish: Ceanannán, Ceannán.

Oldest Irishman

Bernard Killain, or Kilrane (1789-1900) aged 111 years may be the oldest recorded Irishman, dying at Tawnymore in Cloone on Wednesday 29 August 1900. A telegram reporting his death was sent to news outlets from Mohill c. Tuesday 4th September 1900. His father had fought under General Munro in the Irish Rebellion of 1798, and was imprisoned and martyred afterwards. Tom Coughlan has compiled his unverified but extraordinary biography.

Irish elk

In the 19th Century the skull of an ancient Irish elk was " found in the parish of Cloone, barony of Mohill, county of Leitrim. This head was in the possession of a labourer, who said he found it in the river, under the village of Cloone. A very perfect, large head, measuring, from the occipital crest at top to the end of the mouth bone, 22 inches. The head is rather narrower than usual; a portion of each stem and both brow antlers are perfect. The palm of the brow antler is seven inches across ; there is some irre gularity in the crown of the left beam, as if from exuberant growth; a small tit-like projection, apparently the commencement of a third horn, springs from the bone beneath the base of the beam on this side. The colour of the whole is very dark, but both the bone and horn are in a fine state of preservation; it is heavier than any of the other specimens held by the Royal Irish Academy museum in Dublin.

List of settlements

Below is a list of settlements in Mohill barony:

Cloone

Mohill

References

Mohill (barony) Wikipedia

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