Pioneering project reveals wealth of field names and traditions in county

The ground-breaking Meath Field Names Project is the first of its kind for an entire county in Ireland, and has had a huge voluntary input into it. The project is being funded by Meath Partnership through the Leader programme with matching funds from the FBD Trust. Many other agencies are also assisting the project including Meath County Council and County Library Service, Meath IFA, Meath Heritage Centre, Meath Volunteer Centre, Meath Archaeological and Historical Society, several private and business sponsors and hundreds of volunteers. There are over 500 volunteers helping with the project. The volunteers find the work sociable and enjoyable and lots of cups of tea are had in the course of the work! Landowners and farmers love to talk about their fields, they appreciate very much that the 'old' field names are being recorded. The project would like to sincerely thank the people who have contributed so far for their co-operation and support as without their help it could not be done. There will be several outcomes from the project including a written report, a database linked to mapping software, original material archived in the library, articles in historical journals and a public launch event. The material will have a vast range of uses for both local historians, farmers, Irish scholars, genealogists and academic researchers. The template developed to carry out the project in Meath is likely to be used by other counties in the future. Two of the most popular field names are 'The Meadow' and 'The Bottoms'. Sometimes a field might be simply referred to as 'The Meadow' but often the name has other descriptions included - a little sample of some of these are 'Barrack Meadow', 'Castle Meadow', 'Skane Meadow', 'Micko's Meadow', 'Ass's Meadow', 'Meadow of Tobar Anthony' and 'Yellow Meadow'. 'The Bottoms' is another field name widely used on its own, but also often with other descriptive information. 'Flaggery Bottoms', 'The Lough Bottom', 'Christy's Bottom', 'Curran's Bottom' and 'The Shooting Bottom' are just a few samples. Indeed a field name 'Maud's Bottom' raised a few smiles! One of the most interesting names that crops up all around the county is 'Slang' or 'The Slang' (sometimes spelled the Shlang). This usually refers to a strip of land, often marshy and often near a river. Research to date indicates that this is a Hiberno English word that originated in the West of England. Fortunately Meath still has an abundance of Fields with old Forts. These fields often bear names linked to the presence of the Fort. Names like 'Fort Field', 'The Lios', 'The Mound', 'Moat Field', 'Raheen', 'Moteen' abound. There are also more localised names like 'Lisnacrois', 'Hazel Fort', 'Sallow Fort', 'White's Fort' and 'Wake Island'. Many fields are called after previous owners. It could be an owner 10 years ago or 100 years ago. This is a nice tradition and can give important information for genealogy research. In many cases the family name may have died out in the area. Nicknames In times gone by, nicknames were commonly used, a tradition that has declined a lot in Meath in recent times. Where former owners were known by a nickname this often features in the field name. Fields names like Bammer's, Mire's, The Jockey's, Gong's Field and many, many others all come from previous owner's nicknames. The Major's, The Rake's and the Mockey Shalvey's are other colourful names the have arisen. Linked to their shape, triangular shaped fields often have special names. These can range from the obvious 'The Triangle' to 'The Handkerchief' and best of all 'The Smoothing Iron'. An important finding has been a small range of particular field names that only occur in certain parts of the county. 'The Craft' is a field name that only seems to occur in the south of the county (Ballivor, Longwood, Enfield and Dunboyne areas). This name is usually associated with a small field close to the yard, what might be called a 'paddock' in other areas. The origin of this name is not known for certain, it seems likely that it comes from the word 'Croft', an enclosed field or small field of unknown etymology now most familiar in Scotland. 'Kesh' is a field name that seems to only occur in the northern part of the county. It seems to indicate a stream crossing or a field that had a stream crossing in years gone by. The project has been advised that Kesh is almost certainly from the Irish word Ceis 'wattled causeway' or wickerwork causeway. It can be a temporary bridge made of branches over a drain or wet patch in a bog. 'The Haggard' crops up regularly as a field name. This is almost always an area adjacent to the farm yard or what once was a farm yard. It is thought that this word may have a Scandanavian origin. Traditionally this was an enclosed area on a farm for stacking hay, grain or other fodder, or manure. Since the start of the survey there has been a great interest in farm field names derived from Irish. An unexpected finding of the survey to date has been the quite frequent references to flax growing in Meath in times gone by. Tobacco growing also gets several mentions in field names and notes around the county. It is usually linked to Randalstown Estate near Navan. Lime kilns were a regular feature in Meath fields and give their name to many fields. An interesting feature that has been identified in many fields is what is known as a 'Benchmark' or 'Sapper's Mark'. This is a cut, chiselled into stone and resembles a crow's foot shape. They can be seen on old stone buildings, gate posts, and bridges. These are old Ordnance Survey indications of altitude / elevation, the name derives from the angle iron which was fitted into the horizontal cut to give a 'bench' or support for a leveling staff. These were put in place in the 1800's and many have stood the test of time very well, although as older buildings and structures deteriorate they are probably a feature that is in decline. Sheep passes, sheep walks and sheep gaps, openings in a stone wall that allows sheep to pass or move from one field to another without allowing cattle through, seem to be limited to fields in the greater Oldcastle area. The prevalence and popularity of hunting in Meath is also very evident from the information and field names gathered. There are fox coverts and several 'Decoy Woods'. There is also the unusual feature of the 'Hunting Gate' which seems to be in decline. This is a narrow gate, about three to four feet wide that allowed the riders with the hunt to move from one farm to the next. Some field names and descriptions throw up interesting language and words not used much anymore. A few incidences of - "The field Fornint / Forenth the Door" have arisen, this field name refers to the field in front of the house / door. Mearing / Mearning / Mearn are also words that crop up in field names and descriptions. Most farmers and older rural people will know the meaning of these terms. The field or ditch mearing the neighbours is the field that joins their farm. There are lots of sporting references in field names including references to football, hurling, cricket and polo. Previous uses Many field names refer to current and previous field uses - names like 'The Night Field', 'The Turnip Field', 'The Bulls Paddock', 'Fattening Park' and 'Long Meadow', 'The Drinking Hole Field'. Of course the fields that are or were part of large estates also produce a wealth of other historical information with features such as ice houses, old windmills, walled gardens, pigeon houses, mausoleums, herd's houses, orchards and many more. 35 walled gardens or old walled garden areas have been identified. Lots of folklore has been given relating to fields including stray sods, fairy lore and cures associated with holy wells. Fields have been identified with a lone whitethorn bush. It was believed to be unlucky to remove a lone whitethorn bush. Some farmers still have this belief and allow the bushes to stay despite the inconvenience caused to modern farming and machinery. The abundance of specialist jobs that people worked at on farms and in rural areas in years gone by are also highlighted in field names and their descriptions. There is mention of people who worked as cattle drovers, herds, ploughmen, harness makers, nailers, thatchers, threshers, blacksmiths and tailors. There are lots of mention of abundant wildlife in Meath fields and their field names. It can be seen that many fields with Mass paths also have stone stiles. Fields with Mass paths and what it is thought were Mass rocks have been identified. Lots of examples of fields with 'forge made riveted iron gates' have been highlighted. Some local historians can identify the forge where the gate was made by the style of the gate. These gates are in decline, usually they are just too narrow for modern machinery. There are hundreds of well fields, fields where there were wells in the past and in some cases still have wells in use. Many other man made features have been identified that are not on the survey form list of tick boxes. These include ice houses, famine and wheat ridges or lazy beds as they are also sometimes known, Fulacht Fiadh, stone arches, a kneeling stone, a Síle na Gig sculpture, many old wells, graveyards, old windmills. When all the information is put on the project database it is possible to search in 'fields' within the database for a Keyword. This will be very useful for people doing specialist research in the future. The project now has records of almost 13,500 fields spread across about 460 townlands. This is being added to all the time. The project management want to have all areas of the county represented in the final results. Despite the generous support from funders to date, the gigantic scale of the project means it is costly to complete. The project is seeking additional sponsors at present. If you have any comments or would like to submit additional field names please contact (087) 207 7622 or joanfmullen@eircom.net.