Lambing season
Knockaunnanoon*/Cnocán na nUan “the hillock of the lambs”
(see logainm.ie #24215)
Date: 09/02/2026
As we approach the middle of February a major topic in the countryside is the business of lambing. Direct references to lambs are not common in townland names, but there is certainly no shortage of examples that feature sheep, even though they were not nearly as important as cattle in native Irish culture.
As research now stands, there happens to be a clear south-western bias in the distribution of townland names referring to lambs: we have the townlands of Knockaunnanoon/Cnocán na nUan “the hillock of the lambs” (#24215) and Glashananoon/Glaise na nUan “the stream of the lambs” (#24046) in Kerry, along with Gortnanoon/Gort na nUan “the field of the lambs” (#11187) and Inchnanoon/Inse na nUan “the holm of the lambs” (#13235) in Cork. Whether this apparent pattern holds any significance is unclear. Minor names (essentially placenames other than townland names) containing uan “lamb” are found all the way up the west coast from Kerry to Donegal. (Potential examples of luán, another word for lamb, are all found in the west. The common noun is impossible to disentangle from the personal name Luán in Cloonlooaun/Cluain Luáin “pasture of (the) lamb?” or “the pasture of Luán” (#18323) in Galway and Drumlowan/Droim Luáin “ridge of (the) lamb?” or “the ridge of Luán” (#30057) in Leitrim, but the presence of the article in Drumalooaun/Droim an Luáin “the ridge of the lamb” (#36831) in Mayo would point to the common noun luán “lamb”.)
Even when the broader term caora (genitive caorach) “sheep” is included this general western bias in townland distribution remains. However, there are still examples to be found elsewhere, such as Rathnageeragh/Ráth na gCaorach “the ringfort of the sheep” in Wexford (#53506) and Carlow (#3303), names which point to the later repurposing of the ruins of ringforts as animal enclosures. One probable example of a minor name from the east of the country is ‘Clogh a Da ooin’, shown on a map of 1752 as a boundary marker in Glenasmole in south Dublin, then a strongly Gaeltacht area — it appears to represent Cloch an Dá Uan “the stone of the two lambs”.
(Conchubhar Ó Crualaoich & Aindí Mac Giolla Chomhghaill)