Burke's East Galway
The culture, history and genealogy of the families of east Galway
I’ve passed through the nearby village of Kiltormer and its small Roman Catholic church regularly, unaware of the beauty within. Recently, however, curiosity led me to stop and venture inside. The building itself is a simple structure, built in the early decades of the nineteenth century with little adornment but on entering I was surprised […]
For generations the townspeople of Athenry and the surrounding community have celebrated the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (15th August) as pilgrims. On this feastday, known as ‘Lady Day’ hundreds undertake the short pilgrimage to a holy well on the eastern outskirts of the town, known as ‘Lady’s Well,’ culminating in […]
© Donal G. Burke 2013 The medieval castle of Athenry is one of a number of early to mid thirteenth century stone castles that, in their original state, consisted of an isolated keep that took the form of a simple hall at first floor level over a lower or ground floor chamber, surrounded by and […]
© Donal G. Burke 2013 McTully and its other variant anglicized forms, such as Tully, may derive from the Gaelic family name Mac Mhaoltuile, translated from the Irish language as ‘son of the devotee or follower of the Divine will.’ Edward MacLysaght, in his ‘Irish Families, their Names, Arms and Origins,’ noted that in the […]
© Donal G. Burke 2013 A branch of the wider O Madden family was based in the easternmost part of Síl Anmchadha or the barony of Longford in the late medieval period. Their lands composed much of the eastern region of the then parish of Clonfert and extended from the eastern foot of Redmount Hill […]
© Donal G. Burke 2013 The Brabazon family who established themselves in Connacht claimed descent from a family of that name of Eastwell in Leicestershire through Sir William Brabazon, who, having been involved in the surveying of the property of dissolved Roman Catholic monasteries in England, attained high office in Ireland in the reign of […]
© Donal G. Burke 2013 The Blake family were established in the west of Ireland in the Anglo-Norman period and reputed to be of Welsh origin. The name derives from Richard Cadell (or Caddle), progenitor of the family, who was also known by his cognomen ‘Niger,’ ie. ‘Blak’ or ‘Black.’ (Members of the wider family […]
© Donal G. Burke 2013 The Blake family were established in the west of Ireland in the Anglo-Norman period and reputed to be of Welsh origin. The name derives from Richard Cadell (or Caddle), progenitor of the family, who was also known by his cognomen ‘Niger,’ ie. ‘Blak’ or ‘Black.’ (Members of the wider family […]
© Donal G. Burke 2013 The Blake family of Gortnamona in the parish of Clontuskert in east Galway is not to be confused with another branch of the wider Blake family established earlier at Moorfield, also known as Gortnamona, in the nearby parish of Fahy. The family of Clontuskert descend from Captain James Blake, who […]
© Donal G. Burke 2013 The O Mullerys appear as a minor landholding family in the late medieval and early modern period, based about the townland of Mackney on what would later be the western outskirts of the town of Ballinasloe in East Galway. About 1618 John O Mulry and Any (Áine or Anne) Ny […]