Drumkeary East
Drumkeary East in Irish “Droim Chiara Thoir” meaning Keary’s ridge east according to John O’Donovan is 241.79 acres or 97.85 hectares in size and is in the Electoral division of Drumkeary. Drumkeary is locally pronounced and spelled Drimkeary.
Drumkeary East borders Barratoor, Burroge, Clooneen, Drumkeary West, Knockroe, Larraga and Tooreen South.
What we recorded
- Placenames
- 16 (3 Irish-origin)
- 10 field
- 3 hill or hills
- 1 stream
- 1 mass path
- 1 well
- Houses
- 4
- Buildings
- 1
By type
Map
Placenames
| Name | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| The Black Hill | hill or hills | |
| Haugh’s Gullet | stream | |
| The Furry Hill | hill or hills | |
| Mass Path | mass path | |
| The Mushroom Hill | hill or hills | |
| Below the Road | field | |
| The Garden | field | |
| Opposite Murphy’s | field | |
| The Headland | field | |
| The Riasc | field | |
| The Clegeen | well | |
| The Brand Iron Field | field | |
| The Hill Field | field | |
| The Long Field | field | |
| The Cúine Field | field | Pronounced “Coona”. |
| The Far Field | field |
Houses
| Name | Notes |
|---|---|
| Simon Whelan’s House | Simon Whelan drowned in the lake known as “Darby Shiels Lough” in Drumkeary West. |
| Lally’s House | Then Devine’s. |
| Devine’s House | It was said there was a bakery here. |
| Shiel’s House | Tomsheen Darby Shiel’s family were evicted from here. |
Buildings
| Name | Notes |
|---|---|
| The Car House |
Population
In the 1841 census there were 70 people and 11 houses and in the 1851 census, after the famine, the population had fallen to 37 people and 7 houses.
Land and Household Records
Landholders and heads of household recorded in the Tithe Applotment Books, Griffith’s Valuation, and the 1901, 1911 and 1926 censuses.
Tithe Applotment Books, 1834
Not yet compiled.
Griffith’s Valuation, 1856
Not yet compiled.
1901 census
Not yet compiled.
1911 census
Not yet compiled.
1926 census
- Michael Kennedy
- Thomas Daniel
- Thomas Shiel
- Anne Shiel
- Edward Shiel
- Dan Porter
About the Townland
From the late 1600s to the early 1900s the townland was owned by the Aylward family of Ballynagar. John O’Donovan described it as a long straggling townland, with about three quarters of the north-west end rough boggy land and the rest cultivated. The north-west end runs into commonage mountain at a place called The Black Hill, and the townland meets Knockroe at its highest point.
A ringfort is recorded in the south-east of the townland, but no trace of it is visible today. Until the 1920s the road in Drumkeary East ended in a dead end, when a short new section was built connecting it to the Larraga road. The remains of a mass path are still visible opposite Kelly’s house. It was the route taken in the past by people from Barratoor, Tooreen, Cullenagh and other townlands to walk to mass in Ballinakill.