Castlerahan () 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 Cavan County Cavan ( ; gle, Contae an Chabháin) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is part of the Border Region. It is named after the town of Cavan and is base ...

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

. Baronies were mainly cadastral rather than administrative units. They acquired modest local taxation and spending functions in the 19th century before being superseded by the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898.

Etymology

Castlerahan barony takes its name from Castlerahan townland, from Castlera an, an ancient hillfort located at . The name is derived from Irish ''Caisleán Raithín'', "stone fort of the little

ringfort Ringforts, ring forts or ring fortresses are circular fortified settlements that were mostly built during the Bronze Age up to about the year 1000. They are found in Northern Europe, especially in Ireland. There are also many in South Wales ...

," although other writers link it with ''raithean'', "

bracken Bracken (''Pteridium'') is a genus of large, coarse ferns in the family Dennstaedtiaceae. Ferns (Pteridophyta) are vascular plants that have alternating generations, large plants that produce spores and small plants that produce sex cells (eggs ...

", or with a Norse Gael leader named Raithin.

Geography

Castlerahan is located in the southeast of

, the area surrounding Lough Ramor.

History

The Luigni tribe lived in the area since the 8th century. It contains the parish of

Munterconnaught , native_name_lang = ga , settlement_type = , image_skyline = Munterconnaught Parish, Church of Ireland - geograph.org.uk - 791537.jpg , imagesize = , image_alt = , image_caption = Parish sign and church in Munterconnaught , pushpin_map ...

, named for Cu Connaght Ua Raghallaigh (O'Reilly). The barony of Castlerahan was created by 1609 in the

Plantation of Ulster The Plantation of Ulster ( gle, Plandáil Uladh; Ulster-Scots: ''Plantin o Ulstèr'') was the organised colonisation (''plantation'') of Ulstera province of Irelandby people from Great Britain during the reign of King James I. Most of the sett ...

, and was archaically spelled ''Castlerachan''. The barony gives its name to

Castlerahan GAA Castlerahan is a Gaelic football club from Ballyjamesduff, County Cavan, Ireland. They take their name from the Castlerahan barony in which Ballyjamesduff is located. History The club was founded in its current state in 1961, Ballyjamesduff an ...

, based in Ballyjamesduff.

List of settlements

Below is a list of settlements in Castlerahan: * Ballyjamesduff *

Crosserlough Crosserlough, historically known as ''Cros Ar Loch'', is a large civil parish in southern County Cavan, in the province of Ulster, Ireland. It is located between Ballyjamesduff and Lough Sheelin. The parish consists of three areas. Kilnaleck, w ...

Kilnaleck Kilnaleck or Kilnalec () is a small village in County Cavan, Ireland on the R154 regional road. Kilnaleck was once the centre of a mining boom when in 1879 some local businessmen and a school headmaster decided to develop the coal that existed n ...

* Mullagh *

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

References

{{County Cavan Baronies of County Cavan