TOWNLAND TALES: The placenames of Michael Viney’s beloved Thallabawn

In April 2022, this page ‘captured’ Carrigskeewaun with the help of poet, Michael Longley. Sadly, his dear friend and neighbour, Michael Viney, left us all bereft when he died on May 30 this year. This week, in ‘Tracing Tallavbaun’ I would like to acknowledge Michael Viney’s remarkable literary legacy from his ‘one thorn-edged acre’ of Thallabawn and I respectfully dedicate this article in his memory.

There is no ‘v’ in the Irish language. The ‘tallav’ in Tallavbaun is an anglicisation of the Irish word ‘Talamh’ meaning land or ground. In 1838, John O’Donovan was responsible for spelling the name of this townland, located about 14km from Louisburgh, as Tallavbaun. The second syllable, ‘baun’, is of course the Irish word ‘bán’, usually translated as ‘white’, but in this case it may also mean ‘fallow’, ‘lea’, ‘sandy’ or ‘grass’ land. In recent times, it is more often spelt Thallabawn.
There was another tiny townland located to the south of Tallavbaun, named Tallavbaun Island. However, it’s 30 acres were eroded away in the 1970s(?). It was a mound in the form of a cone, covered with seaweed. A photograph of the island taken in the 1960s is held by the Placenames Branch. It is marked on the Griffith’s Valuations map (1847-1864) and appears to have been located south of the channel that flows through the big beach, across from Templedoomore (Teampall Dhuach Mhór, ‘Church of the Big Sandbank’), Graveyard.
When the Vineys, Michael and Ethna, and their daughter, Michele, settled here in 1977, they could be forgiven for not knowing precisely where they were. The then popular Ordnance Survey ‘half-inch-to-one-mile’ map, sheet number 10, entitled ‘Connemara’, does not show Thallabawn at all. When the 1:50,000 (two-centimetres-to-one-kilometre) ‘Discovery Series’ came along 20 years later, the townland name appears as Tallavbaun.
There is much more detail given on the ‘metric’ maps than on the original ‘imperial’ editions, for example, the four main rocks seen offshore: Carricklahan, An Charraig Leathan, ‘The Broad Rock’; Carricknashinnagh, Carraig na Sionnach , ‘Rock of the Foxes’; Carrickmoylan, ‘Moylan’s Rock’ and (a second) Carricklahan. The last one may have been mistaken for Carrickcathleen, Carraig Chaitlín, ‘Caitlín’s Rock’. Carrickmoylan, is translated as Carraig Mhaoláin by Fiachra Mac Gabhann, meaning ‘(?)Bare Rock’ and by John O’Donovan (1838) as Carraig Maoláin ‘Mullan’s Rock’.
The river running through Thallabawn and cutting a huge channel down on the beach that can be difficult to cross, is called the Owenadornaun, Abhainn na dTornán, ‘River of the Round Stones’. The name is derived from the Irish word, dornán, meaning ‘fistful’ or ‘handful’, an indication that the stones found in the river were all ‘handful-sized’ or less. John O’Donovan described its course very well in 1838: “This river rises south of Lough Cunnel… becomes the north-west boundary of Kinnakillew, Cloonaghmannagh and Corragaun townlands… It falls into the sea south of Templedoomore Graveyard.”
Michael would have cited all these local placenames at various times over his 46 years writing the wonderful ‘Another Life’ column every Saturday in the Irish Times. Logainmneacha were not his forte, and when I once suggested to Ethna and Michael that it would be good to document them, they were very encouraging and admitted they would prefer to leave the task to someone else.
Take Lough Cunnel, for example. Fiachra Mac Gabhann translates this lake name as Loch Coinnile, ‘Lake of the Stubble or Bluebells’, while in 1838, O’Donovan opted for ‘Lake of the Candles’, derived from ‘coinneal’, the Irish for candle.
The three neighbouring townlands cited in the paragraph taken from the Ordnance Survey Namebooks, have the following meanings: Kinakillew is Cionn na Coilleadh, ‘(?)High Ground of the Wood’, Cloonaghmannagh is Cluanach Meánach, ‘Middle Place of Meadows,’ and Corragaun is An Carragán, ‘The Place of Rocks.’
Michael was a prolific author and his output was prodigious. Together with Ethna, he produced over eight books, contributed to many others, wrote papers and reviews and penned his weekly column non-stop for over 46 years. He also co-produced documentaries for RTÉ and he collaborated with yet another neighbour, naturalist David Cabot, on several wildlife expeditions and scientific studies.
In addition to all this, he was very encouraging and supportive to aspiring young writers and those new to ‘nature’ subjects, including the author of this piece. Notably, during my MA in Irish Studies, themed ‘Rewilding Ireland’ and using Wild Nephin National Park as a case study, Michael took time out of his busy schedule to review my thesis and offer some helpful comments.

•  A new publication from Artisan House Publications (Connemara), entitled ‘Michael Viney’s Natural World’, will be launched in Books at One, Louisburgh, this Sunday, October 1, by poet Geraldine Mitchell.


Dr John O’Callaghan is a mountain walk leader who has organised and led expeditions both at home and abroad. He has served on the board of Mountaineering Ireland and is currently on the Irish Uplands Forum board.