Mucklagh

Mucklagh is a townland in the Parish of Tomregan, Barony of Tullyhaw, County Cavan, Ireland.

Etymology

The townland name is an anglicisation of the Gaelic placename "Muc Lach" which means ‘A place where pigs feed’. The oldest surviving mention of the name is in the 1609 Ulster Plantation map where it is spelled ‘Mucklogh’. In the 17th century it was split into two townlands, Mucklagh and Skeagh (which is Gaelic for "The Whitethorn Bush") but Skeagh was later subsumed into Mucklagh.

Geography

It is bounded on the north by Aughrim townland, on the east by Gortawee & Rakeelan townlands, on the south by Doon (Tomregan) townland and on the west by Gortoorlan & Snugborough townlands. Its chief geographical features are some mountain streams, forestry plantations and Slieve Rushen mountain, on whose south-eastern slope it lies, reaching an altitude of 300 meters above sea-level.

The townland is traversed by Mucklagh Lane. According to the Dúchas School's Collection at http://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/5044799/5039755 the lane was made as part of the public works carried out in the 1840's as a result of the Great Famine (Ireland). In the same collection at http://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/5044799/5039758 is a description of Mucklagh in 1938.

Mucklagh covers an area of 212 hectares.

History

It formed part of the Manor of Calva which was granted to Walter Talbot in 1610 as part of the Plantation of Ulster. The Hearth Money Rolls of 1664 list the occupiers of Mucklagh as Donell McDonoghie, Phelemy McDonoghie, Knoghor McDonoghie and Donell Oge McDonoghie.

The Tithe Applotment Books for 1827 list the following tithepayers in the townland- McKenna, Fitzpatrick, Clements, McCorry, McDonnell, Latimer, McCusker, Curry, McCaffrey.^[1]

The Ordnance Survey Name Books for 1836 give the following description of the townland- "Muclach, 'a place where pigs feed; a stye, a piggery'. North of parish. Property of Montgomery. Rent 16 shillings to £1 per arable acre. 50 acres of mountain and pasture. A large limestone quarry, a gravelly soil resting on limestone. No road."

The 1841 Census of Ireland gives a population of 95 in Mucklagh, of which 56 were males and 39 were females, with 13 houses.

The 1851 Census of Ireland gives a population of 71, a decrease of 24 on the 1841 figure, due to the intervening Irish Famine of 1845–47, of which 37 were males and 34 were females, with 15 houses, of which one was uninhabited. The decrease was largely in the male population who had probably left the townland to look for work.

Griffith's Valuation of 1857 lists the landlords of the townland as the Annesley Estate and Latimer & the tenants as Cosgrove, McTeague, Curry, Drum, Latimer, Hewitt, Lawrence, McCaffrey, McKenna, Kane, Fitzpatrick, McMullen and Seaton.^[2]

In the 1901 census of Ireland, there are thirteen families listed in the townland.^[3]

In the 1911 census of Ireland, there are ten families listed in the townland.^[4]

Antiquities

The historic sites in the townland are an old limestone quarry and Mountview House.

References

External links

• The IreAtlas Townland Data Base