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Celebrating Ulster's Townlands
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8. Place and People Names
At
the Plantation, settlers needed to fortify their houses. The Scots
Hamiltons built theirs at Hamilton’sbawn, Co. Armagh where parts of
the bawn wall survive. Dalway’s
Bawn in the townland of Ballyhill, Co. Antrim was named after John
Dallowye who was granted the land in 1609.
The
Stewarts of Galloway set up new towns of Newtownstewart
both in Scotland and in Ulster in the mid 17th century. Colebrooke
House in Fermanagh was the mansion of the Brookes who named Brookeborough.
Crawfordsburn
was named by a Crawford family who were tenants of James Hamilton in Co.
Down in the early 17th century. The surname comes from
Crawford in Lanarkshire but this family may have come from Crawfordsburn
near Greenock.
Manorcunningham and Newtowncunningham in Donegal took their names from land granted to James Cunningham in 1629, while Mountcharles in the south of Donegal was named from a later Charles Cunningham.
In Co. Down Moses Hill’s house at Hillhall eventually replaced the townland name, Hillsborough was originally Cromlin, the “crooked glen”. The same family named Hilltown.
New
market towns often took the landlord’s name. Maguiresbridge grew up after 1760 when Brian Maguire of Tempo got a
grant to hold a market there, although the Maguires were the chief
rulers of Fermanagh before the Plantation.
The weaving village of Waringstown in Co. Down took its name from the Waring family who came to the place in 1659 and also gave their name to Waringsford village further east.
On
the maps already shown to illustrate townlands you will have noticed
other people names: lands held by families whose surnames have become
part of the name. Some townlands did gain new names after the Plantation to reflect their new ownership (Kilbride), or in other cases the original name survived but the new owner’s name was attached (Castlederg). This seems to have happened particularly in Tyrone, for example Clady near Strabane, divided into Clady Blair, Haliday, Hood, and Johnston. |
Hamiltonsbawn Co. Armagh: Kieran Clendinning
Newtonstewart Co. Tyrone: EHS
Colebrooke House, Co. Fermanagh viewed through its gate: Kieran Clendinning
A 17th-century thatched farmhouse at Edenballycoghill townland, Co. Down: KM
Maguire's Bridge, Co. Fermanagh Green Collection, UFTM
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Dalway's Bawn Co. Antrim: Brian McElherron |
Painting of Waringstown by Hugh Frazer UM
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