Information about Dononaughta Parish

Information from O'Donovan's Field Name Books

Standard Name:
Dononaughta Parish
Irish Form of Name:
Dún an Ocht
Translation:
fort of the breast (of a hill)
Civil Parish:
Other Forms of the Name with authority source (if provided) in italics:
Dononaughta Parish
Dún an Ocht
Paráiste an Dúin
Dononaght
Downanoght Inq. Temp. Jac. I
Dounanoghta Inq. Temp. Jac. I
Description:
This parish consists of 10 townlands inclusive of Eyre Court Demesne. The townland of Eyre Court is situated in the South East of it. The road from Loughrea and Kiltormer to Banagher passes through the parish. There are 6 fairs in the year held on the 10th February – the next fair is held the first Monday after Easter Monday and the next are the 10th of July, 8th of September, 10th of November and the 22nd of December. A market on every Saturday throughout the year. There are 4 schools in the townland, two in Court Lane. A Female School held in the Court Tower under the London Hibernian Society, teacher Rev. Mr. Gowran, 50 pupils, 11 of which are Protestant, the rest being Roman Catholic. £8 per year is allowed by the Society – School in Market St. Teacher Mr. Quinlan, 9 Catholics and 4 Protestants. Ruin of school in River Street – the Rev. Richard Banks, Rector of the Parish, deceased, allowed £35 per annum for the education of young men intended for the Church, [unable to read], the classical department.
Situation:
Bounded on the North and East by the parish of Clonfert, South by Meelick, West by parish of Clonfert and Meelick.
Information from the Ordnance Survey Letters:
The Ordnance Survey Letters are letters between John O'Donovan and his supervisor, Thomas Larcom, regarding the work of compiling the Field Books. These letters provide further discussion on many of the places listed in the Field Books.
References to this place can be found in the following letter.
  • Volume 2 page 61 to page 62

Information From Joyce's Place Names

Translation according to P. W. Joyce:
Donanaghta in Galway; Dun-an-ochta, fort of the hill-breast. See vol. ii. p. 428 [reproduced below].
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.