The Conmaicne of Magh Réin (descendants of Con Mhac) were said to have come to southern Co. Leitrim, from the Dunmore area of County Galway, in the first quarter of the 6th century. Three family groupings were noted - the Muintir Eolius, Muintir Cearballain and the Cenél Luachain. The Érainn were the second of the Celtic groups to come to Ireland. When the first inhabitants of the Arans, probably coastal fishers from the Connemara region, arrived on Inis Mór, they found it divided into two distinct regions, much as it is today.

The CORCA DHUIBHNE were a great clan in West Kerry, the chief families of which were the O’Connells and the O’Sheas. The O’Connells (0 Conaill) of Kerry were formerly chiefs of Magh 0 gCoinchin, in the east of County Kerry until dispossessed by the O’Donoghues about the middle of the eleventh century. The O’Connells then followed MacCarthy Mor, for whom they were hereditary castellans of Ballycarbery, near Caherciveen.

Dunbeg Promontory Fort is an astonishing ruin perched on the cliffs of Slea Head, overlooking Dingle Bay. This circular fort, composed of four walls of rock and earth, dates back to the Iron Age, and likely was used as an outpost and defense from attack and invasion by sea. Remains of a house and beehive structure are still to be viewed. The fort today commands a clear vision across Dingle Bay all the way out to Skellig Michael .

By the end of the 9th century Dingle development was to be interrupted by the arrival of the fearsome Vikings, who plundered many of the monasteries, but also set up important trade routes and built towns at Dublin, Wexford, Waterford, Cork and Limerick. In the 12th century the organisation of the church was to change to the diocesan system under the rule of bishops who organised what are now known as the parish churches.

The Town of Dingle was founded by the Fitzgerald and Rice families, who were to develop the town into the second largest port on the west coast (second only to Galway). Extensive trade with France and Spain was the main reason for Dingle's importance, and also the town was a embarkation point for pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostella to visit the shrine of St. James.

Dingle's proper name is Daingean Uí Chúis which, to fit on signposts, is generally abbreviated to An Daingean, but any foreigner can be forgiven for finding it difficult to match the two forms of the name in Irish with the anglicised version, Dingle. Dingle in the Irish language is "Daingean Uí Chúis". "Daingean" means fortress; "Uí Chúis" is generally accepted as translating to Hussey . . . Fortress of Hussey, the Husseys being a Flemish family that came to the area in the 13th Century.

From the Fiery Past of Clogher Head In 79 AD, Mt. Vesuvius awoke from a fitful slumber to devastate the silence and bury alive the residents of Pompeii within a time-encapsulating tomb of fiery ash and cinders. It happened at Clogher Head, too, but this time it was only the likes of trilobites and brachiopods which were left to scream in silence as the molten ash and cinders boiled their juices and clogged the shallow seaways of their watery home. But, still, as all good stone lovers know, it's an ill ignimbrite that doesn't blow some life form some good. Just as the Neolithic Irish treasured Clogher Head for the axeheads they could make from its fire-begat stone, you too will treasure Clogher Head for the marvelous view of the Blasket Islands, and for the view from Minnaunmore Rock of the sea beyond, emblazened by the afternoon sun.

 

 

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