Dromore, County Down
Origin
Ir. Droim Mór 'big ridge'
Background
Town is 10.5km NE of Banbridge
bar: Iveagh Lower, Lower Half
Dromore is the name of an early monastery, a parish, a diocese corresponding to the baronies of Iveagh, and the town around the cathedral church.
Although the name Droim Mór 'big ridge' is used earliest to refer to St Colman's monastery, the church site and the town which has grown up around it are in a hollow between the hills. However, Harris in 1744 was happy to explain the name of the town as "'the great back of a hill', being a cluster of houses spread on the side of a hill" (Harris' Hist. 98). There is a ridge to the north of the town and another, Barban Hill, to the south (1:10,000 sheet 202). There is a rath in the north-west of the town on Maypole Hill, just above the cathedral, and between it and the main Belfast-Dublin road. The next earliest site, the Anglo-Norman motte, is on a spur close to the north bank of the river Lagan (ASCD 203). Only the top has been excavated, but if the motte has been built on a native foundation this could also be the droim of the name.
Muhr (PNI vi 108) considers it unlikely that the form Druim Moccu Echach from Muirchú's Life of St Patrick, could refer to Dromore in Iveagh, as suggested by Bieler (Muirchú (Bieler), index 257). Druim Moccu Echach "ridge of the descendants of Echu" is described as "a wild place high up in the hills" where St Patrick found Mac Cuill of the Grecraige who became Bishop Maughold of the Isle of Man. Since it is located among the Ulaid, which at this date would mean Dál Fiatach, she proposed that name refers to Uí Echach of the Ards. However, this is topographically less suited to the description, since, with the exception of an isolated hill near Portaferry, there is no place on the Ards Peninsula which exceeds the altitude of 50m. Whilst the hills in the immediate vicinity of Dromore town reach around 140m, perhaps the location of Druim Moccu Echach would be better sought in the wilder hill country of Slieve Croob to the south.
The abbot of Colmán's monastery of Dromore is sometimes referred to by the name of the founding saint rather than the place (AFM ii 756, AD1006; AFM ii 842, AD 1043). The references from the Newry charter (c.1157) with the Irish forms Dromamoyr, Dromamoir clearly shows the Irish genitive inflection; however, in the late Fragmentary Annals, the name is uninflected even in an Irish text (princeps (ab) Drommór, §450, s.a. ?913).
As a land unit the name Dromore is linked with Ballenegalga, now the townland of Ballymaganlis. There is no townland named Dromore in the parish.
The present Church of Ireland cathedral in the town marks the site of an early monastery founded by St Colman and also the site of a medieval cathedral dedicated to that saint. There is also a 10th- or 11th-century high cross and an earlier cross-inscribed stone ‘pillow’ associated with St Colman [(Moc[h]olmóc) Dromma móir c.830].
References
McKay, P. (2007): A Dictionary of Ulster Place-Names, p. 60; Muhr, K (1996): Place-Names of Northern Ireland vol. 6 pp. 104-8; revised PT 2013.Additional Information
T., 1851 Census
Historical name form
| Old Form | Ref. Date | Reference |
|---|---|---|
(?) hin Druim moccu Echach | 0700c | Muirchú ii 286 |
Moc[h]olmóc Dromma móir | 0830c | Mart. Tal. 48 June 7 |
feil Choluimb...maccu Artai | 0830c | Fél. Óeng. 139 June 7th |
abb Droma móir lá hUibh Eachdach | 0841 | AFM i 462 |
abbas Droma Moer la hU Echach | 0842 | AU (Mac Airt) 300 |
Corbmac, abb Droma móire | 0903 | AFM ii 564 |
Cormac ancorita, princeps Droma Moir | 0908 | AU (Mac Airt) 356 |
Maelmaedhocc, abb Droma móir, dég | 0909 | AFM ii 580 |
Maolmoedhoc princeps (ab) Drommór | 0909c [AFM s.a. 909; ?913 in FrA] | Fragment. Ann. 178 $450 |
espoc 7 abb Droma móir Mocholmócc | 0972 | AFM ii 696 |
airchinneach Droma Moir Mocholmócc | 1006 | AFM ii 756 |
Mac an Bheccánaigh comharba Mocholmócc 7 Comhghaill | 1068 | AFM ii 894-5 |
Riagan epscop Dromo moir & coicidh Uladh | 1101 | AU (Mac Airt) 536-7 |
Colman Dromma Moir | 1125c | CGH 141 $707.132 |
Mocholmoc Dromma Moir (Dál nAraide) | 1125c | CGH 16 $99 |
Mac an Bheacanaigh airchindech Dromamoir | 1143 | AFM ii 1070 |
Angen herennanus Dromamoyr | 1157c | Newry Char. (Flanagan) 3 |
Dromamoir | 1157c | Newry Char. (Mon. Ang.) 1134 |
Dromamoyr, Angen herennanus | 1157c | Newry Char. (Flanagan) 3 |
mo Cholmoc (Dhromma Móir, Columbanus espoc mac ú A | 1170c | Mart. Gorm. 112(n) Jun 7 |
Drummor et Maincoue (castles) | 1211c | Pipe Roll John 60 |
Drummor, patriam de Drummor | 1211c | Pipe Roll John 60 |
decano et capitulo Drumerensibus | 1245 | Pontif. Hib. ii 101 $259 |
eccles. S Colmani de Drumore | 1309 | EA 311 |
Colman Droma moir hi Cuib | 1397c | L. Lec. 125v b9 |
procurationes Dromorensis; eccl. Dromor. | 1422 | Reg. Dowdall $129 275 |
Mo Cholmóc Droma Moir ind hUaib Echach Ulad | 1453 | Fél. Óeng. 144nL (June 7) |
Dromorensis | 1480 | Annates Ulst. 290 |
(?) a nDruim-mor (2 O'Neills hanged) [no place ALCé, Conn | 1528 | AU iii 570-572n |
Drommor sedes Episc./ fort Drommor | 1600c | Bartlett Map (BM) |
maneria de Dromore | 1601c | EA 309 King''s Bks |
terr. de Dromore xiv vill. terr. | 1601c | EA 309 King''s Bks |
Dromoore Sedes Episc. | 1603 | Bartlett Maps (Esch. Co. Maps) 2 |
Droomore sedes Episc. | 1603 | Bartlett Maps (Esch. Co. Maps) 1 |
ecclesia..de Drumore | 1609 | Jas I to Dromore Cath. 104n 314 |
Dremore | 1610 | Speed's Ulster |
Droim Mór "large ridge" | 2002 | Culture NI PNN PMcK/JP |
| Drummor (castle larder) | 1211c | Pipe Roll John 60 |
| Drunmor (castle repairs) | 1211c | Pipe Roll John 56 |
| Dromore, the church of | 1306c | Eccles. Tax. (CDI) 211 |
| Dromore | 1368 | Reg. Sweteman 50 $221 |
| bishopric, diocese of Dromore | 1407 | Reg. Fleming $34 |
| Dromore (clerics of) | 1426 | Reg. Swayne 45 |
| diocese/ cathedral cleric of Dromore | 1526 | Reg. Cromer 342 $47 |
| primate custos of diocese of Dromore | 1526 | Reg. Cromer ii 342 $46 |
| Drommore | 1580c | Ulster Map 1580c |
| Drommore | 1580c | SE Ulster Map |
| Dromore | 1595 | Mercator's Ulst. |
| Dromore (Kilwarney, on river to L. Coyn, not Lagan | 1595 | Mercator's Ulst. |
| chief parcels of Dromore al. Ballymagalge | 1609 | CPR Jas I 395b |
| lands of Dromore al. Ballengalgae | 1611 | CPR Jas I 190b |
| the aforesaid lands of Dromore al. Ballenegalga | 1611 | CPR Jas I 190b |
| Dromore (+ 13 tds) | 1622 | Buckworth (EA) 310 |
| tenement(s) in Dromore x8 | 1622 | Buckworth (Atkinson) 128-9 |
| >ó Dhruim mór mo-Colmóc i n-Uibh Eachach Uladh | 1630c | Mart. Gorm. 112 June 7 n. |
| ~Droma móir, Colman, epscop | 1630c | Mart. Don. June 7 p148 |
| ~o Dhruim Mocholmocc [.i. Druim mór] | 1630c | Mart. Don. June 7 p148 |
| Colmanus Drumorensis Episcopus | 1643+ | Acta SS (Bolland.) 304 (Jun. 7) |
| Droim Mór +bh Eathach | 1645c | Cín Lae Ó M. 28-9 lch 24 |
| Dromore | 1657 | Inq. Down (Reeves1) 89 |
| Drummore | 1657c | Hib. Reg. Lr. Iveagh |
| Drummore (parish) | 1659c | Census 1659 78 |
| Drummore towne (pop. 178) | 1659c | Census 1659 79 |
| Dromoore Parish (5 times) | 1661 | BSD 67-71 |
| Rector de Dromore | 1661 | Trien. Visit. (Bramhall) 15 |
| Drumore | 1663 | Sub. Roll Down 274 |
| Dromore | 1664 | Trien. Visit. (Margetson) 26 |
| Mocholmog Droma Móir | 1666c | TCD Gens 147a $280 |
| Dromore | 1679 | Trien. Visit. (Boyle) 48 |
| Dromore Rectoria | 1679 | Trien. Visit. (Boyle) 46 |
| Dromore | 1692 | Rent Roll Down 5 |
| Drommore, a poor market-town | 1760 | UJA 3 48 1985 114 |
| ""a high narrow ridge of hills"" | 1834c | J O'D (OSNB) E125 |
| ~Druim Mór | 1834c | J O'D (OSNB) E125 |
| ~Droim Mór/Dromore | 1988 | Éire Thuaidh |
| ~Droim Mór | 1989 | GÉ 94 |
| Droim Mór | 1992 | PNI 106 |
| Droim Mór "" big ridge"" | 1999 | Cel. Ulst. Tds 13 |
| ~Droim Mór ""large ridge"" | 1999 | Dict. Ulst. PN 60 |
- Barony
- Iveagh Lr., Lr. Half
- Parish
- Dromore
- Parish in 1851
- Dromore
- Townland
- Ballymaganlis/Ballymacormick/Ballyvicknacally/Drumbroneth/Balleny
- Place name ID
- 11375
- Place name type
- M:V