Sovereign state United Kingdom County Down | Country Northern Ireland | |
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Mourne (named after the Múrna) is a barony in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies in the south-east of the county, with the Irish Sea to its east. It is bordered by two other baronies: Iveagh Upper, Lower Half and Iveagh Upper, Upper Half to the north and west. Mourne gets its name from the Múrna (Old Irish: Mughdorna), a people who hail originally from a territory of the same name in modern County Monaghan.
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The Mugdorna
According to local historian Peadar Livingstone, the Mugdorna are described as being a powerful people in the "archaic" period and may have been rulers of Ulster before the ascendancy of the Ulaid. He also suggests that some of their constituent tribes are either pre-Celtic or very early Celtic people.
Early genealogists would claim that they descend from Mughdhorn Dubh, a son of Colla Menn, however this has been rebuked as a politically-driven construct. Indeed Mugdorna is listed as being one of the territories conquered from the Ulaid by the Three Collas with Colla Menn taking possession of Mughdorna. The O'Hanratties are stated as having anciently possessed this territory. Francis John Byrne points out that the name Mugdorna, 'the slave folk', denotes their low-caste non-Gael origins and that they are the one people of the Airgíalla for whom no specific ethnic background is supplied.
Bairrche
Bairrche is the ancient name of the Mourne territory and originally the Mourne Mountains had also been named Beanne-Boirche ("Boirche's peaks"). According to the Dinnsenchus they were named after a shepherd called Boirche who herded on the mountains the cattle of Ross, son of Imchadh, a king of Ulaid in the third century. The Dinnsenchus states that his favourite look-out point was the highest peak in the mountain range, hence why the mountains received the name. Alternatively they are named after Bécc Bairrche mac Blathmaic, a king of the Ulaid during the 7th and 8th centuries.
According to the Annals of Ulster around 1165 the Uí Echach asked Muircertach Ua Lochlainn, High-King of Ireland, that the kingship of Ulaid be given to Eochaidh Mac Duinn Sleibhe. In return they gave pledges for everyone in Ulaid to Ua Lochlainn as well as many of their treasures. Mac Duinnsleibhe also gave the territory of Bairrche to Ua Lochlainn, who then gave it to Donnchadh Ó Cearbhaill (English: O'Carroll) of Louth, lord of Airgíalla.
Migration of the Mugdorna to Bairrche
By the 11th and 12th centuries the Mugdorna had become subordinate to the Ui Chremthainn, ruled by the powerful Ó Cearbhaill (English: O'Carroll). The last king of Mugdorna, Maolruanaigh Ó Machainen (O'Machoiden), is recorded in the Annals of Ulster as being slain in 1110.
In the latter half of the 12th century, a group of the Mugdorna emigrated from Cremorne (from Irish: Crioch Mughdurna) to what is now south County Down where they settled in Bairrche to form a new kingdom. It is suggested that Donnchadh Ó Cearbhaill, being King of Airgialla which included the original territory of the Mugdorna, having just received the territory of Bairrche may have transplanted them to the area to reinforce his control over it. They would rename Bairrche and its mountains after them, hence the present-day names of Mourne and the Mourne Mountains.
O'Dugan lists O'Machoiden as being rulers in the 12th century of Mourne in County Down.
Annals of Ulster
The Annals of Ulster state for Bairrche:
List of settlements
Below is a list of settlements in Mourne:
Towns
Villages
List of civil parishes
Below is a list of civil parishes in Mourne: