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Spancill Hill or Spancilhill (
Spancel Hill
Clare County Library website Towns and villages in County Clare
Ordnance Survey
The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...
spelling Spancel Hill for the hill and settlement, Spancelhill for the electoral division
An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provid ...
; ) is a hill and adjacent dispersed settlement
A dispersed settlement, also known as a scattered settlement, is one of the main types of settlement patterns used by landscape historians to classify rural settlements found in England and other parts of the world. Typically, there are a num ...
in County Clare
County Clare () is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster in the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern part of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council ...
, Ireland. The historic hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...
of Spancilhill was by the fair green, which is still the site of the Spancill Hill Fair, which occurs annually on 23 June. Houses are concentrated slightly south at Cross of Spancilhill, where the R352 road between Ennis
Ennis ( , meaning 'island' or 'river meadow') is the county town of County Clare, in the mid-west of Ireland. The town lies on the River Fergus, north of where the river widens and enters the Shannon Estuary. Ennis is the largest town in Cou ...
to the west and Tulla
Tulla () is a market town in County Clare, Ireland. It is situated in the east of the county, on the R462 and near its junction with the R352, 18 km from Ennis. The town is in a townland and civil parish of the same name.
Etymology
Tu ...
to the east crosses a local road between Barefield
Barefield or Gortlumman () is a village and townland in County Clare, Ireland. It is located on the R458 road, with the M18 national primary road between Ennis and Gort
Gort ( or ) is a town of around 2,800 inhabitants in County Galway in ...
to the north and Quin to the south.
Name
The original Irish name was Cold Wood Hill" which was misinterpreted as Spancel Hill" A spancel is a rope used to tie an animal's legs together; the association of the place with a horse fair encouraged the misinterpretation. The hill itself was called Knockrughil on the 1842 six-inch Ordnance Survey map and 1896 25-inch map.History
Spancel Hill is in thetownland
A townland (; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a traditional small land division used in Ireland and in the Western Isles of Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of medieval Gaelic origin, predating the Norman invasion, and mo ...
of Muckinish, civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
of Clooney, and 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 ...
of Bunratty Upper
Bunratty Upper () is a barony in County Clare, Ireland. This ancient geographical division of land is in turn divided into six civil parishes.
Legal context
Baronies were created after the Norman invasion of Ireland as divisions of counties and ...
. The fair had a royal charter
A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but ...
from Charles II. Historically, fairs were held on 1 January, 3 May, 24 June, 20 August, and 3 December. In 1913, British and Continental cavalry
Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from ''cheval'' meaning "horse") are groups of soldiers or warriors who Horses in warfare, fight mounted on horseback. Until the 20th century, cavalry were the most mob ...
forces bought over 1,000 horses there.
In 1841 the population of the village was 169, in 26 houses. In 1851, after the Great Famine, there were fewer than 20 houses, so its population was not recorded separately from the townland, whose total population had fallen from 278 in 46 houses to 174 in 34. In 1911 the townland population was 72, in 14 houses.
See also
* " Spancil Hill", a song written in a traditional Irish folk style by Michael Considine, a local who emigrated to America.References
External links
Spancel Hill
Clare County Library website Towns and villages in County Clare