284 Proceedings of the Roj/al h'ish Academy. 



Oakfield (if old), and Derryfadda, lying in nearly every case on the slopes of 

 the Slieve Bernagh hills. There is a yew-tree name at Killuran, the Kelldu- 

 birayn of the Papal Taxation of 1302, Kilhurayn in 1407, and Kylleibaran 

 in 1405 in the Calendars of Papal documents. A " greenwood " named 

 Kyleglas is found in Killokennedy. Even in 1655 there remained 2976 

 acres of forest, and 1650 of dwarf woods; but the upper parts of Craglea 

 and the hills over Killaloe were open and heathy ; and slate quarries had 

 already been opened in them. There were woods round Clonlara and shrub- 

 beries in Doonass. Killokennedy parish, in the wildest recess of Slieve 

 Bernagh, had about 700 acres of wood, the rest being mountain pasture ; the 

 oak wood of Derryarget had been all cut away, but there were 5 acres in 

 Killuran newly planted, Keilderry, in Kilseily, retained 45 acres of the wood 

 from which it derived its name. The woods of Doon, near Broadford, were 

 planted by Captain Massy, and those of Caher by Mr. O'Hara before 1808. 



The plainland had very little timber ; Clonlea and Kilmurry only 26 acres 

 of timber at Mountallon, and 430 acres of shrubs, usually " stony ground, 

 with little thickets of brushwood intermixed " ; there was a dwarf wood near 

 Ballycullen Castle, on the east slope of Slieve Bernagh, and other woods in the 

 rough mountain uplands. 



In the eastern part of Clare, the Dalcassians often found refuge from the 

 Danes before 964 ; " they dispersed themselves over the forests and woods of 

 the three tribes," Ui Bloid, Ui Caisin, and Ui Thoirdhealbhaigh ; " the 

 woods, solitudes, deserts, and caves of Ui Blait," " on the hard, knotty, wet 

 roots of the trees," says the book of " The Wars of the Gaedhil with the Gaill." 

 Far later, in 1646, when Admiral Penn, the father of the great Quaker of 

 Pennsylvania, endeavoured to hold Bunratty for the Parliament, he chased 

 the Irish army out of the camp at Sixmilebridge into the woods and hills, 

 killing Captain MacGrath, their leader. 



The " Cathreim " gives a picturesque description of Prince Murehad 

 O'Brien's attempt to bring off the Ui Bloid cattle spoil, along the Shannon 

 bank, in 1314, which ended in the disastrous battle of the Callow and the 

 extermination of nearly all his band, he only escaping in a corrach, across the 

 river, leading his swimming horse. The terrified cattle, when not swept 

 away by streams, stampeded and got lost in the woods, through which the 

 raiders passed. The " Callow " probably lay near O'Brien's Bridge — certainly 

 below Killaloe. 



O'Huidhrin, before 1420, alludes to the woods in Hy Torlough, " near unto 

 Flannan's Celldalua, their lands and woods extend to the Shannon." 



As to the names between Slieve Bernagh and the Shannon, we find Gar- 

 raun (thicket) to the south of Clonlara; and a now-forgotten Derryanlangfort 



