Featured themes 18/09/2023

Ceapach na hEorna “the tillage plot of the barley”

Date: 18/09/2023

Cappaghnahoran/Ceapach na hEorna “the tillage plot of the barley” in Laois is just one of a number of Irish townland names that refer to eorna “barley”. The alternative English name Windsor is evidently an eighteenth-century English creation.

Like coirce “oats”, the word eorna “barley” is far more common in Irish townland names than cruithneacht “wheat”, thereby reflecting the importance of eorna “wheat” in the native Irish diet (see logainm.ie #27806. Geographically it is found north, south, east and west, and it is therefore difficult to determine where there may have been a particular concentration of cultivation. We have Craiginorne/Creag na hEorna “the stony ground of the barley” in Antrim, Carricknahorna/Carraig na hEorna “the rock of the barley” in Sligo and Creggaunnahorna/Creagán na hEorna “the stony ground of the barley” in Mayo. Notably, like coirce “oats” many of the placenames with eorna “barley” refer to elevated locations such as Barleyhill in Cork which is actually a translation of Cnoc na hEorna “the hill of the barley”. Cnoc na hEorna is also behind Knocknahorn in Tyrone, Knocknahorna in Donegal and Mayo, but Knocknahorna in Offaly is from Cnocán na hEorna “the little hill of barley”. Elevated ground is also referred to in Maulnahorna in Cork and Kerry which is from Meall na hEorna “the mound of the barley”, and the diminutive Millín na hEorna “the little mound of barley” is behind Milleennahorna, the name of two further townlands in Cork. Cronyhorn/Corrán na hEorna “the rounded-hill, edge, projecting point of the barley” in Wicklow also refers to an elevated location, but we also, though less frequently, find it in a com “hollow”, as in Coomnahorna/Com na hEorna “the hollow of the barley”.