169 



Cloondacarra, the meadow of the two weirs; and the Four Masters men- 

 tion Clar-atha-da-charadh, the footboard of the ford of the two weirs ; 

 Gubbacrock, in the parish of Killesher, Fermanagh, is written in Irish 

 Gob-dha-chnoc, the beak or point of the two hills. 



Dundareirke is the name of an ancient castle in Cork, built by the 

 McCarthys, signifying the fortress of the two prospects (Dun-da-radharc), 

 and the name is very suitable, for according to Smith, ' ' it is on a hill, 

 and commands a vast extended view west as far as Kerry, and east 

 almost to Cork;" there is a townland of the same name, but written 

 Dundaryark, in the parish of Danesfort, Kilkenny. 



The preceeding names were derived from conspicuous physical 

 features, and their origin is therefore natural enough, so far as each 

 individual name is concerned ; their great number, as already remarked, 

 is what gives them significance. Put those I am now about to bring 

 forward admit in general of no such explanation, and appear to me to 

 prove stilLmore conclusively the existence of this remarkable disposi- 

 tion in the minds of the people, to take things in twos. Here also, as 

 in the preceding class, names crowd upon us with remarkable frequency, 

 both in ancient authorities and in the modern list of townlands. 



Great numbers of places have been named from two animals of some 

 kind. If we are to explain these names from natural occurrences, we 

 must believe that the places were so called, because they were the 

 favourite haunt of the two animals commemorated ; but it is very 

 strange that so many places should be named from just two, while there 

 are few or none from one, three, or any other number — except in the 

 general way of a genitive singular or a genitive plural. Possibly it may 

 be explained to some extent by the natural pairing of male and female, 

 but this will not explain all, nor even a considerable part, as any one 

 may see from the illustrations that follow. I believe that most or all of 

 these names have their origin in legends or superstitions, and that the 

 two animals were generally supernatural visitants, viz., fairies, or ghosts, 

 or human beings transformed by Tuatha de Danann enchantment. 



We very frequently meet with two birds — Da-en. Part of the 

 Shannon near Clonmacnoise was anciently called Snamh-da-en, the 

 swimming place of the two birds. The parish of Duneane, in Antrim, 

 has got its present name by a slight contraction from Dun-da-en, the 

 fortress of the two birds, which is its name in the Irish authorities ; 

 among others, the Martyrology of JEngus, which, according to Dr. 

 Todd, is not later than the eleventh century. There is a mountain 

 stretching between Lough Gill and Collooney, Sligo, which the Four 

 Masters mention at 1196 by the name of Sliabh-da-en, the mountain 

 of the two birds ; it is curious that a lake on the north side of the same 

 mountain is called Loch-da-ghedh, the lake of the two geese, which 

 are probably the two birds that gave name to the mountain. There is 

 a townland in the parish of Kinawly, Fermanagh, called Eossdanean, 

 the peninsula of two birds. 



Two birds of a particular kind have also given their names to 

 several localities, and among these, two ravens seem to be favourites, 



