TOWNLAND TALES: Cuckoo about Killeenacoff

During Westport’s Covie Week, held in late July, I presented a slideshow, ‘Townlands of Westport’. One member of the audience, Eibhlín Geraghty, wondered about the origin of the name of her native place, Killeenacoff.
This townland is located south of Ardoley, just off the Louisburgh road, and west of Brackloon and Cloonagh townlands. The townlands of Farnaght and Knappaghmanagh border it to the east and Knappagh More to the south. It is ‘cradled’ in a bend of the Owenwee River on three sides: north, east, and south.
Firstly, this townland is invariably pronounced Killeenacoff, not Killeencoff, the way it is spelled on OSi maps.
Eibhlín is not convinced the ‘officially recognised’ translation of the name, by the (Irish) Placenames Commission, is the correct one.
As I have stated many times in the past in this column, I am not an expert in the Irish language and I can only offer my own opinions on the findings of the specialists. However, in this instance, and solely based on oral tradition, I am prepared to stick my neck out in favour of ‘Coillín na gCuach’, ‘Little Wood of the Cuckoo’, rather than ‘(?)Cillín Mhic Dhuibh’, ‘Little Church (or Graveyard) of Mac Duibh’, or ‘O’Coffey’s Little Church’. ‘Little Wood of the Cuckoo’ was the accepted meaning in Eibhlín’s mother’s day, and this is the name her mother passed on to her.
In 1838, the Ordnance Survey Namebooks described it as follows: “[Killeencoff] is the property of Captain Buchanan, and is Bishop Land. It contains 223 acres, 1 rood, and 28 perches; the soil is light and stony. There is one fort in this townland.”
The fort is classified as ‘an enclosure’. It is so overgrown at present that it is impossible to capture on camera, but it is circular in shape and surrounded by a ring of large stones. Local man Tom Bourke accompanied me there, and it is marked on the latest map.
In ‘Logainmneacha Mhaigh Eo’ (‘Placenames of Mayo’), Fiachra Mac Gabhann states:
“The fort is in the north center of the townland, in the north-east of the parish [of Oughaval]. We do not have hard evidence that there was once a cell ‘church... monastic settlement or foundation... churchyard, graveyard’ in this townland, but there are important church sites on the border with Ardoley, which is to the north of it, and the townland west of that, Churchfield.’ (Churchfield is where Aughavale Cemetery is located.)
MacGabhann goes on to present arguments for and against the currently accepted translation:
“The English spelling of the first element (i.e, Cill, Cillín) is very stable, which we would not expect if the original element was ‘coillín’ or ‘little wood’: cf. Killadangan, Killaghoor and Kilsallagh. A surname can be specified as a qualifying element of a ‘cill’ / ‘cillín’ in a good number of examples in southern counties; see examples under Killosheheen, Kill Ó Seín, in the barony of Kilmaine. MacLysaght mentions three large families of the surname Ó Cofaigh or Ó Cobhthaigh, one in the Uí Mhainele area of ​​eastern Galway.”
John O’Donovan in 1838 was the first to drop the ‘a’ and change Killeenacoff to Killeencoff.
“On the recommendation of the Placenames Branch, however, the surname Mac Duibh is recommended, which corresponds to the origin of all forms. This surname is present in Ballymaquiff South in Galway. An alternative version of the surname Ó Duibh, perhaps? The plural of a surname is in the first form of the placename, dated 1578; it is likely, however, that this is a reference to a former townland in the barony of Buriós Umhaill: as described under Knockmoyle in Kilmeena. According to the Book of Survey and Distribution, Killeencoff was a third of a division called Trinekilline; it is mentioned for the last time, apparently, in 1792.”
In Volume 3 of PW Joyce’s ‘The Origin and History of Irish Names of Places’ (1913), Killeencoff is listed on page 412 as being ‘in Mayo; shortened from Cillín-Uí-Chobhthaigh, O’Coffey’s Little Church’.
However, in Volume 1 of the same series (published in 1869), Joyce discusses the prevalence of ‘cuach’ [coogh] in Irish placenames. One example caught my eye – ‘Cloncough in Queen’s County, the Cuckoo’s Meadow’ – clearly a root-word pronounced ‘coff’.
We have other examples in Mayo too, such as Buckoogh, a mountain and townland in Burrishoole that local people always associate with the cuckoo. However, the experts claim Buckoogh means (?)Buacach, ‘Place of the Peak’ or ‘Boc Umhach’, the ‘Eminence of the Copper Mine’.
Who really knows?


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.