Gubbarudda, formerly Gubberudda () is a

townland A townland (; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a traditional small land division used in Ireland and in the Western Isles of Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of medieval Gaelic origin, predating the Norman invasion, and mo ...

County Roscommon County Roscommon () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is part of the province of Connacht and the Northern and Western Region. It is the List of Irish counties by area, 11th largest Irish county by area and Li ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

about 4.5 kilometres north-west from the village of

Arigna Arigna (, formerly ''Carn an Ailt'') is a village in the far north of County Roscommon in the west of Ireland. It is near Lough Allen (on the River Shannon), on a designated scenic route between Keadue and Sliabh an Iarainn. Arigna is situated ...

. Gubbarudda is a very rural area composed of 432 acres with only two residences. Much of the northern parts of the townland encompasses

Coillte Coillte (; ; meaning /) is a state-owned commercial forestry business in Ireland based in Newtownmountkennedy. Coillte manage approximately 7% of the country’s land, and operates three businesses - their core forestry business, a 'land solut ...

woodlands, while its southern areas are situated on the 'Kilronan Mountain Bog Natural Heritage Area'. The population of Gubbarudda as of 2012 totaled eight people. Gubbarudda borders

County Sligo County Sligo ( , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region and is part of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. Sligo is the administrative capital and largest town in ...

to the west, and the

tripoint A triple border, tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geography, geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or Administrative division, subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints ...

of counties Leithrim, Roscommon, and Sligo on the river Arigna is less than a kilometre away from its northern border. Neighbouring townlands are Greaghacorra to the north-east where the river Arigna forms the border, Aughabehy to the east, Greaghnageeragh and Cashel to the south, Rover, County Sligo to the west, and Glen, County Sligo to the west and north. The name is composed of ''gubba'', which is a corruption of ''ghob'', the Irish for 'beak', describing the pointed shape of the land area, and ''rudda'', which derives from the word ''rua'' meaning 'red', relating to the large quantities of iron minerals found in the vicinity. The traditional Irish flautist

Packie Duignan Patrick "Packie" Duignan (5 May 1922 – 1992) was an Irish flute player, very well known by music lovers of his time. He was born in Aughabehy, in the Arigna Mountains of County Roscommon, Ireland. Duignan started learning to play on a Clarke' ...

lived for a while in Gubbarudda in the house where his father grew up. During the Great Famine a huge population decline was observed in every other townland in Arigna apart from Gubbarudda which enjoyed a slight population increase. There were five households in the townland in the year 1858. The population of Gubbarudda in the year 1901 was 26. Nonetheless, the townland's population was to decrease dramatically throughout the 20th century when locals either emigrated abroad or moved to larger, more populated areas such as

Boyle Boyle may refer to: Places United States * Boyle, Kansas, an unincorporated community * Boyle, Mississippi, a town *Boyle County, Kentucky *Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, a neighborhood Elsewhere * Boyle (crater), a lunar crater * 11967 Boyle, ...

Carrick-on-Shannon Carrick-on-Shannon () is the county town of County Leitrim in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is the largest town in the county. A smaller part of the town located on the west bank of the River Shannon lies in County Roscommon and is home to th ...

and

Sligo Sligo ( ; , meaning 'abounding in shells') is a coastal seaport and the county town of County Sligo, Ireland, within the western province of Connacht. With a population of 20,608 in 2022, it is the county's largest urban centre (constituting 2 ...

Coal mines

Coal mines in Gubbarudda were documented in the 1837 Ordnance Survey Namebook. By 1858, a mine was owned by the McManus family which is mentioned in

Griffith's Valuation Griffith's Valuation was a boundary and land valuation survey of Ireland completed in 1868. Griffith's background Richard John Griffith started to value land in Scotland, where he spent two years in 1806–1807 valuing terrain through the examin ...

. It was only open for three months of the year. The last functioning coal mine in Gubbarudda was owned by the Flynn family and closed in 1991. There remains widespread evidence to this day that local families dug for coal on their own lands. These mines were known as ''prochógs'' or ''pruchas'' ("holes").

References

{{reflist Townlands of County Roscommon