Information about Cloonrane

Cloonrane in Galway and Roscommon ; Cluain-raiihin [-rahin], meadow of the ferns. For ferns,see vol. ii. p. 330 [reproduced below].

Fern. As many of the common kinds of fern grow in this country in great abundance and luxuriance, they have, as might be expected, given names to numerous places. The simplest form of the Irish word for the fern is raith, which is used in some very old documents; but this form is wholly forgotten in the modern language, and I cannot find that it has been perpetuated in names. The nearest derivative is Rathain [rahen], which is the Irish name (as we find it in many old documents) of the parish of Rahan in King's County, well known in ecclesiastical history as the place where St. Carthach was settled before he founded his great establishment at Lismore. This name, which signifies a ferny spot, occurs in several other parts of Ireland. The Mac Sweenys had a castle at a place called Rahan near Dunkineely in Donegal, which the Four Masters call Rathain; there is a parish in Cork, near Mallow, with the same name, and several places in different counties have the names Rahin and Rahans - all meaning the same thing. The common word for the fern is raithne or raithneach [rahna], which latter form is found in Cormac's Glossary, and is used by the Irish-speaking peasantry all over the country at the present day. One of its diminutives, Raith-neachán, in the anglicised form Ranaghan (a fern-growing spot) is the name of places in each of the four provinces. All the preceding forms are further illustrated in the following names. Ardrahan, a small village in the county Galway, containing an old castle and a small portion of the ruins of a round tower, is often mentioned in the annals by the name of Ard-rathain, ferny height; and this also is the name of two townlands in Kerry, and of one near Galbally in Limerick. There are several places in different counties called Drumrahan, Drumraine, Drumrane, Drumrainy, and Drumrahnee, all signifying the ridge of the ferns.

Ireland was first mapped in the 1840s. These original maps are available online.
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Cloonrane

This link is not a link to the townland that you are currently researching; however, if you follow this link, you will see a search box near the top of the page which you can use to search for your townland.

Having followed this link, you will see several expandable links - each link has a plus sign on its left - on the top left of the page. Expand 'Base Information and Mapping'. Now it is possible to select the maps that you wish to view by clicking on the checkbox that is on the left of each map; this list includes the original Ordnance Survey maps.

You can select more than one map and you can use a slider to make one map more transparent than another. This allows you to view what features were present or absent at different points in time.
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Cloonrane

The Down Survey website will tell you who owned this townland in 1641 (pre Cromwell) and in 1671 (post Cromwell).

Down Survey Website
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You can use this link to find this townland on Google Maps.

Google Maps
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You can use this link to view a map of archaelogical features.
This link brings you to a website wherein you will have to search for your townland.

Archaeological map from the National Monuments Service

This is a list of townlands that share a border with this townland.

• Carrownurlaur
• Cloondroon
• Illaun

You can retrieve a list of people who lived in this townland from 1827 to 1911. This list is compiled from the following resources.

• The Tithe Applotment Books
• Griffith's Valuation
• 1901 Census
• 1911 Census

List of nineteenth century and early twentieth century inhabitants of this townland.

Church records of births, deaths and marriages are available online at http://www.rootsireland.ie. To search these records you will need to know the 'church parish' rather than the 'civil parish'. (The civil parish is the pre-reformation parish and was frequently used as a unit of administration in the past.)

Cloonrane is in the civil parish of Addergoole.

This civil parish corresponds with the following Roman Catholic parish or parishes.

• Miltown

This civil parish corresponds with the following Church of Ireland parish.

• Addergoole

In general, the civil parish and the Church of Ireland parish are the same, but, this is not always the case.