Translation according to P. W. Joyce:
Killaclogher in Galway; Coitt-a'-chlochair, wood of the clogher or stony place. See vol. i. p. 413 [reproduced below].
There are several derivative forms from this word cloch. The most common is clochar, which is generally applied to stony land - a place abounding in stones, or having a stony surface; but it occasionally means a rock. Its most usual anglicised form is Clogher, which is the name of a well-known town in Tyrone, of a village, and a remarkable headland in Louth, and of nearly sixty townlands scattered over Ireland; and compounded with various words, it helps to form the names of numerous other places. For Clogher in Tyrone, however, a different origin has been assigned. It is stated that there existed anciently at this place a stone covered with gold, which was worshipped as Kermann Kelstach, the principal idol of the northern Irish; and this stone, it is said, was preserved in the church of Clogher down to a late period: hence the place was called Cloch-oir, golden stone. O'Flaherty makes this statement in his Ogygia, on the authority of Cathal Maguire, Archdeacon of Clogher, the compiler of the Annals of Ulster, who died in 1495; and Harris in his edition of Ware's Bishops, notices the idol in the following words: - "Clogher, situated on the river Lanny, takes its name from a Golden Stone, from which, in the Times of Paganism, the Devil used to pronounce juggling answers, like the Oracles of Apollo Pythius, as is said in the Register of Clogher". With this story of the idol I have nothing to do; only I shall observe that it ought to be received with caution, as it is not found in any ancient authority; it is likely that Maguire's statement is a mere record of the oral tradition, preserved in his time. But that the name of Clogher is derived from it - i.e. from Cloch-oir - I do not believe, and for these reasons. The prevalence of the name Clogher in different parts of Ireland, with the same general meaning, "is rather damaging to such an etymon", as Dr. Reeves remarks, and affords strong presumption that this Clogher is the same as all the rest. The most ancient form of the name, as found in Adamnan, is Clochur Filiorum Daimeni (this being Adamnan's translation of the proper Irish name, Clochur-mac-Daimhin, Clochur of the sons of Daimhin); in genitive of ór, gold (ór, gen. óir); and besides, the manner in which Clochur is connected with mac-Daimhin goes far to show that it is a generic term, the construction being exactly analogous to Inis-mac-Nessan (p. 109). But farther, there is a direct statement of the origin of the name in a passage of the Tain-bo-Chuailgne in Leabhar na hUidhre, quoted by Mr J. O'Beirne Crowe in an article in the Kilkenny Archaeological Journal (April, 1869, p. 311). In this passage we are told that a certain place on which was a great quantity of stones, was called for that reason Mag Clochair, the plain of the stones; and Mr. Crowe remarks: - "Clochar, as any Irish scholar might know, does not mean a stone of gold; the form clochar from cloch, a stone, is like that of sruthar from sruth, a stream, and other nouns of this class with a cumulative signification. This place retains its ancient name in the latest Irish authorities. Daimhin, whose sons are commemorated in the name, was eighth in descent from Colla-da-Chrich (p. 137), and lived in the sixth century. His descendants were in latter times called Clann-Daimhin [Clann Davin]; and they were represented so late as the fourteenth century, by the family of Dwyer. Cloghereen, little stony place, a diminutive of clogher, is well known to tourists as the name of a village near Killarney. Cloichreán, or cloithreán [cloherawn], another diminutive, signifies also a stony place, and is found in every part of Ireland in different modern forms. It is Cloghrane in Kerry and Waterford; and in the county of Dublin it gives name to two parishes called Cloghran. In many cases the guttural has dropped out, reducing it to Cloran in Westmeath, Tipperary, and Galway; Clorane and Clorhane in Limerick, King's and Queen's County. It undergoes various other alterations - as for instance, Clerran in Monaghan; Cleighran in Leitrim; Cleraun in Longford; and Clerhaun in Mayo and Galway. Clochar has other developments, one of which, clocharach or cloithreach, meaning much the same as clochar itself - a stony place - is found pretty widely spread in various modern forms; such as Cloghera in Clare and Kerry; and Clerragh in Roscommon. Another offshoot is cloichearnach, with still the same meaning; this is anglicised Cloghernagh in Donegal and Monaghan; Clahernagh in Fermanagh; Clohernagh in Wicklow and Tipperary; while in Tyrone it gives the name of Clogherny to a parish and four townlands.