Pobul Uí Cheallacháin: Landscape and Power in an Early Modern Gaelic Lordship^†

† All Gaelic place-name translations are taken from www.logainm.ie (accessed 9 October 2015)

ABSTRACT

This paper is a study of the Gaelic lordship of Pobul Uí Cheallacháin, Co. Cork, Ireland. It uses an interdisciplinary approach drawing on archaeological, historical, cartographic and toponymic evidence to reconstruct the political geography of the lordship, investigating how power was manifested in the landscape. In the medieval period, land within the territory was organised and allocated following Gaelic custom ‘time out of mind used’. When in the 1590s the lordship underwent a fundamental change with the surrender and regrant of land to the English Crown, the social relationships underpinning the lordship, and the manner in which they were expressed in the landscape, were reordered. The paper pays special attention to Gaelic land units, settlement and place-names, and explores how political changes occurring in the late sixteenth century in a broader Irish and European context impacted on the landscape and settlement of an individual lordship.

KEYWORDS:

• Ireland
• Gaelic lordship
• place-names
• land units
• colonialism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on Contributor

Eve Campbell is the director of fieldwork at the Achill Archaeological Field School. She has a PhD in early modern Irish archaeology from NUI Galway and has worked as an archaeologist in the research, community and commercial sectors. Her research interests include post-medieval landscapes, place-names and vernacular architecture. Contact: [email protected]

Notes

† All Gaelic place-name translations are taken from www.logainm.ie (accessed 9 October 2015)