Westropp — Forests of the Counties of the Lower Shannon Valley. 279 



Derrykeadgran, Derrinterriff, Derrymore, and Derrybeg, besides Kylemore 

 and the wood of Kyleduff.^ Feakle parish, the ancient Tuath Eachtge, must 

 also have been thickly wooded : Derryfadda, Derrynaveagh, Derrycanna, 

 Derreendooagh, Derricnaw, Killaneena (ivy wood), Cloonagro (hazel field), 

 Knockbeha (birch hill), Koss and Eossanure, Crossderry, two Derrynagittaghs, 

 Derryabbert, Derryvinna, Derryeaghra, Derrynaneal, Derrybehagh (of the 

 birch), Derrygravaun, Derrynaheila, Derrywillin, and a fourth Derryulk, 

 remain to attest this.^ The Cathreim mentions these woods several times, 

 as, in 1277, when the MacISTamaras hide from King Brian Euadh in 

 "Echtge's dense woods of lofty foliage pleasant and fresh "; while "Echtge's 

 woody deep-valed fastnesses " are named in 1318. They were, on several 

 other occasions, places of refuge during the long and precarious civil wars, as 

 fortune turned the scale against either side, and both parties of combatants 

 found a friend in the great wood of Aughty. There is a long reach in the 

 more eastern parishes nearly free from such names. Kilnoe, in fact, had 

 hardly 100 acres of shrubs in 1655 ; and the hills near Coolreagh were then 

 boggy and bare; while Tulla had 1150 acres of woods and 34 of shrubs; 

 Feakle, 1400 acres of timber woods, and Tomgraney 700 of timber and 

 300 of shrubs, the last lying along Lough Derg and the Eiver Graney. 

 Mac Grath, in the " Cathreim," with his keen-eyed perception of nature and 

 scenery, did not forget the shrubs on the shores of " Lough Derg, deep- 

 fringed with bush and bough," in his account of King Torlough's raid into 

 Limerick and Tipperary in about 1286. Oak-names occur in Tomgraney, at 

 Gortaderry (Gurtadurra locally), Derrymore, and Derry waiter ; two Derrorans 

 and Derrycon, in Iniscaltra, and Derryany and Derrain in Clonrush; the 

 demesne of Derrymore, in Kilnoe, lies at a considerable distance from the 

 hills. In 1655 there were some 700 acres of plantation in Iniscaltra, but 

 none (nor any shrubby lands) are named as in Moynoe, while Kilnoe, as we 

 stated, had no timber and but little shrubbery. A birch-name, Corbehagh, 

 is found in Feakle. 



(10) BuNRATTY Upper. — Having disposed of the northern part of the 

 Upper Barony of Bunratty, we can examine the rest of its evidence more 

 briefly. Some interesting names of lesser plants occur, like Drominacknew 

 (the little ridge of garlick), Gortapisheeu, or Peafield, and Gortnamearacaun, 

 wrongly translated Thimbletown, but really the field of the fairies' 

 thimbles, or foxgloves, " which spread their purple banners " on every fence 



1 Kilmore and Kilduff on the Ordnance Survey Maps. 



2 The Surveys of 1655 and 1675 hardly give us a "derry" name in the district. Mr. James 

 Frost (" County Clare Irish Local Names," pp. 29, 30) gives the meanings ; but, as the names are 

 there usually taken from local pronunciation, not from early records, we have little confidence in the 

 results. 



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