192 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



BALLYCURREEN, Baile Ui Ohuirrin — " O'Curran's (or O'Creaghan's) Home- 

 stead." Area, 375 A. 



There were two lioses on O'Coimell's farm, but they have been levelled of 

 recent years. 



S.DD. Tobar an Iarla— " The Earl's Well." My informant— a remark- 

 ably intelligent man, John O'Neill, by name — thinks the name-giving Earl 

 was none other than Patrick Sarsfield, Earl of Lncan, who was brother to a 

 quondam owner of the estate. This identification, 1 must confess, seems far- 

 fetched and unlikely. The well has, according to popular belief, shifted its 

 site; it is now in a yard adjoining a labourer's house, but its rightful, original 

 habitat was Lower down tin- road t" the south — or Johnstown, where is 

 a waste patch, or piece of commonage, en which a "pattern" was formerly 

 held. 



1 Droma — "Hill "f the Ridge." The name is not tautological as it 



seems. 



Ballylkaby . ' Laoghaire— " O'Leary's Homestead." Area, 158 a. 



Tip' i I.M. shows two small Lioses "ii this townland Only a single lios now 

 survives; this is rm, and, with its fence now nearly levelled, 



c-..\,-i~ about an acre 



S.DD. An Branar— "The Graffed Field."' 



Paii ■ irdchan — " Field of the Smithy " : there is no forge now. 



rrain"; a Geld bo called, no doubt, from the former 



■ therein of beehive chambers oi passages therewith connected. 



M ban is primarily a chimney, but, in fi«-l<l names, it generally designates 



the subl Li ■-. Mr. P. .M Sweeney, Inspector N.S., 



informs me thai M(n --A in Decies to di eld in which 



or half-hidden, and open, drains ; the name, in this 

 case Loubt.applied originally to the drains, and later — by transference 



— the lield. 



Baile Ui Riagain— " O'Eegan's Homestead." Area, 207 a. 

 O.M lios; this is a fine specimen, 



it an acre in extent, on Win. O'Connell's farm, with a single surrounding 

 ■t in height by L'O feet thick. 



There is also a cill, or early church site. 



1 " Grafti ,..k, was an old, common, laborious 



and ultimately injurious method of preparing a lea-field for a potato crop. The turf in 

 alight str icbed '.u>)i the graffan and tlien allowed to dry. Isc.xt, it was 



barned, and finally the ashes were ploughed or dog into the soil. The operation secured, 

 it is claimed, a good crop of mealy tubers, hut eventually it hurt and reduced the land. 

 The graffan is 1 ' I • ; it is used in the cultivation of lazy 



beds, and, this present year, the writer has even seen a " branar" in process of cultiva- 

 tion within a neighbouring barony. 



