i8 9 3-94-J io 5 



The O'Neills were a powerful race for many centuries in our 

 district, but while their strongholds have long passed away> 

 their names are still handed down to us. We have Conn's- 

 water, Conn being a common name with O'Neills who had a 

 princely residence at Castlereagh — the king's castle, or, as some 

 read it, the grey castle. Skeig-oneill* means O'Neill's thorns or 

 bushes, whilst Legoneil or O'Niell's hollow quite expresses the 

 topography of the present unromantic village in the mountains. 

 MacArt's fort dominates all Belfast as the O'Neills formerly 

 dominated all Ulster, and was clearly a stronghold of that great 

 clan — the same name is probably used in Ballymacart, whilst 

 Ardoyne, or Owen's Height, tells of another member of the 

 same family. 



Belfast is encircled with hills and some of these bear ancient 

 names. The highest, Divis — dubh ais — means the black hill, 

 which is also the English name for two adjoining hills. Beside 

 them is Altigarran or the mountain of the shrubbery, whilst 

 beyond it is Alt-na-caedh (key) or the marshy hill and on the 

 back of Divis is a earn called Cam Shane Bhuidhe — or the earn 

 of Yellow John — one of the clan O'Neill. At Legoneil is Alt- 

 conna or the height of the firewood. Ben-Madighan (Cave 

 Hill) is doubtless called after Madidhan, a son of the King of 

 Ulidia, who was killed in 838 by his brothers. Madidhan 

 avenged his father's death and reigned 15 years, dying in the 

 year 855 in a religious house. The whole range is described in 

 the Down Survey as Slieve-na-Geurach, meaning the mountain 

 of the sheep, which is verified by the fact that Sheep-heads is 

 the present name for the large mountain track to the north. 



The hill at the back of the Cave Hill is called the Collanward, 

 being one of the few remaining Danish names in our district — 

 ward meaning a " look out," and one who knows this hill as I 

 do will at once observe the splendid outlook it gives over the 

 lough and surrounding country, and will instinctively conjure 

 up all sorts of apparitions of bloodthirsty Norsemen looking 



* In the Chichester grant this is designated Skeigonearl, and may have some 

 reference to the slaying of the Larl of Ulster, near the ford of the Lagan. 



