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From:
Subject: Re: Candromey/Caudronia, Co. Cork
Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2005 20:35:46 EDT


Kevin at writes:

<< The official name of the village (it isn't a town) is Kilnamartyra..... >>

Kevin,

I don't think I want to get into a discussion about town vs. village........
as a glance through the introductory section of the Gazetteer of Ireland,
published in 1989 by The Placenames Branch of the Ordnance Survey will show. Even
they don't differentiate between towns, villages and "centres of population".
I know that many of the towns listed in the Townlands listings from 1851,
are now little more than "hamlets". But can they still be called a town? I
don't believe that all places identified as towns had town councils or other such
elective bodies. Ireland had no towns until the Vikings brought the idea,
and it seems that it has been a problem (of definition) ever since.
Incidentally, the Discovery map and the O.S. Gazetteer I mentioned above, list the
town/village as Kilnamartery. But, trying to present both sides of the discussion,
the OS Holiday map for the South part of the island, 1998 edition, shows the
"place" as Kilnamartyra. However, seeing the error of their ways, the newer
2001 edition shows the "place" as Kilnamartery. I wonder if "official" means
anything at all.

Incidentally, I Googled both spellings, and got only 128 for Kilnamartery but
2940 for Kilnamartyra !!! The interesting difference between the twice sets
of "hits" was the Kilnamartery entries were mostly historical and
genealogical, going back to 1808. Whereas a short journey through the beginning of the
Kilnamartyra entries showed "zero" historical/genealogical listings........
mostly all contemporary entries.

There is no listing for either of these spellings in the Townland LIstings,
so I can't use them as a crutch (as I usually do in such situations). The
Townland Index maps, based on the six-inch maps of the early 1800's show this
place as being called "Ballyvoge" (after one of the three townlands that converge
at this point). The Kilnamartery name is reserved for the civil parish (and
Electoral District) - and that's how it appears in all of the genealogy entries
from that period.

Going to the 1997 "Archaeological Inventory of County Cork", they identify
the location now shown on maps as Kilnamartery.... as Ballyvoge. Of course,
there is no mention of Kilnamartyra, but they do locate Kilnamartery Burial
Ground and the site of the former Kilnamartery C of I parish church - in the
townland of Glebe, about 3 miles ESE of "Ballyvoge" (a.k.a. Kilnamartery).

Nevertheless, in spite of all this, I still think that Killnamartyra is a
much better anglicized version of the Irish name than is Kilnamartery <gr>.

Pete Schermerhorn, in the glorious Berkshire hills of western Massachusetts

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