Okay, this is not *the* ring fort of blood in Limerick, but Kerry does a spooky monument well too. Shutterstock
SeriesCalling 353
And which town’s name is an anagram of “yet demon went, unknown”?
In Calling 353, bestselling Motherfoclóir author and podcaster Darach Ó Séaghdha casts a linguistic eye on how we talk about what it means to be Irish, the signs we post to each other about Irishness – and what really lies beneath it all.
SPOOKY SEASON IS approaching climax with this bank holiday weekend in full swing. You might even be reading this article while in a Halloween costume, bashfully returning from last night’s fancy dress party.
And as you bashfully deflect the judging eyes of other passengers on the bus, train or taxi-cab, your eyes may wander in the direction of the window. The land appears to speed past you although it is you who are moving. And as the street names and road signs pass your tired eyes, you might wonder what the spookiest placename in Ireland is.
Well I’m here to help. Some placenames sound spooky but it is just an accident of careless anglification.
Other places names are spookier than they immediately appear. Let’s explore.
Kil- prefix, various counties
Older readers may remember a cheesy joke from 2008 concerning the gardaí foiling an assassination conspiracy on the Dart when they arrested four men in white hoods who said they were going to Kilbarrack. Not to mention the fans of South Park being photographed next to signs for Kilkenny. Hilariously, the Irish word cill means church and it sounds like the English word kill.
Dunmarklun, Co Cork
The association of Kil- as a prefix with the English word kill, or indeed the Irish word coill for a wooded area, is based on the sound of the word rather than the history of its meaning. An example to show how inadequate this is would be the townland of Dunmarklun in Cork. Perhaps you remember the book Dunmharú Ar An Dart from school and remember that the Irish for murder is dunmharú. Could this superficially harmless place in the Rebel County be named after a murder or murderer? It begins with dunmar-, after all.
Well the answer is no. Dunmarklun comes from Irish but it comes from Dún Marclann, or Marclann’s fort.
Schull, Co Cork
Staying in Cork (sure why would you ever leave?) this sounds like skull but does not mean skull. It actually means school; it comes from An Scoil in Irish. However, Cleggan in Cavan (An Chloigeann) could take its meaning from skull (or just head).
Gorey, Co Wexford
The charming Wexford town is not as grisly as its name suggests. Guaire is the Irish name, meaning bristles or a sand bank.
Castletownbere, Co Cork
Returning to Cork (it’s hard to stay away) this placename might be misleadingly scary. That’s bere, not bear! It is unlikely that you will be pursued by an omnivorous, ursuline mammal here. And yet, the exact meaning of Bere in this context is not settled – at one point the town was known as Castletown Bearhaven. I asked the nice people in the UCC History department to clarify the exact meaning of this name, the man on the phone said “bear with me”… I think he was making fun of me.
Newtownmountkennedy, Co Wicklow
Eeeryone knows that this Wicklow town’s name is an anagram of “yet demon went, unknown”. Could an unknown demon be lurking in north Wicklow’s golf courses and picturesque landscape? Well, it’d be hiding in plain sight in the Devil’s Glen.
Devil’s Island, Kerry
Another satanic placename can be found in the Ring of Kerry. The story goes that the “devil” on this island was actually a delicious wild boar. The lake where it resides was once known as Turk’s Lake, and the ‘turk” in question was not a person from Istanbul but a torc, the Irish for a wild boar. A more popular story is that the devil and O’Donovan Rossa were quarrelling and the Lord of Lies, not known for his savoir faire, ripped off a piece of mountain and threw it, landing in the lake.
Lios na Fola, Co Limerick
This is the ringfort of blood. Donegal has a hill of blood (Cnoc Fola) as well as Bloody Foreland, and Roscommon has a ridge of blood (Corr na Fola). However, Blood Stoney Road in Dublin is Bóthar Blood Stoney – it is named after a chap called Blood Stoney rather than stones drenched in the red wine of the battlefield (as Pádraig Pearse once described blood in his writings).
Not too far from Limerick over in County Clare we have one of the most popular entries on the logainm website which is also a lios – ringfort: Lios Fear Beag na gCamán, the ringfort of the little hurley-wielding men. These were not men who were slightly smaller than average, these were terrifyingly small men and they had hurleys.
Crom-a-boo bridge, Co Kildare
There are lots of names for the devil or the Evil One in Irish, and some have taken more scrutiny than others. An Fear Dubh has gotten a lot of attention due the theory that the
Irish word for a black man, fear gorm, was chosen so as not to compare black people to the devil (that’s a whole other article). My favourite name for Old Nick in Irish is Taoiseach an Bháis, the Taoiseach of Death.
However, Crom is also popular, not least because it overlaps nicely with the name of the enduringly unpopular English leader, Oliver Cromwell. You may even hear an Irish speaker declare In ainm Crom! in a moment of rage. So when you take that name and add “boo”, we are in seriously spooky territory.
This is my nominee for the spookiest place name in Ireland. The bridge crosses the River Barrow in Athy and I have barely scratched the spooky surface here, so don’t assume a place isn’t haunted or weird or eerie just because I did not list it here.
Until next time, have a happy Halloween, mind your pets and stay away from fairy forts.
Darach will be back next Sunday with more thoughts on the words and Irish cultural phenomena that unite us.