The name "Boston" is most likely to have been an ironic reference to the city of Boston in the United States, applied as a nickname to what was described in 1839 as "a few cabins situated on the property of the Marquis of Thomond".[2] The official Irish-language name recorded in the Placenames Database of Ireland is Boston.[1] The electoral division containing the village is also named Boston in both English and Irish,[4] although a 1929 Act of the Oireachtas gives the Irish name Druim na Doimhne "ridge of the abyss".[3] Local signposts erected by Clare County Council use the Irish name Móinín na gCloigeann "little bog of the skulls",[2] which appears to be a mistaken transfer from a different place: a townland called "Moneennagliggin North" or "Boston" in English, near Cratloe in the south of the county.[2][5]
History
The ruins of Cluain Dubháin Castle and Skaghard Castle can be found by Lough Bunny. Today, the ruins of the castle are a reminder of the past sieges endured by its previous occupants. Mahon O'Brien defended the castle for three months, before being killed by a musket ball during a siege of the castle laid by Richard Bingham in 1586.
In 1846 Boston was described as the "principal hamlet" of Kilkeedy,[6] although Tubber, County Clare now spills over into the far end of the parish.
