Sheep’s Head Shoreline Placenames Project
On the map below the collected names of the Sheep’s Head Shoreline project are shown. Names were collected from local people in the area, and audio recorded where possible. This list is a work in progress and any corrections or additions are welcome. Names were also collected from a number of sources, the OSI 6″ and 25″ maps, the Admiralty Nautical Charts, and Eamon Lankford’s Fieldnames of County Cork.
We would like to thank Tony McLoughlin, Frank Coughlan, Jerry Daly, Noel McCarthy, Jimmy & Liam Tobin, Thomas O’Donovan, Vera Neil, Dennis Holland, Charlie McCarthy, Michael Daly, Johnny Crowly, Frank Arundel, Johnny Crowley, Jim Baker, Pat O’Driscoll, Cathal Daly, James, Jerry and Timmy O’Mahony.
We would also like to thank Joe O’Driscoll and Helen Burke.
Special thanks to Colmán Ó Drisceoil for his help in translating names back into modern Irish.
This project is supported by Cork County Council and the Heritage Council under the County Heritage Plan Funding 2023.
How to use the map
The map has all the information we have collected and allows you to play audio if we have recorded it. There are different background maps that can be chosen, for example the Griffith's evaluation map. The last chosen map and the current one can be faded into each other using the bar on the bottom right, so that changes between the maps can be seen.
The details are of each placename can be viewed on the map as a popup.
Note that you can search the shoreline names and other features by clicking the magnifying glass icon.
Further Information
Dónall Mac Giolla Easpaig is a key figure in Irish Placenames branch of the government. A general overview of Irish placename policy can be found in his article "Placenames Policy and its Implementation". He also has an article outlined compound noun words, "Noun + noun compounds in Irish placenames".
An overview of the history of the Irish language is David Stifter's article Irish Language (historical linguistic overview).
The Irish names for different fish species can be found in G.P. Farran's book Local Irish Names of Fishes.
While not directly related to this project, you can read the Ordnance Survey Letters for Kerry from around 1841. Unfortunately this information is lost for Cork County, but exists for other counties (see here). At some point in the future a study of this document might reveal more information on placenames on Sheep's Head. The OSI have a new (2024) website with more information, but only focuses on the border counties at the moment: https://dri.ie/os200/spotlight/os200.