More A5902 Twists and Turns

[ChrisMcLain132906]

The more I put placenames together and read about the families around Maigh nAilbhe, the more it seems my FT130287 group were mysteriously somewhow in central-southern Kildare and that possibly the Ui Bairrche, who ruled Maigh nAilbhe could have been a confederation of people as they weakened c.8th-11th centuries. The Ui Bairrche influence prior to the 8th/9th century seems to be widespread in N. Leinster with ties to the ruling Ui Dunlainge dynasty (although not related to them). But they eventually break up into small detached tuaths, or even maintain small communities surrounding their earlier Patrician monastic settlements at Killcullen, Killashee, Sleaty, Killeshin and Castledermot. The two AFM entries for Ua Guaire are certainly questionable in regards to Ui Cuilinn, as Coileain was an immensely popular name, particularly among the O'Dempsey of Clanmaliere in Ui Failghe (several Coileain O Diomsaigh men in the annals), so there could have been 'Ui Cuilinn' people that were lost to history. The Irish govt agency that runs logainm.ie is determining most placenames referencing a "Cullen" surname to be Coileain (welp/pup, synonymous of young warrior) anciently the given name Cuilen, and not what Woulfe determined to be "Cuilinn" (of the holly tree) which was determined to be the root of placenames with geographic descriptions like Feighcullen (Fiodh Cuilinn) or Kilcullen (Cill Cuilinn). Coileain was anciently Cuilen.

The Cairbre Ua Guaire "head of the hospitality of Leinster" who d. 963 (+/- 5) which I had figured was undoubtedly another meaning for an abbot of Kildare, could have been an abbot of Killeshin, Co. Laois. There were intermittent periods of the 10th century where the church of Leinster administered from Gleann Uisean. Of which in Rawlinson 502's Ui Bairrche lineages is Úi Cuilíne dia fail Diarmait Glinni Uissen which also coincidently contained "Shrule" on the barrow river which anciently was Sruthail Guaire becoming obsolete by the 12th c. This location may also explain the slaying of 'Tadhg Ua Guaire, lord of Ui Cuilinn' by Diarmait mac Mael-na-mBo during his rise to power in Leinster. Maigh nAilbhe was the Ui Dunlainge's barrier to their rival Ui Cennsalaigh to the south. The AFM in the 1030s records Diarmaid's operating and pillaging central/southern Kildare from Kilcullen in Magh Liffe to Catherlach and slaying of his rivals before is seizing the kingship of Laigin.

There seems to be both "Cullane" and "McClane" populations in the vicnity of townlands referencing the surname Ui Coileain, where the townland name also anglicized with the "long a" with plenty of other evidence that Irish diminutive names (ending in -ain) anglicized to an 'AYN' ending such as Cahalane, Keelane etc. I had visited this possiblity years ago but the research did not bear fruit as it seems i was looking in the wrong locale. This anglicization of names is particularly prevalent in eastern Laois, southern Kildare and northern Carlow which were all somewhat close to Maigh nAilbhe. Ballykillane near Portarlington, Ballycullane near Athy and Ballykillane near Hackettstown all have corresponding (Mc)C*l-EAN/ANE/AIN (E) populations. Several 16th century records in N. Leinster confirms the Mac Coileain surname certainly existed, several records of which I had previously thought were Mac Giolla Eain but could not explain the Irish given names (Failghe and Diarmaid, overwhelmingly popular in Offaly/Kildare) among mercenary kindreds who I know for a fact did not come into the midlands until their pro-govt employment with the Earls of Kildare and Ormonde in the 2nd Desmond Rebellions, which created a mental conundrum for me.

4 Sep 1513, Item to Donnell mac Collayn, a bay (yellow horse; Kildare Rental; horses gifted by the Earl of Kildare; likely an O'Diomsaigh? a Teige mac Colan also listed)
24 Nov 1539, Dermot McLone holds demesne lands at Greatconnell Priory (Ir. Mon. Poss.; certainly M'Cullone' based on other *C/lone* spellings in N. Leinster fiants)
16 Sep 1582, Phaly M'Layne (Failghe mac Coileain?) gent, tenant of Gerald Fitzgerald of Villanston Co. Westmeath (F4030)
16 Sep 1582, Teige M'Collyn & Malghlin M'Collyn, husbandmen in Ballynasculloge, Co. Kildare (F4031)

Also worth mentioning after i came across a "Cuileannan Claen, lector of Leighlin and Disert-Diarmada" (Castledermot, Co. Kildare) in AFM1054, eDil lists another form of the epithet 'Claen' as Cuilín which is very intersesting.

I've found early 18th c. records of ancestor's relatives as McClen, McKlan, Macklan, McCleen, etc as well as strange McHalean, and Maghcalan(Mac Choilean?). This is beginning to suggest Mac Cuilen. There either may have been DNA switches within this kin-group called "Ui Cuilinn" which was either derived from the given name Cuilen or the epithet Cuilin / Claen, which had meany meanings (uneven, crooked; squinting; perverse/unjust). But perhaps it's as simple as the given name Cuilen was so popular and favored here that there was a Cuilen Ua Guaire.

[Webmaster]

Chris,

If this holds up, this is another significant departure from the traditional genealogies and annals. Really crazy if it holds up.

[tamcevoy]

Chris I had thought it might come to something like Magh Cuilen or MacCuilen- similar to my McEvoys coming from Magh Cobha

[ChrisMcLain132906]

Thanks guys! There were *at least* three 'Ui Cuilen/Ui Cuilin/Ui Culinn' in Leinster. So it's a little tough to determine. I like to see how placenames can factor into it although the "Guaire" oriented placenames could just be personal names, as it seems to have been a popular name in Leinster as well abt 8th-11th centuries which can throw me off. One in Ui Failghe, one in Maigh nAilbhe, and one of the Laigin who were near the modern Kildare/Wicklow/Carlow borders which most likely the Ballycullane in Kilkea (Kildare) and Ballykillane in Rathvilly (Carlow) are probably attributed to. I'm certainly split between the Ui Failghe and Maigh nAilbhe possiblities. However as 'lords of Ui Cuilinn' the Ui Guaire could have been displaced from elsewhere either by the Ui Cennsalaig or Norman incursion. I also haven't determined if the given name Cuilén which had varients of Coileain and Coilin is the same as Cuilín which was "Cooleen" and another from of Cláen ("Clayn") as it seems Cuilinn ("of the holly tree") did not have an emphasis on the last syllable and was probably more of a placename than a given name. Perhaps there was an Ui Cuilín who were not from the given name Cuilen, that is 'whelp, pup/young warrior' but more-so a form of Cláen:

Cláen
Forms: Cuilín
adj o, ā

(a) uneven, crooked, sloping; aslant, bending, stooped; curving, curved : dosroraind . . . cona deilg. Sīa īarom rosīacht a dealg ūaithe sair a bēlaib oldās dar a hais sīar. Is aire is clōen ind less, Corm. Y 502 . clóen ind ráth dind leith adiu, RC xiii 462 § 65 . in chuirn chláoin curved(?), IGT Decl. ex. 356 . a bheith claon nochar chás duid `its laying low troubled thee not' (of a severed head), PBocht 14.35 . ? Fig. mo chiall ata claon, Atlantis iv 180.31 .

(b) Freq. of hair waving (?) flowing (?): folt claon, DDána 96.33 . ciabh dhaghcruinn n-a cuaichleirg claoin, Magauran 1001 . is camarsach claon . . . / a carn-ḟolt, Keat. Poems 65 .

(c) Of eyes, squinting: Finan Cam . . . .i. cloen a rosc, Fél. 112.23 , Gorm. Apr. 7n. dā mac imleasan . . . ┐ sīat clǣna, TBC-I¹ 2612 . gura bhris in suil claein, MR 36.13 .

As epithet: a trian ro charsat Conall Cloen batis cloín cot acallaim, LL 13522 (Thurn., ZCP viii 72 ff. q.v., would translate hump-backed ). Conghal Caoch, no Claon, AFM an. 624 . co tard beach . . . a neim for mo leth-rosc-sa, gura claen mo ṡuil. Congal C. mo ainm ar sin, MR 34.12 . an Giolla claon Ua Ciardha, tigherna Coirpri, AFM ii 1092.11 .

(d) In moral sense, iniquitous, perverse, unjust, biassed: cil .i. claon no cutruma, O'Dav. 467 (? leg. écutrumma). nate ni clóin gl. (numquid iniquitas apud Deum?) Absit, Wb. 4c17 . in miscuis clóin, Ml. 46d10 . inna mbritheman cloin, 103b17 (brithem, MS.). adbar inna combartae cloine, 71c6 . is gó flatha do-ber sína saíba for tūatha clóena. ZCP xi 82 § 25 . scítha láma indrosc (sic leg.?) cloína unjust demands(?), LU 10884 (TE rhet.). ingena cloína Cain, LL 17437 . nírbat santa[ch] immun mbith / nō for ind nim (leg. indiub) chlóen, ACL iii 312 § 6 (indium, in nem, v.ll.). gan beith fa chomadaib claena `unjust conditions', MR 120.26 . freasdal a gcor gclaon `crooked wiles', Aithd. D. 52.3 . ainic nach claon do chathaoir `lest your poet's chair be partial', Content. v 186 .

This would certainly make "McClane" from Mac Cuilín (McCooleen, McClene, McLeen) in a grammatical way and not neccesarily in terms of anglicizations of a diminutive names in a certain dialect or an effect of the english language vowel shift (i.e how Sean became "Shane", 17th c.)

The Ua Guaire population in modern times is certainly E. Offaly. One member is from the "Kilbeggan cluster" and the other from the "Summerhill cluster" with a TMRCA abt 1220-1310, which would most certainly be around Clonbulloge.

GorryNLeinsterBapt.jpeg

.

Rawlinson B502 gives

GENELACH ÚA FAILGE.

¶245] Rus Failge m. Cathaír Máir sé mc la suide .i. Nath Í, Brénaind, Óengus Find, Óengus Dub, Dálán, Eochaid.

¶246] Ó Óengus Finn: Úi Máele Topair & Úi Chuilíne & Úi Máel Aithgén.

There was a 'Cuilíne' king of Ui Failghe who d.653 who these people were probably descended of. The area that the Ui Failghe once covered gives a wealth of placenames, including some very interesting obsolete placenames in terms of "Cuilin" or "Cuilen", several of which have the "Mac" prefix which tells me Mac Coileain certainly did exist here beyond any theories of mine about alternate prefixes like when I was taking other names into account in years prior. Near the place of the pardon of 'Phaly M'Layne' (F4030) in 1582 is a 'Balle m'Cullian' which became enveloped by the town of Edenderry by 1700, most certainly Baile Mhic Cuilín as the documentation of the placename gives several instances of a mac prefix and a "cooleen" pronunciation. Phaly M'Layne (Failghe Mac Coileain? Phaly Mac Cláen?) was a tenant of Gerald Fitzgerald of Vilanston Co. Westmeath who held Lenamarren Co Offaly (F3537 in the alientation of Henry Waryng of Waryingston) which was adjacent to Edenderry and Monasteroris Co. Offaly. Just a short distance from here in Carrick Co. Kildare a 'Donagh M'Gorreh' (Donnchadha Mac Guaire) was pardoned in 1600 with some Berminghams of Carbury. The Berminghams at one time held all of E. Offaly prior to the gaelic resurgence. The other townland confirmed to be of the Cuilín variant based on the research noted on logainm.ie is Ballycullenbeg Co Laois (Baile Cuilín Beag) which is close to Ballykillane (Baile Choileain) however Ballykillane is likely associated with a Coileain Ua Diomsaigh and not the Ui Cuilín sept in the Ui Failghe genealogies (as per logainm.ie) although the "beag" was added in the 18th c., only because of the proximity to Ballykillane.

MidlandsmapNEW.jpeg

Another obsolete name appears in the 1518 Kildare rental and 1550 Offaly survey. "Bealath Cuyllean" near Athy is very close to Tullygorey, Ballycullane, and a Ballycoolan. There's some conflicting evidence here, but the given name Cuilen was very popular among the O'Dempseys of Clanmaliere and in "Account of the O'Dempseys", the author claims that Clann Maoilughra held sway over the Athy area prior to the Norman invasion. "Bealath Cuyllean" is probably Bealach Coileain or Beal Atha Coileain,and in the vicinity of Castlereban, Co. Kildare. Which in this parish, "Teige M'Collyn and Malghlin M'Collyn, husbandmen who dwell in Balmaskollock, Co. Kildare" (Ballynasculloge) were pardoned the same day as Phaly M'Layne. In the 1841 land survey books have a "John McLene" (John MacCuilin?) occupying Ballynasculloge, a very small townland. Now I wonder if the few M'Lyne fiants i had come across years ago are really Mac Laighean (since O'Lyne was in the general area) and not Mac Cuilín (?). One was very close to Kilbeggan (James M'Lyne, gent. of Rahinmore, Co. Westmeath; F1603)

This area could be in Ui Failghe but it's certainly close enough to Killeshin to be related to the Ui Cuilin in Maigh nAilbhe.

Offalykingdommap2.jpeg

[Webmaster]

Chris,

Amazing as always. IDK if it is helpful, but the "Bealath" in "Bealath Cuyllean" looks like it might be a compound of bel or bél + áth = "path or way of the ford" or "mouth of the ford".

[ChrisMcLain132906]

Thanks David, that actually makes much more sense!
It's last known record is 'Balachalun' in the 1565 'Offalia' Map.

Balachalun.jpeg

Castlereban is the towerhouse in it's vicinity.