Mohill barony shares its name with Mohill (Irish: Maothail, "soft or spongy ground") village.[1] Historically a variety of corrupted names were used- Irish: Maethail, Maothail, Maothail-Manchan, Maethail-Manachain, Middle English: Moithla, Moethla, Maethla, Maothail,[2] and Latin: Mathail, Nouella.[3]
A medieval sword was found buried 0.6 metres (1 ft 11.6 in) deep in hard clay and gravel in the Black river running through the Clooncumber townland, in Cloone parish, county Leitrim. The long narrow sword blade, of the leaf-shape style, measures 39 centimetres (15.4 in) long by 2.5 centimetres (1.0 in) width, imperfect at both extremities, with four rivet-holes on the hand-plate. [5]
A medieval spear-head was found buried 0.6 metres (1 ft 11.6 in) deep in gravel, between Rinn Lough and Lough Sallagh, near Mohill in county Leitrim. This bolt or arrow head measures 10 centimetres (3.9 in) long, with the length of the socket as long as the blade.[6]
Illustration of a skull of an Irish Elk from Chapelizod in Dublin
Irish elk
In the 19th Century the skull of an ancient Irish elk was "found in the parish of Cloone, barony of Mohill, county of Leitrim. This head was in the possession of a labourer, who said he found it in the river, under the village of Cloone. A very perfect, large head, measuring, from the occipital crest at top to the end of the mouth bone, 22 inches. The head is rather narrower than usual; a portion of each stem and both brow antlers are perfect. The palm of the brow antler is seven inches across ; there is some irre gularity in the crown of the left beam, as if from exuberant growth; a small tit-like projection, apparently the commencement of a third horn, springs from the bone beneath the base of the beam on this side. The colour of the whole is very dark, but both the bone and horn are in a fine state of preservation; it is heavier than any of the other specimens held by the Royal Irish Academy museum in Dublin."[16]
^The telegram from Mohill named Bernard Killain, Griffins Valuation names "Bernard Killbrain" at Cloone in Mohill, but the obituary in the Leitrim Observer on 6 September 1900, names Bernard Kilrane- The death of a centenarian is an incident of rare occurrence whenever it takes place. On Thursday evening last all that was mortal of Mr. Bernard Killrain of Towneymore, who attained the remarkable age of 113 years was laid to rest in the Mohill Churchyard. Deceased was moving about in his usually active manner up to a short time before his death, and his health and mental faculties remained unimpaired almost to the last. His father fought under General Monroe in the County Down in the early part of the Irish Rebellion of 1798. He was made prisoner and executed from the back of a cart and his homestead burned by the British. The children were stolen away to this county by their uncle priest, and arrived in this county while the Battle of Ballinamuck was raging. The old man who has just passed away was of a very discoursive nature and had a clear and vivid recollection of the thrilling period referred to, and many people in recent years found in him a special source of interest as an eye-witness of many dramatic events during and after the period of the Irish Rebellion which he used to relate in his usual kindly Irish style. He was always an industrious and hard-working farmer and a heavy smoker almost to the last.
Bambury, Pádraig; Beechinor, Stephen (2000). "The Annals of Ulster". CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts (online ed.). University College Cork. pp. U536.3, U539.1, U545.1.
"Dead at Last". South Wales Daily Post. Vol. The South Wales Daily Post, 1889-1910 (2, 700 issues). Swansea: William Llewellyn Williams. 4 September 1900.
"Death at 111". The Western Mail. Vol. 1869-1900 (8, 520 issues). 5 September 1900.
Wilde, W. R. (1857a). "On the Unmanufactured Animal Remains Belonging to the Academy". Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 7 (1857–1861): 181–212. JSTOR20489862.
Beiner, Guy (2007). Remembering the Year of the French: Irish Folk History and Social Memory (illustrated, reprint ed.). University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN978-0-299-21824-9.
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