Loughtee Upper (), or Upper Loughtee, is a barony in County Cavan,

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 Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

. Baronies were mainly

cadastral A cadastre or cadaster is a comprehensive recording of the real estate or real property's metes-and-bounds of a country.Jo Henssen, ''Basic Principles of the Main Cadastral Systems in the World,'/ref> Often it is represented graphically in a cad ...

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 They acquired modest local taxation and spending functions in the 19th century before being superseded by the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 The Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 (61 & 62 Vict. c. 37) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland that established a system of local government in Ireland similar to that already created for England, ...

Etymology

Loughtee Upper takes its name from the Irish ''Lucht Tí'', Early Modern Irish ''lucht tighe Még Mathghamhna'' (

Annals of the Four Masters The ''Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland'' ( ga, Annála Ríoghachta Éireann) or the ''Annals of the Four Masters'' (''Annála na gCeithre Máistrí'') are chronicles of Middle Ages, medieval Irish history. The entries span from the Flood myt ...

), "people of the household of Mac Mahon"; the land was allocated to the Mic Bhradaigh

vassal A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerain ...

s of the

McMahon McMahon, also spelled MacMahon (older Irish orthography: ; reformed Irish orthography: ), is a surname of Irish origin. It is derived from the Gaelic ''Mac'' ''Mathghamhna'' meaning 'son of the bear'. The surname came into use around the 11th c ...

s as mensal land.

Geography

Loughtee Upper is located in the middle of County Cavan, east of the

River Erne The River Erne ( , ga, Abhainn na hÉirne or ''An Éirne'') in the northwest of the island of Ireland, is the second-longest river in Ulster, flowing through Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and forming part of their border. ...

and

Lough Oughter Lough Oughter () is a lake, or complex of lakes, in County Cavan covering more than . The complex of lakes lies on the River Erne, and forms the southern part of the Lough Erne complex. The lakes are bounded roughly by Belturbet in the north, ...

History

Loughtee Upper was a centre of power for the Ó Raghallaigh (

O'Reilly O'Reilly ( ga, Ó Raghallaigh) is a group of families, ultimately all of Irish Gaelic origin, who were historically the kings of East Bréifne in what is today County Cavan. The clan were part of the Connachta's Uí Briúin Bréifne kindred a ...

Gaelic Irish The Gaels ( ; ga, Na Gaeil ; gd, Na Gàidheil ; gv, Ny Gaeil ) are an ethnolinguistic group native to Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man in the British Isles. They are associated with the Gaelic languages: a branch of the Celtic languag ...

tribe in the Middle Ages, based first at

and then moving to Tullymongan near to modern Cavan. The MacGobhains ( McGowans) served as leader of the

gallowglass The Gallowglass (also spelled galloglass, gallowglas or galloglas; from ga, gallóglaigh meaning foreign warriors) were a class of elite mercenary warriors who were principally members of the Norse-Gaelic clans of Ireland between the mid 13t ...

. A Mic Bradaigh (

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) family of clerics and freeholders was also here, ruling areas called Cúl Brighde and Teallach Cerbaill, near modern Stradone. The barony of Loughtee was created by 1609 in the Plantation of Ulster, and was archaically spelled ''Loughty''. Its

alluvial Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. All ...

soil was recognised as the best in Cavan, and it was originally allocated to the Crown, then later to undertakers. It was split into Upper and

Lower Lower may refer to: *Lower (surname) *Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) *Lower Wick Gloucestershire, England See also *Nizhny Nizhny (russian: Ни́жний; masculine), Nizhnyaya (; feminine), or Nizhneye (russian: Ни́� ...

parts in 1821.

List of settlements

Below is a list of settlements in Loughtee Upper: * Ballyhaise * Butlersbridge * Cavan * Stradone

References

{{County Cavan Baronies of County Cavan