Doneraile 1258

The Brehon Law was abolished at the beginning of the 17th century and replaced by English Law

The Brehon Law was abolished at the beginning of the 17th century and replaced by English Law. Listed among the pardoned in Co Cork in a fiat of 1551 was "Cosnaye M'Clannaghay, of Ballyno, brehon". The placenames listed were Ballyno (Ballynoe, Ballynew, the name of quite a few townlands in Ireland); Moyneanynine, BallyRicharde, and Duneinerayll.

Heading the list was David Roche, son of Lord Roche. Of the Roches, Mac Lysaight writes in his Irish Families: "They are particularly associated with Co Cork on account of the predominance of a powerful family of Roches in the neighbourhood of Fermoy where a large area of territory was long known as Roche's Country."

Among the other surnames listed in the above fiant were a number O'Hennassa (a more accurate representation of O hAonghusa than today's (O'Hennessy). There was Thomas Og (og, young); Edmund Bane (ban, white); Donagh m'Thomas Henassa alias m'yPhotery (Mac an Photaire, son of the potter); Philip m'Henassa alias m'aMheiyr, William Mauntaghe (mantach, gap-toothed; toothless. Inarticulate, indistinct (of speech) O'Henassa, and John a Churry O'Henassa. And there was David og O'Henasa alias Fera Ryata. Other interesting surnames herein - Dermot a Ghleanna, and David Ryanaghpeccoid.

Also listed were William and Edmund Synane, of Duneinerayll. This place-name is Doneraile, a parish and townland in Co Cork. Mac Lysaght's The Surnames of Ireland says the surname Synan/Synon is associated with Doneraile and its neighbourhood since the 13th century. Giving Sionan as its Irish, Mac Lysaght adds that it was formerly also spelled Shynan "But as even in early records it is given without the prefix O, the suggestion that it is Gaelic O Sionan cannot be finally accepted without definite evidence. It is almost certainly of Norman origin."

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Current telephone directories list eight Synans - in cos Clare and Limerick; and seven Sinons, mainly in cos Clare and Limerick, and one Synon in Co Kerry. This name, in a variety of spellings, appeared 46 times between 1551 and 1603 in the Irish Fiants of the Tudor Sovereigns (1521-1603). The address of many of these was Doneraile - in a variety of spelling, but were also at Cahirdowgane (Caherduggan), Castlefoyky (Castlepook), Meadstown, Castletown, and Ballincolly. The name was also listed in cos Tipperary and Waterford.

William Sinane, gent, was the Doneraile, the name of a town, a townland, and a parish in the Co Cork barony of Fermoy, derives from Dun ar Aill, "fortress on a cliff". Up to the Act of Union in 1800 this had been a parliamentary borough sending two burgesses to parliament.

Patrick O'Flanagan in his Three Hundred Years of Urban Life: Villages in Cork: History & Society (Geography Publications 1993), covering the period 16001901, writes on the "diversity of economic activities" in many of the larger towns in Co Cork - Kinsale, Youghal, Bandon, Clonakilty and Mitchelstown. "By contrast, somnolent Doneraile, with its pretentious airs and undeserved Parliamentary status was very much a gentlemen's village lorded over by the powerful St Legers."

Lewis's informs that for some 15 years this was the home of Edmond Spenser, author of The Faerie Queen etc.

Listed among the "seated" was the Very Rev P. Sheehan at Kilbrack Cottage. This was Canon Sheehan, author of My New Curate, Miriam Lucas, The Blindness of Dr Gray, etc.