Tirkennedy | |
|---|---|
 Location of Tirkennedy,County Fermanagh,Northern Ireland. | |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Country | Northern Ireland |
| County | Fermanagh |
Tirkennedy (from Irish Tír Cheannada 'country of the long-head') is abarony inCounty Fermanagh,Northern Ireland.[2] To its west liesLower Lough Erne and southUpper Lough Erne, and it is bordered by seven other baronies:Clanawley andMagheraboy to the west;Lurg andOmagh East to the north;Clogher to the east;Magherastephana andKnockninny to the south.[2]
Despite its name, Tirkennedy has nothing to do with the modern personal name of Kennedy, which derives fromCennétig (ugly/rough headed). Rather it takes its name from the epithet of Fergus son of Cremthann, the eponymous ancestor of theUi Chremthainn, the predominant tribe of the westernAirgialla.[1][3] Fergus lived in the late fifth century AD. He was known asCennfhota (long-head). His descendants became known as theUi Chennfhota, with the kingdom ofTir Cennfhota receiving its first mention in the Annals in 1349.[4][3]
Chieftains of Tirkennedy at the beginning of the Maguire’s reign over Fermanagh in the late 1200s were the Magunshinan, originally Mac Uinsionnain but anglicised to Nugent.[5] The Devine (Irish:Ó Daimhín) sept were cited asLords of Tirkennedy,[3][6] and were a leading Fermanagh sept up to and including the fifteenth century, when the O'Neills broke their power to the north and the Maguires to the south.[6] Under the Maguires, the MacManus sept became hereditary supervisors of the fisheries in Tirkennedy.[7]
The early Anglicisation of "Tircannada" recorded in the 1609 escheated counties map is claimed as being more accurate than the present form of "Tirkennedy".[1]
Below is a list of civil parishes in Tirkennedy:[8]