Leic Eoghain

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Leic Eoghain or Lickowen is a townland of 57 hectares/ 140 acres and in the early part of the 20th century, 108 individual fields were mapped in this townland.

It is in the Electoral Division of Castlehaven South, in Civil Parish of Castlehaven and the Roman Catholic Parish of Castlehaven and Myross.

It is bordered by An Bán Íseal (Bawnishall) and An Dúinín (Doneen) to the north, An Chrois Liath (Crosslea) to the west, Gort an Chrosaigh (Gortacrossig) and Fearann Uí Chonchúir (Farranconnor) to the east and Ceann Tuaithe (Toehead) to the south.

OpenStreetmap contributors, with input from the Castlehaven & Myross History Society, have created a detailed townland map including all its minor placenames. Zoom in for futher detail.

Etymology

Leic is a variant of Leac (flagstone). Leic Eoghain was interpreted by Bruno O'Donoghue as Eoghan’s flagstone. He gives an alternative interpretation as Eoghan's patch of hard, level land. This spelling seems to have been fairly consistent since the Tythe Ledger of 1833 while it was recorded in the Calendar of Fiants of 1601 as Lackoone (a fiant is a writ issued to the Irish Chancery) . It was not listed in the Down Survey of 1656 as it seems to have been part of Twoh (Toe Head)

History

Lickowen as seen from Ardgehane

The Battle of Traligach,July 2nd.1823: The Battle of Traligagh in July 1823 was a bloody affair. A tithing party arrived to collect dues owed to the established church (Church of Ireland). This church demanded a tenth (hence tithe) of the produce of the land annually. When news spread ,many locals gathered. Armed with a readily available and plentiful supply of stones ,they stood together. They rained down showers of stone on the raiding party. Two of the tithing party lost their lives ,one was the tithe proctor,Peter O Driscoll and the other a policeman named Bowen. The policeman was violently assaulted in that "they wedged a stone into the dead policeman’s mouth, which was forced down with another". Many women were involved in supplying and indeed firing stones to protect their neighbours. A quote from an unknown source stated,”Why praise the men only, when her women were as brave as the best of them”. Hours later when reinforcements arrived from Skibbereen all the locals had scattered.

Three reports of how the affray was recorded are worth mentioning.

1. The Cork Constitution of July 4th 1823 carried the repugnant but not unexpected headline,”Desperate attack on the Police,several persons killed”. This rather biased story was reproduced in The London Times. Another paper of the day printed “Morritts efforts to extract his tithes provoked an affray at Traligach in Castlehaven. One policeman and a cattle driver were killed and two country people were shot dead”. Morritt was the recipient of the tithes. Before his arrival a more humane view was taken on tithe collection. A song to the air of the Dawning of the Day recalls this battle.

Dá bhfaighainn-se speal no claidhreamh im ghlac,

Nó píce a bheadh go géar,

Do raghainn-se amach is leoghainn fead

Do dhuiseodh Clanna Gaedheal.

Ní bheadh pilear horse a draibhear ba.

A Maraitin grana caol

Na fagfai lag sa traigh lasteas

Le fáinne geal an lae.

Morritt seemed to have acquired an Irish surname of Maraitín. Line six is not very complimentary to him as it translates as “the ugly slender Mr.Morritt “. A local bard and there were many of them, even today ,rendered this song in simple English.

If a scythe I had or a sword to grasp

Or a pike fit for the fray,

O’er crag and marsh I’d raise the flag

To rouse the clanna Gaedhael.

And every man in Morritts band

Would find an early grave

Among the flags of Traigh Leagach

At the dawning of the day.

Sadly only one verse survives possibly written by a local poet, Arthur Attridge. The source was Joe Dwyer, a teacher in the local school. Best to leave history to those who were part of it.

2. An interesting report of the battle comes from The Schools Collection of 1938. In this valuable resource, fifty thousand children from five thousand schools collected oral history, folktales, cures, legends riddles etc, from their parents and grandparents. There were also contributions by the teachers. Most were written in the students' copy books in lovely script. The contributions in Irish contained a dot for the letter h,with a beautiful old typeface, most likely scribed with ‘peann agus dúch‘. Now stored in UCD in Dublin the original documents are freely available to view online. Dooneen National School (An Dúinín, roll number 4444) was one such school. As it was written mostly in Irish (as this was still the everyday language of many occupants), it is fitting to print the story in the native tongue, followed by its translation

“Is amhlaidh a chuaigh na báillí,na póilíní agus saighdiúirí ann,maidin áirithe sa bfómhair chun earraí agus caora a bhreith leo in ionad cánach.Do sheas muntir na háite le chéile ina gcoinnibh,Ach má sheas d’ionsaigh na saighdiúirí iad.Marbhagheadh fear amháin darbh ainm do O Riogáin-tá sé curtha sa reilg ag Cuan Caisleáin agus leac os a chionn.Goimhedh beirt nó triúr eile agus lámhach piléar amháin”.(page 47).

“It’s how the bailiffs, police and soldiers went on a certain day in the autumn to seize crops and sheep in lieu of tithe.The local people stood together and, if they did, the soldiers attacked them. One man by the name of O ‘Regan was killed. He is buried in the cemetery in Castlehaven with a gravestone over him. Two or three more were killed along with a policeman.

Today an inscription on the headstone in Castlehaven Old Cemetary states,”her uncle John who was killed at the Battle of Traligach ,1823, RIP.

Returning to the description of the battle, it continues:

“ Bhí an piléar sínte i log uisce ar an dtráigh,bhí an tuisce chomh dearg le fuil ón doirteadh fola.Deirbhiúir an fear a bhí marbh, darbh ainm dá Nell Ruadh, bhí sí ar a gluainibh d’carraibh an piléar a mharú.Do sháigh sí cloch dubh siar ina scornach.Do ghlaoidh sé amach “Mercy,Mercy”.”Mercy an diabhal ort “do fhreagar sí.

“ The soldier was stretched in a pool of water in the strand. The water ran red with blood. A sister of the deceased, Nell Ruadh, was on her knees killing the policeman. She stuffed a black stone down his throat .He called out “Mercy,mercy”.”The devil's mercy on you”,she replied “. The folklore report features in both Castlehaven and Dooneen School Collections as the teache, John O Donovan taught in both schools.

3. Unlike today ,no reporters came to interview witnesses and onlookers for the local paper. In fact most reports tended to blame the locals for the disturbances. The Cork Mercantile Chronicle stated,”Our readers are already aware of the principal of the melancholy occurrence, which terminated with the loss of four lives in Castlehaven”.

Poetry was a way the local people remembered events, both good and bad and this is one way that history has been recorded. Literacy levels were low in Ireland especially among the rural population. Without light or any form of communication with the world outside their own parish , stories,poetry and rhyme were of the utmost importance. One such poem that survived and was captured in The Schools Collection contains these lines:

“Bhí an piléar sínte amach gan snag

Agus cloch mór chuir ina chlob.”

Another poem to survive , may I state ,in pristine west Cork Gaelic goes as follows.

“Nuair a eirigheas ar maidin tamal roimh eirighe gréin,

Do chuala clagairt ar air sa traig lem thaobh,

Bhí pudar ar lasa le hairm dochaithi pléir

Is ní raibh do chabhair againn ach carraig I laimh gach aon.”

Attempting to translate this accurately is nigh on impossible.Even Dr. Douglas Hyde, a noted linguist and first president of Ireland found difficulty, as the gaelic spoken in West Cork was pristine and unadulterated. This is as close as one can get and two centuries later the real meaning may be lost.

“When I rose in the morning a while before sunrise.

I heard the clash of an army on the strand by my side,

Powder was blazing from weapons that throw bullets.

But for help we had only a stone in everyone’s hand.”

Clachán: It was evident that many of the residents in Lickowen lived in a clachán near the highest point of the townland. It still exists today.

Ship-wrecked Globe: In 1911, a dozen "Wide World" globes were launched in the Atlantic Ocean by the Cunard liner Campania. One of these (number 6) landed in Tráigh Leacach beach and was found in three feet of water by a local man, Michael Attridge after it traveled 700 miiles in 192 days. He received 6 guineas for this. The article suggests that another globe (number 1) had, by coincidence, landed earlier on the same beach even though it had been set adrift hundreds of miles away from number 6

Cattle Pound: In addition there was a "pound" in this townland just above Tráigh na nDabhcha beach. As mentioned earlier, these were used to impound lifestock that was "distrained" (confiscated)..It can be seen in the old map below

Housing

As part of Griffiths Valuation in 1853, a survey of house quality was carried out to calculate what rates were due by each household. These were issued in 1850 in the form of house books (Pg 1, Pg 2) and a guide on how to interpret these can be seen here. These show that 23 of the 26 houses in the townland at the time were class 3. This means that they were all thatched houses with stone walls with mud or puddle mortar. Within class 3 there are a number of different categories. 18 of these class 3 houses are old (more than 25 years old) with two being in repair, fourteen described as out of repair and two as delapidated and scarcely habitable. Five house are described as medium (not old) with two described as slightly decayed, but in good repair while the other three are deteriorated by age and not in perfect repair. Three houses in Lickowen at this time were class 1 which means that they were slated and built with stone or brick and lime mortar - all three are described as medium with one described as slightly decayed, but in good repair while the other two are deteriorated by age and not in perfect repair. All houses in the townland at this time are between 5 foot (!) and 8 foot tall which indicates that they are single storey at this time.

By the 1901 census, there are just 11 occupied houses in this townland and all have walls of stone, brick or concrete. All eleven still have thatched roofs at this time. All houses, bar two, have either two, three or four rooms while the other two just have one room. One houses just has one window in front while nine have two windows which indicate that they are probably all still single storey at this time. The remaining house has three windows in front so maybe single-storey also.

When we advance to the 1911 census there are now 12 occupied houses in this townland and, not surprisingly, all still have walls of stone, brick or concrete. Seven are still thatched while the other five now have roofs of slate, iron or tiles. Two houses still have one room only while seven have two, three or four rooms - the other three houses now have five or six rooms. Seven houses have two windows in front (probably all single-storey) while three houses have five windows each and the other two have six in front.

Places of Interest

Tráigh Leacach: This is one of three townlands which touches this beach. It translates to Slatey Strand according to Parish Histories and Place Names of West Cork by Bruno O'Donoghue. Leacach also means “abounding with flat stones". There was a famous battle on this beach in 1823 during the Tithe Wars and a policeman was killed here. The old road ran across this beach in olden days.

Tráigh na nDabhcha (Tranadough Strand): This is a second beach on this townland and is partially situated in the townlands of Lickowen and Toe Head. It can possibly be interpreted as the strand of the (sand) heaps. There are alternative interpretations of this beach as Tráigh na nAbh (strand of the river - as there is a stream flowing down from the Toe Head side - or Trá na nAbhac (strand of the dwarfs). There are the remains of a slipway on the Lickowen side whch was built in 1907 by a man from Weston-Super-Mere. This slipway may have been used by local boats that were fishing for herring in the bay. There was also a house close to the beach which was a smithy leased by a man called Jeremiah Collins

Coast Guard Station: There is a modern coastguard station located on the coast road close to Tráigh Leacach beach

Cill: There is a disused children’s burial ground in this townland. These were used for children who died before they were baptised (as they could not be buried in consecrated ground). This is still visible from the road. It is thought that the last burial there was around 1940.

Bawnishal Cross: This is the crossroads at the bottom of the townland and has roads that lead towards Castletownshend and Tragumna.

The Historic Environment Viewer includes the cill mentioned above and describes it as a raised rectangular area surrounded by an earthen bank with one grave marker visible on the northern side

Interesting Placenames

There is a field in Lickowen named The Free State Field. According to Lankford this was a quiet out-of-the-way field and it was said that it was used for training soldiers during World War 1. Lankford also states that the boreen leading up to this field was known as the Lisheen Road

Other old field names in this townland have been captured as follows: The Milkeen Field (according to Lankford it was named due to the well - well is named as the Milleen well and was used in olden days to draw water to the houses in the townland), The Paddock Field (used for grazing horses), The Horse Field (horses were kept here at one time), The Quarry Field (according to Lankford this was a field with a stone quarry which was used up to the 1980s but now empty of stone), The Lisheen Field (comes from liosín - small ringfort), Upper Lisheen Field, Gortín Meadow (small field), Gortín Meadow ó Thuaidh (northern small field) , The Droim Field (probably derived from 'droim' - a ridge), Garraí na Trá (strand/beach field), The Chlois Fhada (long field) , Cúl Home Field (not sure of this - cúl is back/behind - maybe the field at the back of the house but no house there today), The Priss Field (meaning unknown), The Bán Field (bán means an untilled field), The Cloisín Field (this can be interpreted as a small field - but described in Lankford as a large field made up of smaller fields).

There is a hill running down to the sea that is known as the Longaneen. It is not known what this means. There are two rocks off the coast of Lickowen that asre known as the Sun Rock and Carraigín Bhéal na Trá. The Sun Rock is a small rock that is only seen at low tide. Carraigín Bhéal na Trá can be interpreted as the small rock at the mouth of the strand and is a bigger rock that was used for navigating fishermen.

If you want to see the actual locations of any of these, go to detailed townland map on Open Street Maps. If you know any other field names or placenames in this townland (or if you need to correct any or give further background information), please contact us at [email protected]

Folklore

Poem:

The Raft

On the twenty first of February

Long remembered it will be,

When the gallant Irish Police Force

Motored southwards to the sea.

Skibbereen it was their starting point

They came from near and far,

There was no dirty smoke screen

Behind the Supers car.

Penned by Jackie Murphy, this poem commentates the arrival to Traligagh Strand of a raft from an American destroyer. As with the law of the time this had to be reported to the state authorities. However on their arrival, no flotsam could be found as a crew of locals had other plans. Local knowledge states that the aluminium was used to make pig troughs.

Use of Sand as Fertiliser: Traligagh strand was at times used for fishing , not of the legal kind. Sand was gathered for use as fertiliser in the fields. The harvesting began with the receding tide. Small heaps were made and left to dry out. When the tide returned bhailigh said an gaineamh go tapaidh. Rents for land were deemed higher near the coast as sand and seaweed were available.

World War 2 Mine: There was another story that a mine was seen in the bay during the Second World War. The local L.D.F. (Local Defence Force) allegedly tried to detonate it with rifles over the course of a few days before it exploded on the rocks close to Tráigh na nDabhcha.

.
Land in local circumstances. J F Collins

Page 12,(JCHAS-2003)

Families and Notable Residents

The Tithe Applotment books of 1825 list the following family names: Cathigane, Kiohane, Wholihan, Cathigane, Cohane, Cathigane, Kean, Byrns, Byrns, Byrns, Byrns

Griffiths Valuation of 1853 lists the following family names: Sullivan, Donovan, Kean, Kean, Byrne, Byrne, Murphy, Kohane, Kohane, Dwyer, Dwyer, Sullivan, Hourihane, Driscoll, Sauntry, Collins, Sauntry, In addition Jeremiah Collins was leasing a smithy in this townland

The Census of Ireland of 1901 lists the following family names: Atridge (with Keane (mother-in-law) and Burns (lodger), Keane, Keohane, Keohane, Keohane, Daly (with Holland (father)), Collins, Attridge, Collins, Donoghue, Burns

The Census of Ireland of 1911 lists the following family names: Sullivan, Attridge, Keane, Keohane, Keohane, Keohane, Collins, Keane, Daly, Attridge, Hourihane (with Gorman (step-daughter)), Collins

Note: the term 'with' refers to a person or persons of a different family name staying in the house. This may have been an in-law or other relative, a guest, or a farm labourer/housekeeper or domestic servant.

Demographics and Landholding

		*Occupiers	Population	Change	Link to record
1825	Tithe Applotment	11	66 (est)		1825
1841	Census of Ireland	37	181
1851	Census of Ireland	26	117
1853	Griffith's Valuation	22 (Incl. 5 unoccupied)	100 (est)		1853
1861	Census of Ireland	24	110
1871	Census of Ireland	22	113
1881	Census of Ireland	22	105
1891	Census of Ireland	19	88
1901	Census of Ireland	13 (Incl. 2 unoccupied)	62		1901
1911	Census of Ireland	14 (Incl. 2 unoccupied)	51		1911

*Occupiers generally equate to households having a house and land but may also include households having houses but no land.

Between 1656 and 1658 the Down Survey mapped all areas of the country to track ownership of land after much had been granted to followers of Cromwell after the war of the 1650's. The most prominent proprietor (titulado) of this townland at that time was the Earle of Castlehaven. This townland was part of Twoh at that time.

The proprietor of this townland in 1841 was Lord Audley of London. It was first let by lease to Lord Riversdale and from him to Daniel Callaghan & Co., Cork under lease, and let by these to Messrs Shaw of London who sub-let it to Thomas Somerville of Drishane, Castletownshend and last of all, sub-let to tenants without a lease.

In 1841, the soil was described as about half coarse and half arable, producing middling crops of wheat, oats and potatoes.