Carbery East ( ga, Cairbrigh ThoirCarbery East (E.D.)
/ref>) is a barony in

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 a ...

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 East (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 san ...

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 túath which had submitted to the Crown.

History

Originally Carbery East 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 West Carbery West ( ga, Cairbrigh Thiar) 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 (, "Nor ...

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'Donovans 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 = Republic of Ireland, Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Provinces of Ireland, Province , subd ...

by the Fitzgeralds. 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 n ...

; or Cairbre of Uibh Laoghaire; or the Ui Carbre of Corcu Loígde, 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 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

Location and settlements

Carbery East is bordered by the baronies of

to the west, Bantry to the northwest,

Muskerry West Muskerry West ( ga, Múscraí Thiar) is one of the baronies of Ireland, a historical geographical unit of land. Its chief town is Macroom. It is one of 24 baronies in the county of Cork. It may also be viewed as a half barony because sometime be ...

to the north,

Kinalmeaky Kinalmeaky () is a barony in County Cork, Republic of Ireland. Etymology Kinalmeaky takes its name from '' Cenél-mBéice'', Irish for "the kindred of Béce," an ancestor of the O'Mahonys. Geography Kinalmeaky is located in south-central Cou ...

to the northeast, and

Kinsale Kinsale ( ; ) is a historic port and fishing town in County Cork, Ireland. Located approximately south of Cork City on the southeast coast near the Old Head of Kinsale, it sits at the mouth of the River Bandon, and has a population of 5,281 (a ...

and Courceys to the east. To the south is 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 ...

, broken by the two halves of the barony of Ibane and Barryroe. From east to west are Courtmacsherry Bay, Barryroe peninsula,

Clonakilty Clonakilty (; ), sometimes shortened to Clon, is a town in County Cork, Ireland. The town is located at the head of the tidal Clonakilty Bay. The rural hinterland is used mainly for dairy farming. The town's population as of 2016 was 4,592. Th ...

Bay, Ibane peninsula, and the coast from

to Glandore.

East Division settlements

Settlements in the division include Ballinascarty,Carbery East (E.D.): population centres
/ref> Ballineen,Carbery East (E.D.): towns
/ref> Bandon,

Desertserges Desertserges () is a civil parish in County Cork, Ireland. It is also an Ecclesiastical parish in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cork and Ross. The parish lies between the towns of Enniskean and Bandon. It consist of about of land on the south ...

Innishannon Innishannon or Inishannon () is a large village on the main Cork– Bandon road ( N71) in County Cork, Ireland. Situated on the River Bandon, the village has grown due to its proximity to Cork city, and is now a dormitory town for city wo ...

Kilbrittain Kilbrittain or Killbrittain () is the name of a village, townland and parish in County Cork, Ireland. The village lies about southwest of Bandon, and near Courtmacsherry and Timoleague. The coastal route around the edge of the parish is the R6 ...

, Kilmacsimon Quay, and Lyre. Other features include InchydoneyCarbery East (E.D.): features
/ref>

West Division settlements

Settlements in the division include Castletown Kinneigh,Carbery East (W.D.): population centres
/ref> Cappeen,

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, ...

Dunmanway Dunmanway (, official Irish name: ) is a market town in County Cork, in the southwest of Ireland. It is the geographical centre of the region known as West Cork. It is the birthplace of Sam Maguire, an Irish Protestant republican, for whom the ...

,Carbery East (W.D.): towns
/ref> Enniskean, Glandore, Leap, and

Other features include the

River Bandon The River Bandon ( ga, Abhainn na Bandan, from ''ban-dea'', meaning "goddess") is a river in County Cork, Ireland. The Bandon rises at Nowen Hill (one of the Shehy Mountains), to the north of Drimoleague. The river then flows to Dunmanway, ...

and the River Ilen.Carbery East (W.D.): rivers
/ref>

References