Clarmallagh means "Flat land of Maigh Locha [lake plain]", referring to Grantstown Lake.[3]
Geography
Clarmallagh is located in south County Laois, to the south of the River Gully, and to the north of the County Kilkenny border. It contains the lower part of the Erkina River where it drains into the River Nore.
History
Clarmallagh barony was anciently the northernmost part of the Kingdom of Osraige (Ossory).
In the early 12th century, Finn Ua Caellaide ruled Magh Locha (Clarmallagh) separately from the rest of Ossory.
It is referred to in the topographical poem Tuilleadh feasa ar Éirinn óigh (Giolla na Naomh Ó hUidhrín, d. 1420):
<poem>I Muiġ Laċa na learg teÓ Faoláin, fearḋa an fíneMór an dúthaiġ as díol dáiḃDo lín futha Ó Faoláin</poem>
("In Magh Lacha of the warm hill slopes is Ó Faolain of manly tribe; Extensive is the district due to them, which the Ó Faolains have filled.")[5]
Clarmallagh was formerly a part of the Upper Ossory barony, established by 1657; in 1842 it was divided into three cantreds: Upper Woods, Clandonagh and Clarmallagh.
List of settlements
Below is a list of settlements in Clarmallagh barony:
