Firceall () was an ancient

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 ...

Irish territory which formed the most south - westerly part of the ancient

Kingdom of Meath Meath (; Old Irish: ''Mide'' ; spelt ''Mí'' in Modern Irish) was a kingdom in Ireland from the 1st to the 12th century AD. Its name means "middle," denoting its location in the middle of the island. At its greatest extent, it included all of ...

. O'Molloy was chieftain of the territory. Firceall itself comprised the ancient baronies of

Ballycowan In Ireland County, Counties are divided into Civil Parishes and Parishes are further divided into townlands. The following is a list of townlands in County Antrim, Northern Ireland: __NOTOC__ A Acravally, Aganlane (also known as Aganlane, Par ...

, Ballyboy and

Eglish Eglish () is a small village in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is about 6 km southwest of Dungannon, in the Mid Ulster District Council area. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 93. The village has grown in a dispersed form an ...

, which are located in modern day mid

County Offaly County Offaly (; ga, Contae Uíbh Fhailí) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Uí Failghe. It was formerly known as King's County, in hono ...

extending from Durrow north of

Tullamore Tullamore (; ) is the county town of County Offaly in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is on the Grand Canal (Ireland), Grand Canal, in the middle of the county, and is the fourth most populous town in the Midland Region, Ireland, midlands reg ...

to Eglish on the edge of Birr in an area which is some 25 miles in length by 5 miles in width. The name Firceall comes from the Irish words ''Fir Ceala'' meaning ''Men of the Churches''.

Details

O'Molloy claimed descent from

Niall of the Nine Hostages Niall ''Noígíallach'' (; Old Irish "having nine hostages"), or Niall of the Nine Hostages, was a legendary, semi-historical Irish king who was the ancestor of the Uí Néill dynasties that dominated Ireland from the 6th to the 10th centuries. ...

who ruled Tara from 380 - 405. Firceall formed land boundaries with a number of major ancient Irish Gaelic Kingdoms. A land boundary was formed with

Éile Éile (; sga, Éle, ), commonly anglicised as Ely, was a medieval petty kingdom in the southern part of the modern county of Offaly and parts of North Tipperary in Ireland. The historic barony of Eliogarty was once a significant portion of the kin ...

(Ely) of the

Kingdom of Munster The Kingdom of Munster ( ga, Ríocht Mhumhain) was a kingdom of Gaelic Ireland which existed in the south-west of the island from at least the 1st century BC until 1118. According to traditional Irish history found in the ''Annals of the Four M ...

just east of Birr. Near Tullamore another land boundary with Uí Failghe (anglicised as Offaly) of the

Kingdom of Leinster Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of Ire ...

was formed. Firceall also formed a land boundary with the territory of Delvin Eathra ruled by MacCoughlan.{{Cite web, title=Molloy Omolloy Clan Rally Firceall Molloy Family Genealogy Family Tree Ancestors Offaly Ireland - Omolloy Molloy Ireland Molloys, url=http://www.omolloy.com/, access-date=2021-08-02, website=www.omolloy.com Delvin Eathra was also allied with Meath. Under the

Plantations of Ireland Plantations in 16th- and 17th-century Ireland involved the confiscation of Irish-owned land by the English Crown and the colonisation of this land with settlers from Great Britain. The Crown saw the plantations as a means of controlling, angl ...

Firceall was broken up into the Baronies of Eglish, Ballyboy and Ballycowen and these were located in the then newly formed King's County which later became known as

(named after ancient territory of Uí Failghe) following Irish independence. During its existence Firceall was the location of a number of ancient abbeys and castles. The church at Lynally (near Tullamore) formed the parish church until the foundation of parish churches at Rahan,

Killoughey Killoughey, officially Killoughy and historically "Killaghy" or "Killahy" (),Placenames Database of Ireland
(see ...

, Ballyboy, Drumcullen and

. A number of known ancient abbeys were located at Drumcullen, Killyon, Kilcormac & Rahan.

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References

See also