This work is continued from the previous issues O'Donovan's account of the O'Carrolls of Ely.

ELY O'CARROLL

"Ely, or Helia, an extensive district comprehended in the present King's Co. and the antient patrimony of the distinguished tribe of the O'Carrolls, from whom, as being Lords paramount of the District, it was called Eile Ui Chearbhaill (Ely O'Carroll); is generally supposed to derive its name from Eile Righdhearg (Eily Red Arm) the eighth in descent from the celebrated Olioll Olum, King of Munster, who, according to the Annals of the Four Masters, died A.D. 234, and Sadhbh (Sawy) daughter of Conn of the Hundred Battles, Monarch of Ireland.

"In this opinion concur almost all our ancient genealogists as does also the learned O'Flaherty in his Ogygia; yet there is reason to believe that this opinion is not well founded. In an antient vellum MS. in my possession in the handwriting of Adam O'Clanan (O'Keenan) a celebrated Irish antiquarian, we are told that the districts of Ely and Owny were so named from Eli and Uaithne (Ely and Owny) two daughters of Eochaidh (Eochy) son of Luchta, King of Munster, one of our antient Law Givers, who flourished about the time of the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

"The author describes these districts as lying east of the Shannon stretching from north to south; and he tells us that he copied the article "from the Book of his great master, John O'Dugan." This John O'Dugan was the Chief Poet of the O'Kellys of Hy Maine, and a famous astronomer, topographer and historian, who died A.D. 1372.

"To those who know the words and reputation of O'Dugan as an Irish scholar and antiquary, little doubt will be entertained of his credibility, and Adam O'Keenan was a writer of nearly equal" celebrity with his master.

"The authority of these writers even with those who do not know their real merits, must have the more weight, when we consider that Ely O'Carroll comprehended but a small portion of the antient Ely. We find adjoining to Ely O'Carroll on the south, the Territory of the O'Fogarty's, now called Eile Ui Fhogartaigh (Ely O'Fogarty) now comprised in the modern Baronies of Upper Ormond and Eliogarty in the Co. of Tipperary, the latter of which Baronies still preserves the antient name.

"Again on the east of Ely O'Carroll we find Eile Ui Mhordha (Ely O'Morha) part of the antient inheritance of the eminent family of the O'Mores, Princes of Leix, in the present Queen's Co. That the district of Ely was known by that name long before the birth of Eile Ridhearg, one of the O'Carroll's ancestors, from whom it is supposed, as above mentioned, the name of Ely was derived, is further confirmed by the fact that our antient historians, when treating of the reign of the Monarch Cormac Mac Art, tell us, that when that Prince applied to Teige, son of Cian, son of Olioll Olum, for assistance against Fergus, Black Tooth, the usurper of his throne, Teige was then in great power and authority" in the Territory of Ely.

"Now Eile Ridhearg was the sixth in descent from Teige, therefore, the district in which Teige lived in such power and which was then called Ely, could not be so called from Eile Ridhearg, who did not live for six generations after the time that Teige flourished.

"As a further proof that O'Dugan and O'Keenan were right with respect to the origin of the names and the situation of the districts of Eli and Uaithne (Ely and Owny) we see the latter name still preserved in the present Barony of Owney, in the Co. of Tipperary, situate as described in O'Keenan's MS., written long before Ireland was divided into Baronies.

"But whether the district of Ely derived its name from Eli, the daughter of Luchta, King of Munster, or from Eile Ridhearg, the Prince of that district and ancestor of the family of the Leinster O'Carrolls (not Leinster. J.O'D) is but of little consequence to that celebrated tribe. It is indisputable that they were, in very early ages, the supreme Princes of the entire district; and in more modern times when sirnames became hereditary gave their patronimic name to that part of the district which they then possessed, and which, from that circumstance was called Ely O'Carroll. When they were Kings of the entire district, and even since they became Lords of Ely O'Carroll only, they had under them several very famous tribes, of which the O'Meaghers and the O'Delanys were not the least eminent. Of the patriotism, piety and prowess of the Chiefs of the O'Carrolls of Ely, the Annals of Ireland team with abundant proof."

Such is the account given of the district of Ely by Edward O'Reilly, whose great learning and valuable MSS., in the Irish language eminently qualify him to give us correct information on matters of Irish antiquities, in addition to which, I have only to say, that in 1621 the Territory of Ely O'Carroll was then found by Inquisition to consist of the pasture lands of Ballycrinass, Roscullenagh and Brumcan, extending to the Lake of Leghagh, commonly called Laghaghirisallive, and bounded on the west by the lands called Laghenarken, and on the east joining or near Glencrokin, was always called Ely O'Carroll, and had never been measured or surveyed.

The mountain land was found to extend from the Lake of Leaghangerah to a hole called Polle Dowa, and from thence in a south easterly direction to Slieve Bloom Mountains, which are the limits between Ely O'Carroll and Upper Ossory, and meet at a village called Garryvoe or Scully's Land. ...