Drumreagh, County Down
Origin
Ir. Droim Creiche ‘ridge of the foray’ or Droim Croidh ‘ridge of the cattle’
Background
Drumreagh lies due north of Barnamaghery, another townland containing an ancient graveyard. Bishop Reeves noted Ecclesia de Dramcro ‘the church of Dramcro’ in the papal taxation of 1306, but it was not mentioned in the Terrier of 1615 and O’Laverty assumed the church was ruined by then. Historical references with the spelling Drumcreagh link the early name with what is now Drumreagh townland (thus apparently Droim Riabhach ‘the grey ridge’) which contains an ‘ancient burial place’ which Reeves knew as Killkeeran. Although there were no remains of a church, it was still used for burials ‘almost exclusively by the Roman Catholics of the district, and principally by the Murrys, an ancient family, whose habitant (sic) is the adjacent townlands of Carrickmannon, Magherscouse, Moneygreer and Ravarra’ (EA 9n, O’Laverty I 347). The Northern Ireland Sites and Monuments Record describes it as ‘Kilcarn Grave Yard: On a ridge several hundred metres W of the Chapel Water… enclosed by a rectilinear stone wall & contains some very interesting 18th-century gravestones. It is still used for burials’ (J 455604, NISMR). The name Killkeeran would be the ‘church of St Ciarán’, Kilcarn the ‘church of the cairn’. In the late 19th century O’Laverty noted that, ‘In the grave-yard stands a large flag-stone, about which several mythic stories are told’. He recounted one of these in which a chieftain called O’Roney chased and killed the monster cat of Clough, from which ‘the track of the hoof of his war-horse is yet impressed on the large stone’ (O’Laverty I 28).
References
KM, 2009Additional Information
Historical name form
Old Form | Ref. Date | Reference |
---|---|---|
Duncro, ecclesiam sancti Andree de | 1204 | Pontif. Hib. i $59 |
Duncro, ecclesiam sancti Andree de | 1204 | Pontif. Hib. i $59 |
Dramcro, Ecclesia de | 1306c | Eccles. Tax. 8 |
Druim Riach | 1834c | Luke Killen (OSNB) 36/56 |
(?)Ballireogh | 1605 | Inq. Ult. (Down) $1 Jac. I |
Ballidromcreagh | 1605 | CPR Jas I 73a |
>Reaghie (the Duffrin) | 1624 | CPR Jas I 587b |
Ballyreagh othw> | 1624 | CPR Jas I 587b |
Ballydrumereaghe | 1629? | Grant Jas I (OSNB) 36/56 |
Ballydrumreagh | 1629? | Grant Jas I (OSNB) 36/56;?ChasI |
Ballydromcreagh | 1636 | Inq. Ult. (Down) $75 Car. I |
>Reaghie | 1645 | Inq. Ult. (Down) $104 Car. I c |
Ballereagh al.> | 1645 | Inq. Ult. (Down) $104 Car. I c |
Drumcreagh | 1645 | Inq. Ult. (Down) $104 Car. I |
Ballydromcreagh | 1650c | Inq. Ult. (Down) $109 Car. I |
Ballydrumcreagh | 1650c | Inq. Ult. (Down) $109 Car. I |
Drumreagh | 1659c | Census 1659 89 |
Dromreagh | 1661 | BSD 63 |
Ballydrumreagh | 1662 | Inq. Ult. (Down) $1 Car. II |
Drumreagh | 1830c | Bnd. Sur. (OSNB) 36/56 |
- Barony
- Castlereagh Lower
- Parish
- Killinchy
- Parish in 1851
- Killinchy
- Townland
- None
- Place name ID
- 12220
- Place name type
- T