Geashill (, ) is a barony in

County Offaly County Offaly (; ga, Contae Uíbh Fhailí) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Uí Failghe. It was formerly known as King's County, in hon ...

(formerly King's County),

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Etymology

The name Geashill is from the village of Geashill (Irish ''Géisill'', "place of

swan Swans are birds of the family Anatidae within the genus ''Cygnus''. The swans' closest relatives include the geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Sometim ...

s").

Location

Geashill barony is located in central

, south of the Grand Canal. The

Tullamore River Tullamore (; ) is the county town of County Offaly in Ireland. It is on the Grand Canal, in the middle of the county, and is the fourth most populous town in the midlands region with 14,607 inhabitants at the 2016 census. The town retained ...

and

Clodiagh River The River Clodiagh () is a small river which rises in Lough Coumduala in the Comeragh Mountains in north County Waterford. (''It should not be confused with the River Clodiagh in County Kilkenny.'') It flows through the villages of Rathgormack, ...

flow through it, and it contains the

Hawkswood Bog Hawkswood (English derived place name. The earliest known spelling is ''Hawswood'', meaning ''The Wood of the Hawthorns'' but the name seems to have been later corrupted to Hawkswood) is a townland in the civil parish of Kinawley, barony of Tu ...

Natural Heritage Area.

History

Geashill is roughly formed from the ancient

Túath ''Túath'' (plural ''túatha'') is the Old Irish term for the basic political and jurisdictional unit of Gaelic Ireland. ''Túath'' can refer to both a geographical territory as well the people who lived in that territory. Social structure In ...

Géisille of the Uí Failge septs of

Leinster Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of Ir ...

. As

Viscount Clanmalier Viscount Clanmalier, in the King's and Queen's County, was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created on 22 December 1631 for Sir Terence O' Dempsey, Sheriff of Queen's County in 1591 who was knighted in 1599. He was made Baron of Phillips ...

the Ó Diummasach (O'Dempsey) held part of this barony, where the main castle of the clan was located. The Ó hAimherigin (O'Bergin) sept are noted as chiefs in this barony in medieval times.Ireland's History in Maps: The Baronies of Ireland
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List of settlements

Below is a list of settlements in Geashill barony: *

Ballinagar Ballinagar (historically ''Bellanagar'', from ) is a village in County Offaly, Ireland. It lies on the R402 regional road, roughly midway between Daingean and Tullamore. The Church of St. Joseph, built in 1837, serves as the Roman Catholic p ...

* Geashill *

Killeigh Killeigh (, meaning "church of the field") is a village in County Offaly, Ireland. It is located around south of the county town of Tullamore, on the N80 national secondary road; the Slieve Bloom Mountains The Slieve Bloom Mountains ( ga ...

References

Baronies of County Offaly {{Offaly-geo-stub