Information about Crocknaraw

Information from O'Donovan's Field Name Books

Standard Name:
Crocknaraw
Irish Form of Name:
Cnoc na Rátha
Translation:
hill of the rath or fort of earth
Civil Parish:
Ballynakill in the barony of Ballynahinch
View all place names in this civil parish.
Other Forms of the Name with authority source (if provided) in italics:
Knocknarath
Cnoc na Rátha
Crocknaraw
Recte Knocknarath
Crucknara B. S.
Crucknara Rev. J. Griffin, P.P.
Description:
Nicholas Lynch, Esq., Proprietor.
Situation:
On the S. boundary of the parish and is the narrow neck of land between the most southerly part of Ballynakill Harbour and said S. boundary. It has Girraunbaun and Cloonedtherouan, on the N. Moyard E., the parish of Omey S., and Tooreen West. The road from Westport to Clifden lies thro’ the N. side of it.

Information From Joyce's Place Names

Translation according to P. W. Joyce:
Crocknaraw in Galway, and Crockraw in Donegal; hill of the rath. See Rath, vol. i. p. 274 [reproduced below].
Rath. This term has been explained in conjunction with lios, at page 271; in the Book of Armagh, rath is translated fossa. In a great numbre of cases this word is preserved in the anglicised names exactly as it is spelled in Irish, namely, in the form of rath, which forms or begins the names of about 700 townlands. The townland of Rathurd near Limerick, is now called in Irish Rath-tSuird, but by the annalists Rath-arda-Suird, the fort of the height of sord, whatever sord may mean. The Four Masters record the erection of this rath by one of Heber's chieftains, in A. M. 3501; and its remains are still to be seen on the top of Rathurd hill, near the old castle. Rathnew in Wicklow, is called in Irish authorities Rath-Naoi, the latter part of which is a man's name, possibly the original possessor. Rathdrum, also in Wicklow, means the rath of the drum or long hill, and there are several other places of the same name in different parts of Ireland; for raths were often built on the tops of low hills. Rathmore, great fort, is the name of forty townlands in different counties. In many of these the forts still remain, as at Rathmore, four miles east of Naas in Kildare. The great fortification that gave the name to Rathmore near the town of Antrim, still exists, and is famous for its historical associations. It is the Rath-mor-Muighe-Line (great rath of Moylinny) of our historians; Tighernach notices it as existing in the second century; and in the seventh it eas the residence of the princes of Dalaradia. It was burned in the year 1315 by Edward Bruce, which shows that even then it was an important residence (Reeves, Eccl. Ant. P. 280). Magh-Line (plain of Line), from which this great fort took its name was a district of the present county of Antrim, anciently very much celebrated, whose name is still retained by the townland of Moylinny near the town of Antrim. The old name is also partly retained by the parish of Ballylinny (town of Line) lying a few miles eastward. Rath is in Irish pronounced raw and in modern names it takes various phonetic forms, to correspond with this pronunciation, such as ra, rah, ray, etc., which syllables, as representatives of rath, begin the names of about 400 townlands. Raheny near Dublin is called by the annalists Rath-Enna, the fort of Enna, a man's name formerly common in Ireland; the circumvallations of the old fort are still distinctly traceable round the Protestant church, which was built on its site. The village of Ardara in Donegal, takes its name from a conspicuous rath on a hill near it, to which the name properly belongs, in Irish Ard-a'-raith, the height of the rath. Drumragh, a parish in Tyrone, containing the town of Omagh, is called in the Inquisitions, Dromrathe, pointing to the Irish Druim-ratha, the ridge or hill of the rath. The word occurs singly as Raigh in Galway and Mayo Raw, with the plural Raws, in several of the Ulster counties; and Ray in Donegal and Cavan. Other modern modifications and compounds are exhibited in the following names: - Belra in Sligo, Belragh near Carnteel in Tyrone, and Belraugh in Londonderry, all meaning the mouth or entrance of the fort; Corray, in the parish of Kilmacteige, Sligo, Cor-raith, the round hill of the rath. Roemore in the parish of Breaghwy, Mayo, is called Rahemore in an Inquisition of James I., which shows it to be a corruption of Rathmore, great fort; and there is another Roemore in the parish of Kilmeena, same county. Raharney in Westmeath preserves an Irish personal name of great antiquity, the full name being Rath-Athairne, Atharny's fort. The diminutive Raheen (little fort), and its plural Raheens, are the names of about eighty townlands, and form part of many others. There are six townlands called Reheenroe, little red rath: the little fort which gave name to Raheenroe near Ballyorgan in the south of Limerick, has been levelled within my own memory.

Information From Griffith's Valution

Area in Acres, Roods and Perches:
A.R.P.
884 0 6
Land value at the time in pounds, shillings and pence:
£.s.d.
47 15 7
Building value at the time in pounds, shillings and pence:
£.s.d.
6 8 0
Total value at the time in pounds, shillings and pence:
£.s.d.
51 2 3
Heads of housholds living in the townland at this time:

Townland Information

What is a townland?:
A townland is one of the smallest land divisions in Ireland. They range in size from a few acres to thousands of acres. Many are Gaelic in origin, but some came into existence after the Norman invasion of 1169
Townland:
Crocknaraw is a townland.
Other placesnames in this townland:
Some other placenames in or near this townland are...

Information From Maps

Original OS map of this area.
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Ireland was first mapped in the 1840s. These original maps are available online.
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Crocknaraw
Original OS maps at the Ordnance Survey of Ireland website.
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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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Crocknaraw
Information from the Down Survey Website.
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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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Information from Google Maps.
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You can use this link to find this townland on Google Maps.
Google Maps
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Information from the National Monuments Service.
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You can use this link to view a map of archaelogical features.
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Archaeological map from the National Monuments Service

Neighbouring Townlands

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

Population and Census Information

People who lived here:
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:
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.)
Crocknaraw is in the civil parish of Ballynakill in the barony of Ballynahinch.
Roman Catholic parishes:
This civil parish corresponds with the following Roman Catholic parish or parishes.
  • Ballynakill/Letterfrack/ Tullycross
  • Inishbofin
Church of Ireland parishes:
This civil parish corresponds with the following Church of Ireland parish.
  • Ballinakill
  • Renvyle
In general, the civil parish and the Church of Ireland parish are the same, but, this is not always the case.

Information From The Landed Estates Database

Information from the Landed Estates Database.
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The following is a list of those houses in this townland which are discussed in the Landed Estates Database.

Other Sources

Information from the Logainm database.
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