Kiniska and Kiltroge townland minor placenames

The minor placenames of the townlands of Kiniska and Kiltrogue, Claregalway, Co. Galway

The townland of Kiniska covers an area of approximately 505 acres, northeast of the village of Claregalway. At the time of the First Ordnance Survey, Kiniska is recorded in the Name Books as Cin Uisce, ‘the head of the waters’, likely referring to the spring in the townland that is the source of the Kiniska River, although this spring is in fact named Bunaniska ‘bottom/beginning of the water’. The topography of the townland forms a long, low ridge of land which overlooks the Clare River to the south. The Kiniska River rises and flows along on the western side of the ridge, and the townland is somewhat of a subtle promontory. This topography isolates this piece of land to some degree. There is a ringfort and a souterrain located along the low rise in the townland, and perhaps the choice of location for this early medieval site was influenced by the local topography and prominent position in the landscape.

At the time of the Ordnance Survey, Kiniska is recorded as: ‘the property of Lord Clanmorris. 2/3s. bog, the remainder under tillage and subject to winter floods. It contains a large village of houses near its centre’. Griffiths Valuation in the 1850s reveals that Lord Clanmorris owned every square inch of this village of 43 buildings, and the surrounding lands, and that the people of Kiniska were his direct tenants. As the crow flies, Kiniska Village is just 2 km from the village of Claregalway, though the River Clare lies in between. Numerous paths once crossed from Kiniska townland to the village of Claregalway, and a footbridge was once in place at the confluence of the Kiniska River and the River Clare to allow school children and people going to mass, to easily walk to Claregalway.

To the east of the parish of Claregalway, the townland of Kiltroge is split in two, with the majority belonging to the parish of Lackagh. A small portion measuring just 98 acres is isolated from, but belonging to, the Parish of Claregalway. The placename Kiltroge is known from the early 17^th century when it is recorded as ‘Kyltarrog’ in the Repertory of Inquisitions from the Chancery Rolls in the year 1617. The placename has been translated by the Ordnance Survey as ‘The Church of Toróg’. I can find no saints names that resembles Toróg, and so perhaps the church is named after some other figure or feature lost to the sands of time. Work undertaken by An Brainse Logainmneacha references the Onomasticon Goedelicum and offers tentative interpretations for ‘troge’ as tróghán/trodáin, meaning battle/battlements, therefore suggesting Kiltroge as ‘Church of the battle/battlements. Griffiths Valuation reveals that the Claregalway portion of the townland was almost entirely the possession of the Lord Bishop of Cashel in the mid-19^th century, while the Lackagh portion of the townland was the possession of Lord Clanmorris. And so there is evidence that this townland was the site of an ecclesiastical settlement, though little if anything is known about it. Local tradition holds that the location of the church is known to be immediately west of the recorded Children’s Burial Ground.

Our work in the townland during 2021 identified 20 minor placenames and places of interest known locally within the townland. Another four minor placenames were identified in the townland of Kiltroge. These placenames were collected by Seamus O’Connell from M. Casserly, and from P. Farragher. T