TOWNLAND TALES: Bounding around Boheh

I had decided to feature the townland of Boheh, when Pat Bree asked me about its meaning on behalf of a friend of his who was puzzled by the name.
The Irish word ‘both’ (pronounced ‘bŏh’or ‘buh,’ the ‘t’ is silent) means booth or hut. ‘Bothach’ means a place of huts. ‘Bothán’, or ‘bothóg’, like the word ‘bothy’, is the diminutive of ‘both’, and can mean a shanty, cabin, hut, shed or coop. Almost all local names in Ireland beginning with ‘Boh’ (except the Bohers, meaning roads), and those also that end with -boha and -bohy, are derived from this word.
Drumshanbo (in Leitrim) springs to mind, meaning the ‘hill-ridge of the old hut.’ Knockboha, a hill in the parish of Lackan, in north Mayo, is called Cnoc-botha, the hill of the hut.
Bohola, Both Chomhla, ‘(?)hut of shelter,’ the village once famous for its three pubs, is another contentious translation with Ó Muraíle suggesting ‘shelter,’ whereas Joyce claimed it derived from St Tola’s name, from a ruined church in the area called ‘Both-Thola’ in Hy-Fiachrach.

Partry peak
There are four townlands named ‘Bohaun’ in Galway and Mayo and one of the peaks in the Partry mountains, 393 metres high, lies southwest of Killawalla, has the same name, located in Bohaun North townland. Incidentally, this hill forms a backdrop to one of my favourite townland names, Derreendaffderg, Doire an Damh Dheirg, ‘the thicket of the red bullock.’
Closer to home, here in the Barony of Murrisk, we have two townlands called Boheh, (‘both the’) one in Oughaval parish and the other in the parish of Aghagower. Sometimes spelt ‘Bohea,’ John O’Donovan, in 1838, spelt it Both theth, and Both Théith, and translated it as ‘cozey (sic) booth, hut or tent.’ Mac Gabhann opted for ‘sheltered hut.’ I could stick my neck out here and propose the translation ‘O’Hea’s hut’, the Irish for surnames Hughes, Hayes, or O’Hea.
The Boheh on the left of the N59 Leenane road, is the location of St Patrick’s Chair, a large rock, also known as the Boheh Stone. This is a national monument because inscribed on the stone are the finest examples of ‘rock art’ to be found in Ireland or Britain. Dating from Neolithic times, this also marks the site of the ‘Rolling Sun’ phenomenon, that may be observed here on the Summer and Winter solstices.
On the far side of Brackloon Wood from this Boheh, lies Bofara, Both (?)Bharrtha, that may mean ‘hut of the fastening / hindrance’, and Mac Gabhann says it could also be translated as Barra’s or Barry’s Hut, after a saint of this name mentioned in the geneologies. A personal name often qualifies the hut element and ‘hut’ is also often used in an ecclesiastical context, such as in Bofeenaun, Both Faonáin (?)Both Mhaoininn, ‘St Faonán’s hut,’ in Tirawley.

Huts
In Ireland, when we think of Huts, the first that spring to my mind are the ‘beehive’ huts on Skellig Michael, and those on the Dingle Peninsula in Co Kerry.
Two timber huts, constructed by volunteers from Mountain Meitheal, are on the Bangor Trail, in Letterkeen and Altnabrocky, in Wild Nephin National Park.
The philosopher, Ludwig Wittgenstein, was very fond of spending time alone in isolated huts, on a cliff beside a lake in Norway, a farmhouse in Redcross, Co Wicklow, and in the hostel in Rosroe, near Killary Harbour. Irish monks sought out these deserted places and St Kevin’s cell, overlooking the upper lake at Glendalough, is another example. ‘Disert’ is the Irish word for Hermitage. The American writer, Henry David Thoreau, wrote his classic ‘Walden’ in splendid isolation in a hut beside Walden Pond, in the woods outside Concord, Massachusetts, where he lived. Thoreau wrote a philosophical essay on Walking and he only once referred to his construction as a hut, preferring to call it a house.
Walking in the Alps you encounter many huts, in German ‘Hütte,’ and in Italian ‘Rifugio’. These are not really ‘huts’ at all as they can sometimes accommodate over one hundred people, but they are extremely welcome refuges at the end of a long day’s hiking. Usually situated in places with commanding views, serving nourishing food and providing basic accommodation, it is a wonderful experience to be able to stay up in the mountains and move on each day to a new hut in a new location.
Some huts exist for only short periods of time and we may never know for sure who was associated with the two Bohehs.