Information about Oughtagh

Information from O'Donovan's Field Name Books

Standard Name:
Oughtagh
Irish Form of Name:
Ochtach
Translation:
breast like hill
Civil Parish:
Other Forms of the Name with authority source (if provided) in italics:
Oughtagh
Ochtach
Oghtagh
Oghtagh Boundary Surveyors Sketch
Ughtagh Co. Name Book
Ohto Old Rent Ledger
Oghtagh Revd. J. O’Brien, P.P.
Comment:
Compare: occurs often
Description:
This townland presents no remarkable feature. The land is tillage and pasture.
Situation:
Oghtagh is situated abut 1¼ mile S. of a monument in the townland of Kilbegnet.

Information From Joyce's Place Names

Translation according to P. W. Joyce:
Oughtagh in Galway, Derry, and Mayo; Uchtach or Ochtach, the breast (of a hill): from Ucht, the breast; with ach appended: p. 12 [reproduced below]. See vol. ii. p. 428 [reproduced below].
Ach, lach, nach, rach, tach, trach, seach. All these postfixes have a collective signification when placed after nouns and generally convey the sense of "full of", "abounding in", much the same as the English postfixes ful, y, and ous. In Irish writings, especially if they be ancient, these terminations are often written ech, lech, etc.; and sometimes, in compliance with a grammatical custom, they are changed to each, leach, etc.; but these changes do not influence the anglicised forms. Ach. This is the most common of all Irish terminations, and its most usual form in anglicised names is agh, which is sounded with a strong guttural by the people, but pronounced ah by those who cannot sound the guttural. Scart means a brake or scrubby place; and Scartagh, the name of a place near Clonakilty in Cork, signifies a place covered with brakes - a bushy spot. From draighen [dreen] the blackthorn or sloebush, we have draighneach, a place abounding in blackthorns; and this again compounded with cill, church, gives Cill-draighnech (so written in the Irish Calendars), the church of the sloe-bushes. It was one of the churches of St. Erinin or Mernoc (died, A. D. 635) who is mentioned by Adamnan in his Life of St. Columba, and who gave name to Inchmarnock and to the two Kilmarnocks in Scotland. This church has left its name on a townland, now called Kildreeenagh, in the parish of Dunleckny in Carlow, near Bagenalstown. Breast. The front of a hill, a projection from its general body, is often designated by the word ucht, which signifies the breast. The most correct anglicised form is ught, which is seen in Ughtyneill near Moynalty in the county Meath, O'Neill's hill-breast (y for O: see p. 137, supra). But it more often takes the form ought; of which an excellent example is seen in Oughtmama, the name of a parish in Clare, meaning the breast or front of the maam or mountain pass - Oughtymoyle and Oughtymore in the parish of Magilligan in Derry, signifying bare breast and great breast respectively, the y being a corruption in both names. There is a small island in the eastern side of Lough Mask, about four miles south-west pf Ballinrobe, called Inishoght, the island of the breast; and the Four Masters mention another little island of the same name, which they call Inis-ochta, in Lough Macnean in Fermanagh, as the scene of a fight between the O'Rourkes and the MacRannalls in A.D. 1499. But this name, though used in the last century, is now forgotten; the present name of the islet is Inishee, i.e. Inis-Aedha, the island of Aedh or Hugh; and according to the tradition quoted by O'Donovan (Four M., IV. - p. 1250 m.) it received this name from a king named Aedh who once lived on it. Inishee or Hugh's Island is also the name of a place in the parish of Clonfert in the east of the county of Galway, including within it the village of Eyrecourt, now called Donanaghta; but in the Inquisitions the name is written Doonanought, bot of which point to the meaning, the fort of the breast, i.e. built on the breast of a hill.

Information From Griffith's Valution

Area in Acres, Roods and Perches:
A.R.P.
77 0 31
Land value at the time in pounds, shillings and pence:
£.s.d.
47 15 8
Building value at the time in pounds, shillings and pence:
£.s.d.
13 2 0
Total value at the time in pounds, shillings and pence:
£.s.d.
54 5 4
Heads of housholds living in the townland at this time:

Townland Information

What is a townland?:
A townland is one of the smallest land divisions in Ireland. They range in size from a few acres to thousands of acres. Many are Gaelic in origin, but some came into existence after the Norman invasion of 1169
Townland:
Oughtagh is a townland.

Information From Maps

Original OS map of this area.
(Click on place name to view original map in new window.):
Ireland was first mapped in the 1840s. These original maps are available online.
(This information will display in a new window.)
Oughtagh
Original OS maps at the Ordnance Survey of Ireland website.
(Click on place name to view original map in new window.)
This link is not a link to the townland that you are currently researching; however, if you follow this link, you will see a search box near the top of the page which you can use to search for your townland.
Having followed this link, you will see several expandable links - each link has a plus sign on its left - on the top left of the page. Expand 'Base Information and Mapping'. Now it is possible to select the maps that you wish to view by clicking on the checkbox that is on the left of each map; this list includes the original Ordnance Survey maps.
You can select more than one map and you can use a slider to make one map more transparent than another. This allows you to view what features were present or absent at different points in time.
(This map will display in a new window.)
Oughtagh
Information from the Down Survey Website.
(This information will display in a new window.):
The Down Survey website will tell you who owned this townland in 1641 (pre Cromwell) and in 1671 (post Cromwell).
Down Survey Website
(This website will display in a new window.)
Information from Google Maps.
(This information will display in a new window.):
You can use this link to find this townland on Google Maps.
Google Maps
(This website will display in a new window.)
Information from the National Monuments Service.
(This information will display in a new window.):
You can use this link to view a map of archaelogical features.
This link brings you to a website wherein you will have to search for your townland.
Archaeological map from the National Monuments Service

Neighbouring Townlands

List of townlands that share a border with this townland:
This is a list of townlands that share a border with this townland.

Population and Census Information

People who lived here:
You can retrieve a list of people who lived in this townland from 1827 to 1911. This list is compiled from the following resources.
  • The Tithe Applotment Books
  • Griffith's Valuation
  • 1901 Census
  • 1911 Census
List of nineteenth century and early twentieth century inhabitants of this townland.
Church records of births, deaths and marriages:
Church records of births, deaths and marriages are available online at http://www.rootsireland.ie. To search these records you will need to know the 'church parish' rather than the 'civil parish'. (The civil parish is the pre-reformation parish and was frequently used as a unit of administration in the past.)
Oughtagh is in the civil parish of Kilbegnet.
Roman Catholic parishes:
This civil parish corresponds with the following Roman Catholic parish or parishes.
  • Glinsk & Kilbegnet
Church of Ireland parishes:
This civil parish corresponds with the following Church of Ireland parish.
  • Kilbegnet
In general, the civil parish and the Church of Ireland parish are the same, but, this is not always the case.