Carbery West ( ga, Cairbrigh ThiarCarbery West (E.D.)
/ref>) is a

barony Barony may refer to: * Barony, the peerage, office of, or territory held by a baron * Barony, the title and land held in fealty by a feudal baron * Barony (county division), a type of administrative or geographical division in parts of the British ...

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. It has been split since the nineteenth century into East and West Divisions (''an Roinn Thoir/Thiar'').Carbery West (W.D.)
/ref>

Legal context

Baronies were created after the

Norman invasion of Ireland The Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland took place during the late 12th century, when Anglo-Normans gradually conquered and acquired large swathes of land from the Irish, over which the kings of England then claimed sovereignty, all allegedly sanc ...

as divisions of

counties A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

and were used the administration of justice and the raising of revenue. While baronies continue to be officially defined units, they have been administratively obsolete since 1898. However, they continue to be used in land registration and in specification, such as in planning permissions. In many cases, a barony corresponds to an earlier

Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...

túath which had submitted to the Crown.

History

Originally Carbery West formed a single

Barony of Carbery Carbery, or the Barony of Carbery, was once the largest barony in Ireland, and essentially a small, semi-independent kingdom on the southwestern coast of Munster, in what is now County Cork, from its founding in the 1230s by Donal Gott MacCarthy ...

with

Carbery East Carbery East ( ga, Cairbrigh Thoir) is a barony in County Cork in Ireland. It has been split since the nineteenth century into East and West Divisions (''an Roinn Thoir/Thiar''). Legal context Baronies were created after the Norman invasion of I ...

. This was essentially a small, semi-independent kingdom, ruled over by the

MacCarthy Reagh The Mac Cárthaigh Riabhach (anglicised ''MacCarthy Reagh'') dynasty are a branch of the MacCarthy dynasty, Kings of Desmond, deriving from the Eóganacht Chaisil sept. History The Mac Cárthaigh Riabhach seated themselves as kings of Carbery in ...

dynasty from the 13th through 16th centuries, that broke away from the larger

Kingdom of Desmond The Kingdom of Desmond () was a historic kingdom in southwestern Ireland. It was founded in 1118 by Tadhg Mac Cárthaigh, King of Munster when the Treaty of Glanmire formally divided the Kingdom of Munster into Desmond and Thomond (, "North ...

Patrick Weston Joyce Patrick Weston Joyce, commonly known as P. W. Joyce (1827 – 7 January 1914) was an Irish historian, writer and music collector, known particularly for his research in Irish etymology and local place names of Ireland. Biography He was born i ...

said the name ''Carbery'' comes from Uí Chairpre Áebda, of which a sept, the

O'Donovan The O'Donovans are an Irish family. Their patronymic surname derives from Irish ''Ó Donnabháin'', meaning the grandsons or descendants of Donnubán, referring to the 10th century ruler of the Uí Fidgenti, Donnubán mac Cathail. During the ...

s under Cathal Ua Donnubáin, migrated to the area c.1300 after being driven from

County Limerick "Remember Limerick" , image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Limerick.svg , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Munster , subdivision ...

by the

Fitzgerald The FitzGerald/FitzMaurice Dynasty is a noble and aristocratic dynasty of Cambro-Norman, Anglo-Norman and later Hiberno-Norman origin. They have been peers of Ireland since at least the 13th century, and are described in the Annals of the ...

s. Canon John O'Mahony disagreed, and offered three alternatives: Cairpre founder of

Dál Riata Dál Riata or Dál Riada (also Dalriada) () was a Gaelic kingdom that encompassed the western seaboard of Scotland and north-eastern Ireland, on each side of the North Channel. At its height in the 6th and 7th centuries, it covered what is now ...

; or Cairbre of Uibh Laoghaire; or the Ui Carbre of

Corcu Loígde The Corcu Loígde (Corcu Lóegde, Corco Luigde, Corca Laoighdhe, Laidhe), meaning Gens of the Calf Goddess, also called the Síl Lugdach meic Itha, were a kingdom centred in West County Cork who descended from the proto-historical rulers of Mun ...

, from whom

Rosscarbery Rosscarbery () is a village and census town in County Cork, Ireland. The village is on a shallow estuary, which opens onto Rosscarbery Bay. Rosscarbery is in the Cork South-West (Dáil Éireann) constituency, which has three seats. History The ...

in the barony of

is named. However, supporting the first theory is that the O'Donovans, such as

Crom Ua Donnabáin Crom or CROM may refer to: Places * Crom, a townland in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland * Crom Estate, a Northern Irish National Trust Property ** Crom Castle * Ben Crom, a mountain in the Mourne Mountains in County Down, Northern Ireland * Cro ...

, are closely associated with earliest MacCarthys in the area, and soon became their chief vassals, holding approximately right in the middle of the medieval barony.Butler, W.F.T., "The Barony of Carbery", in
Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society, Volume X, Second Series
'. 1904. pp. 1–10, 73–84 In the early 17th century, Leamcon (near

Schull Schull or Skull ( ; or ''Scoil Mhuire'', meaning "Mary's School") is a town in County Cork, Ireland. Located on the southwest coast of Ireland in the municipal district of West Cork, the town is dominated by Mount Gabriel (407 m). It has ...

) was a pirate stronghold, while Baltimore's economy depended heavily on

piracy Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

Location and settlements

Carbery West is bordered by the baronies of

to the east and

Bantry Bantry () is a town in the civil parish of Kilmocomoge in the barony of Bantry on the southwest coast of County Cork, Ireland. It lies in West Cork at the head of Bantry Bay, a deep-water gulf extending for to the west. The Beara Peninsula is ...

to the north. To the south and west is a long indented coastline; the

Celtic Sea The Celtic Sea ; cy, Y Môr Celtaidd ; kw, An Mor Keltek ; br, Ar Mor Keltiek ; french: La mer Celtique is the area of the Atlantic Ocean off the southern coast of Ireland bounded to the east by Saint George's Channel; other limits includ ...

as far west as

Mizen Head Mizen Head ( ga, Carn Uí Néid) is traditionally regarded as the most southerly point of mainland Ireland. It is at the end of the Mizen Peninsula in the district of Carbery in County Cork. Geography Mizen Head is one of the extreme points ...

, and thence around Dunmanus Bay to

Bantry Bay Bantry Bay ( ga, Cuan Baoi / Inbhear na mBárc / Bádh Bheanntraighe) is a bay located in County Cork, Ireland. The bay runs approximately from northeast to southwest into the Atlantic Ocean. It is approximately 3-to-4 km (1.8-to-2.5 mil ...

East Division settlements

Settlements in the division include

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, Bredagh Cross,Carbery West (E.D.): population centres
/ref>

Castletownshend Castletownshend (, literally "town of the castle") is a village about south-east of Skibbereen, in County Cork, Ireland. The village developed around a small 17th-century castle built by Richard Townsend, whose descendants still reside there. ...

,Carbery West (E.D.): towns
/ref>

Drimoleague Drimoleague (historically ''Drumdalege'', ) is a village on the R586 road at its junction with the R593 in County Cork, Ireland. It lies roughly halfway between the towns of Dunmanway and Bantry, within the civil parish of Dromdaleague. As of ...

Drinagh Drinagh (, meaning 'place producing blackthorns') is a village in County Cork, Ireland. It lies on the R637 road between the towns of Dunmanway and Skibbereen. Drinagh is also close to Rosscarbery and Drimoleague. Drinagh has a tennis court, ...

, Leap,

Skibbereen Skibbereen (; ) is a town in County Cork, Ireland. It is located in West Cork West Cork ( ga, Iarthar Chorcaí) is a tourist region and municipal district in County Cork, Ireland. As a municipal district, West Cork falls within the administr ...

,Carbery West (E.D.): features
/ref> and Union Hall. Other features include Clear IslandCarbery West (E.D.): islands and archipelagoes
/ref> and

Sherkin Island Sherkin Island, historically called Inisherkin (), lies southwest of County Cork in Ireland alongside other islands of Roaringwater Bay. It had a population of 111 people at the time of the 2016 Census, and measures long by wide. The isl ...

West Division settlements

Settlements in the division include

Ballydehob Ballydehob () is a coastal village in the southwest of County Cork, Ireland. It is located on the R592 regional road, at a junction with the N71 national secondary road. History During the Bronze Age (2200-600 B.C.), copper was mined on Mou ...

Goleen Goleen () is a small rural village in County Cork on the south-western tip of Ireland. Farming, tourism and construction work are among the main occupations of the local people. Location Goleen is located towards the south-western end of the ...

,Carbery West (W.D.): population centres
/ref>

,Carbery West (W.D.): towns
/ref> and Templemartin. Other features include

Sheep's Head Sheep's Head, also known as Muntervary ( ga, Rinn Mhuintir Bháire), is the headland at the end of the Sheep's Head peninsula situated between Bantry Bay and Dunmanus Bay in County Cork, Ireland. The peninsula is popular with walkers, and ...

.Carbery West (W.D.): promontories
/ref>

References