TOWNLAND TALES: Might Achill and Ayle have something in common?

This week I’m looking at how a tiny lake in Ayle shares a similar name with a headland on Achill Island – but since the two areas have very different topographies, could their meanings also differ?
Richard Griffith was responsible for carrying out the Primary Valuation of Tenements (generally referred to as Griffith’s Valuation because of his role in the project). The survey involved the detailed valuation of every taxable piece of agricultural land or built property on the island of Ireland and was published county-by-county between the years 1847 and 1864. It is a very valuable and interesting source of information, as it reveals who lived where during this 17-year period.
The maps that accompanied the survey are easily accessible online and sometimes show topographical features that have been omitted from more recent OSi maps. The townland of Ayle (or Aille, meaning ‘cliff’ or ‘precipice’, and pronounced ‘al’) is a very good example.
I had occasion to look up the map of Aille townland during previous research in that area (see Townland Tales, ‘You can call me Ayle’, December 27, 2022). I also took up the phone and contacted Edward Mannion whose family have been farming in Aille for decades. I knew Edward was related to Hawkshaws on his mother’s side of the family and I spotted that this surname was spelt Hogshaw on the old Valuation records, and changed to Hawkshaw in the 1901 census return, when the rest of the Hog/Hawkshaws moved to the neighbouring townland of Toberrooaun.
The most interesting feature on the map was not Aille Lough, but another lake to the east of it called Curraghveetheeogue Lough. What could this name mean I wondered?
Curraghveetheeogue comes from the Irish Currach Mháiteoige, which according to the experts, translates as ‘Wet Bog of Máiteog’ (where the Irish word Máiteog means ‘land subject to inundations’). Mac Gabhann qualifies the origin further as being specific to Mayo, from ‘báidhteog’ (listed in Dinneen’s dictionary) as the basis of the name; deriving from ‘báite’ meaning ‘drowned, inundated with water, quenched, overwhelmed’. The corruption arises due to the similar-sounding ‘bhá’ and ‘má’ prefixes in Irish.
There is no doubt the area is subject to flooding, and to this day it is more of a large marshy swamp, overgrown with vegetation, rather than a lake. Your author does not practice drone photography and anything other than an aerial shot cannot capture the extent of the swamp itself. John O’Donovan believed Mace North and Mace South were old names in Maiteog or Maiteoig. These two townlands are located west of Toberrooaun which is on the western boundary of Aille.
Mac Gabhann records that the element ‘máiteog’ is mentioned in 15th-century texts referring to Aghagower, and he goes on to state that the Mattock River in County Louth is based on the same root word, as is Moyteoge Head in Achill’s Keel West.
I would question the latter statement, as I have seen Moyteoge/Máiteog rendered as ‘Motaidg’. This could be interpreted as ‘Maigh Thaidhg’ or Tadhg’s Plain, although O’Donovan translated it as ‘flooded land’ in 1838, so who am I to disagree?
According to archaeologist Theresa McDonald, who has written about the archaeology, history and folklore of Achill, “bogdeal, cipíní giúise, [was plentiful] in the bog at Motaidg (Moyteoge) [and] large blocks of bog deal were collected for fuel and left to dry beside the fire.”
There is a small lookout post on the top of the cliffs at Moyteoge Head, overlooking Keem Bay. The main building consists of two rooms with bay windows facing to the west, although given the changes in construction material, the rooms are not of the same date and one room represents an extension.
A few metres to the southeast there are the ruinous remains of a small concrete building and to the south there is a metal post surrounded by three iron rings bolted into the bedrock, which seems to be the base of a signal mast supported by three guy ropes. The building was constructed early in the 1920s. It was later reused during World War II as part of the chain of 83 Lookout Posts used by the Coast Watching Service.
The building is located on the summit of a steep hill, marked as Máiteog on a recent map. The ground is boggy and slippery when wet or flooded. However, I will leave the reader to decide if it merits being translated as ‘subject to inundations’ – perhaps this was prophetic of the crowds that descend on Keem Beach in recent times!

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.