Tirkennedy
Tír Cheannada[1] (Irish)
Location of Tirkennedy, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland.
Location of Tirkennedy, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland.
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
CountryNorthern Ireland
CountyFermanagh

Tirkennedy (from Irish Tír Cheannada 'country of the long-head') is a barony in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland.[2] To its west lies Lower Lough Erne and south Upper Lough Erne, and it is bordered by seven other baronies: Clanawley and Magheraboy to the west; Lurg and Omagh East to the north; Clogher to the east; Magherastephana and Knockninny to the south.[2]

History

Despite its name, Tirkennedy has nothing to do with the modern personal name of Kennedy, which derives from Cennétig (ugly/rough headed). Rather it takes its name from the epithet of Fergus son of Cremthann, the eponymous ancestor of the Ui Chremthainn, the predominant tribe of the western Airgialla.[1][3] Fergus lived in the late fifth century AD. He was known as Cennfhota (long-head). His descendants became known as the Ui Chennfhota, with the kingdom of Tir Cennfhota receiving its first mention in the Annals in 1349.[4][3]

Chieftains of Tirkennedy at the beginning of the Maguire’s reign over Fermanagh in the late 1200s were the Magunshinan, originally Mac Uinsionnain but anglicised to Nugent.[5] The Devine (Irish: Ó Daimhín) sept were cited as Lords of Tirkennedy,[3][6] and were a leading Fermanagh sept up to and including the fifteenth century, when the O'Neills broke their power to the north and the Maguires to the south.[6] Under the Maguires, the MacManus sept became hereditary supervisors of the fisheries in Tirkennedy.[7]

The early Anglicisation of "Tircannada" recorded in the 1609 escheated counties map is claimed as being more accurate than the present form of "Tirkennedy".[1]

List of main settlements

List of civil parishes

Civil parishes within the barony of Tirkennedy, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland

Below is a list of civil parishes in Tirkennedy:[8]

  • Cleenish (split with baronies of Magheraboy and Clanawley)
  • Derrybrusk (also partly in barony of Magherastephana)
  • Derryvullan (also partly in barony of Lurg)
  • Enniskillen
  • Magheracross (split with barony of Omagh East)
  • Trory (also partly in barony of Lurg)

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Strabane Lower". Placenames Database of Ireland. Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. Retrieved 4 December 2012.
  2. 1 2 PRONI Baronies of Northern Ireland
  3. 1 2 3 The Letters of John O'Donovan Archived 2010-07-28 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ↑ The barony of Tirkennedy in Co. Fermanagh
  5. ↑ "John O'Donovan Maguires of Fermanagh From Duffy's Hibernian Magazine, Volume 2, Number 10, April, 1861". Retrieved 4 September 2022.
  6. 1 2 Bell, Robert; The Book of Ulster Surnames, page 51. The Black Staff Press, 2003. ISBN 0-85640-602-3
  7. ↑ The Baronies of Ireland - Family History
  8. ↑ PRONI CIvil Parishes of County Fermanagh

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