Gortnaculla and Kilmacduagh

I am researching an ancestor, Catherine Joyce who was born in Gortnaculla. I have a memoir of her written by her daughter and from that, I have some questions:

1) What is the distance from Gortnaculla to Kilmacduagh

2) In the memoir, it refers to the church of St. Mary's at Kilmacduagh that was burned in a fire and with it the Joyce records. Is the date of that fire known?

3) The memoir refers to Lough Dabh. Is that familiar to someone?

4) The most impossible: The memoir reads "Colman, whose vaults victoried near your Galway whose shrine your childhood knees climbed step by step bleeding to the top "cause the old folks did it". Any idea to where at what this refers?

Thank you.

Kathy Bowling
Kentucky, USA

IrelandXO member

9 Mar 2015

4 replies

There are two different land divisions named Kilmacduagh in Co. Galway, the first is a civil parish and the second is a townland within the same civil parish. Gortnacullia townland is located immediately adjacent to Kilmacduagh townland, and to the south. See here (the red line is the boundary between the two townlands)

There's a small lake, 'Lough Duff', located to the south of Gortnacullia townland, that could be the one you mention. The name might be a corruption of Lough Dubh in Irish - i.e. the Black Lake

The climb sounds like a reference to a Pilgrimage like those to Croagh Patrick, but presumably somewhere local to this south Galway area..

shanew147IrelandXO Volunteer

9 Mar 2015

Kathy:

I was unable to locate anything about a fire at St. Marys. I did find some sites with some background on St. Colman.

Roger McDonnell

http://www.earlychristianireland.org/Counties/galway/kilmacduagh/

http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/75046.htm

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

9 Mar 2015

This link might give some clues about yor 4th question - Pilgrimage Itinerary for Ireland to Visit the Holy Sites in the Life of St. Colman Mac Duagh

The entry for Kilmacduagh Civil parish in Lewis 1837, might be of interest. He just mentions two RC chapels in the parish at that time - the one in the town of Gort and a thatched chapel at Taernevin, which is located south west of Gort

shanew147IrelandXO Volunteer

9 Mar 2015

Hi . My family home is located in Gortnacullia (Gortnakella) beside the Joyce land holding. Relatives of the Joyce's still live there..

mikelinnane11

11 Apr 2020

Gortnaculla and Kilmacduagh

4 replies

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