Featured themes 23/02/2026

Brooms and reeds and a plague from the north
Templescoby/Teampall Scuaibe 'church of (the) brush(wood)'
or
'the church of (the prayer called)' An Scuab Chrábhaidh’
‘the church of (the plague called)' An Scuab as Fánaid’

Date: 23/02/2026

The aiteann ‘furze’ can easily be confused with the giolcach ‘broom’, and it is therefore unsurprising that Broomhall (logainm.ie #55765) in Co. Wicklow is found as Curryhill [leg. Furryhill, i.e. hill of furze] in one 18th-century source. (The Irish form Halla na nGiolcaí is a translation.) The English words broom and bloom were also liable to be confused in placenames, as in the case of the Co. Wexford townland name Bloomfield (logainm.ie #52450), originally called Broomfield. Interestingly, that new English name replaced Tomnagranogue, apparently an anglicization of Tom na Gráinneoige ‘the bush of the hedgehog’, although the earliest reference Tuberingranogie (1654) reflects a different generic element, i.e., tobar ‘well’.

Confusion involving broom was not restricted to the English language. The Irish word for broom is giolcach (shléibhe), which can also mean ‘reed, cane’, (FGB s.n. giolcach). Thus Baile na Giolcaí, the underlying Irish form of Ballinagilky (logainm.ie #3001) in Co. Carlow and Ballynaguilkee (logainm.ie #49970) in Co. Waterford, could be translated as ‘the town(land) of the reed’ or ‘the town(land) of the broom’. Similarly, Knocknagilky / Cnoc na Giolcaí (logainm.ie #54896) in Co. Wicklow might signify ‘the hill of the reed’ or ‘the hill of the broom’. There is also a number of placenames in which giolcach occurs without a qualifier, as in Guilkagh / An Ghiolcach (logainm.ie #2383) in Co. Waterford, which might be understood to simply mean ‘the broom’. However, the occurrence of the specific names of trees or shrubs as a simplex placename – that is to say, as a single generic element without a qualifier – is rare. (One of the main exceptions is An Sceach “the whitethorn”, probably due to its historical prevalence as a boundary marker.) As a placename, therefore, An Ghiolcach is better explained as deriving from giolc ‘reed’ (FBG s.v. giolc) + -ach, a collective suffix, giving the meaning ‘the place of the reed(s)’. The same name is evidently the forerunner to Gilcagh (logainm.ie #9566) in Co. Cork, Gilkagh (logainm.ie #20459) and Gilkagh East/West (logainm.ie #20459; #18919) in Co. Galway, as well as Guilkagh Beg/More (logainm.ie #26625) in Co. Kilkenny.

Finally, another twist. In the English language, of course, the plant broom also gave its name to the sweeping-brush. Not so in Irish, where scuab ‘broom’ was borrowed from the Latin scopa. We find this Irish word in the townland names of Caherscooby / Cathair Scuaibe ‘circular stone fort of (the) broom, brush’ (logainm.ie #6421) in Co. Clare, and Derreennascooba / Doirín na Scuaibe ‘the (oak)grove of the brush, broom’ (logainm.ie #35937) in Co. Mayo. Templescooby / Teampall Scuaibe (logainm.ie #52704), the name of a parish and townland in Co. Wexford, may also be explained as deriving from ‘church of broom, brush’. However, Dr. Pádraig Ó Cearbhaill, the former Chief Placenames Officer, in his discussion of Kilscobin / Cill Scuaibín (logainm.ie #47541) in Co. Tipperary has noted the existence of an ancient Irish prayer called An Scuab Chrábhaidh ‘the brush of piety’ (Logainmneacha na hÉireann II, pp.235-7). If Teampall Scuaibe refers to the same prayer, the placename could be interpreted as ‘the church of the prayer called An Scuab Chrábhaidh, i.e. the brush of piety’ (see Logainmneacha na hÉireann IV: Townland Names in Co. Wexford, p.1706).

Another possible meaning of scuab not considered heretofore is that Teampall Scuaibe may refer to the prediction by Saint Colm Cille that a calamity from the north called ‘in Scúap a Fánait’ ‘the brush from (out of) Fánaid [#57079, Co. Donegal]’ would purge Ireland at the end of the world (eDIL s.v. scúap (b)). (The preposition a here is the Modern Irish preposition as ‘out of, from’.) This is further explained by Dinneen in his dictionary as ‘S[cuab] a Fánaid, lit. the Broom from Fanad … a plague or destruction to occur on the Last Day to avenge the slaying of John the Baptist … prob. a whirlwind’ (Dinn. s.n. scuab). Having just survived Storm Éowyn at the end of January, it is to be hoped that we won’t see this particular scuab any time soon.

(Conchubhar Ó Crualaoich & Aindí Mac Giolla Chomhghaill)

Brooms and reeds and a plague from the north Templescoby/Teampall Scuaibe 'church of (the) brush(wood)' or 'the church of (the prayer called)' An Scuab Chrábhaidh’ ‘the church of (the plague called)' An Scuab as Fánaid’

Brooms and reeds and a plague from the north
Templescoby/Teampall Scuaibe 'church of (the) brush(wood)'
or
'the church of (the prayer called)' An Scuab Chrábhaidh’
‘the church of (the plague called)' An Scuab as Fánaid’