Kerrycurrihy

Kerrycurrihy (Irish: Ciarraí Cuirche) is a historical barony in central County Cork, Ireland.^[1][2]

Kerrycurrihy Ciarraí Cuirche (Irish)
Barony
Mudflats in Owenabue
Barony map of County Cork, 1900; Kerrycurrihy barony is in the south, coloured yellow.
Kerrycurrihy
Coordinates: 51°50′N 8°22′W
Sovereign state	Ireland
Province	Munster
County	Cork
Area
• Total	97.0 km2 (37.4 sq mi)

Baronies were mainly cadastral rather than administrative units.^[3] They acquired modest local taxation and spending functions in the 19th century before being superseded by the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898.^[4][5]

History and legend

This area was anciently part of Muskerry Ilane, which also included the Imokilly barony. This was a territory of the Múscraige people.

The legendary High King of Ireland Rudraige mac Sithrigi is said to have cleared twelve plains in Ireland, including Kerrycurrihy.^[6]

Kerrycurrihy takes its name from the Cíarraige Cuirche, a sept of the Cíarraige people who also give their name to County Kerry.

A biography of the 7th-century saint Mo Chutu of Lismore says that

One day Mochuda went to Kerrycurrihy, and found there in the district Corc, the king of Munster. There fell a fiery ball from the air, and killed the wife and son of the king, and two of his chariot horses. The king entreated Mochuda to raise them; and he did so with the grace of God.^[7]

The Annals of the Four Masters mentions that at the AD 908 Battle of Ballaghmoon, at which the bishop-king Cormac mac Cuilennáin was slain at the head of a large Munster army, among the Munster dead was "Fogartach the Wise, son of Suibhne, lord of Ciarraighe-Cuirche."^[8]

The O'Curry of Clan Torna were chiefs here.^[9]

Kerrycurrihy was the first place to be planted with English colonists in the Munster Plantation in the 1560s.^[10]

In the Down Survey, Kerrycurrihy was united with Kinalea, but by 1821 they were separate baronies.

Geography

Kerrycurrihy is a strip of land in the centre of County Cork, north of Kinalea, south of Cork City, east of Muskerry and west of Cork Harbour.

List of settlements

Settlements within the historical barony of Kerrycurrihy include:^[1]

• Ballinhassig
• Ballygarvan
• Carrigaline
• Crosshaven
• Douglas
• Monkstown
• Myrtleville
• Passage West
• Ringaskiddy
• Shanbally

See also

• List of townlands of the barony of Kerrycurrihy

References

1. "Ciarraí Cuirche/Kerrycurrihy". logainm.ie. Placenames Database of Ireland.
2. "Kerrycurrihy". www.townlands.ie.
3. "Property Price Register - Lands at Muff, Barony of Athlone North, Castlecoote, Co. Roscommon". www.myhome.ie.
4. General Register Office of Ireland (1904). "Alphabetical index to the baronies of Ireland". Census of Ireland 1901: General topographical index. Command papers. Vol. Cd. 2071. HMSO. pp. 966–978.
5. Office, Ireland Public Record (12 February 1891). "Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records and of the Keeper of the State Papers in Ireland: Presented to Both Houses of the Oireachtas". Stationery Office. – via Google Books.
6. Murphy, Michael (2008). "LEBOR GABÁLA ÉRENN The Book of the Taking of Ireland PART VI Index Q-S EDITED AND TRANSLATED WITH NOTES, ETC. BY R. A. Stewart Macalister, D.Litt" (PDF). CELT.UCC.ie.
7. "Part 13 of Bethada Náem nÉrenn". celt.ucc.ie.
8. "Part 1 of Annals of the Four Masters". celt.ucc.ie.
9. "The Baronies of Ireland - History". 17 July 2019. Archived from the original on 17 July 2019.
10. "Munster plantation". Oxford Reference. doi:10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100216876.