This post is more Properly a completely separate section from the original concept. The original postings were to record the history and origin of the "Bruen" name. I think that has been done comprehensively, and accurately. In the addition I subsequently added a section covering the Archaeological Study all Of the KILLBRAOIN site and and the KILLEASPUIGBROIN site. It should be understood that all of work here is only a small part of the studies I have done over a 50 year. Those studies we're on a very narrow area having to do with the location and history of the Bruens or the descendants of Bishop Bruen.also there is much detail in the Archaeological study that I wont repeat here Also some of the DNA data referred to here can be found at our FTDNA site(kit no 228829,password 111333
I am in fact very reluctant to adding to the name study the following material. The reason for my hesitance is the fact that the material I will presents is totally unorganized and haphazardly put together. My decision to do it is based on the fact that if I wait any longer to write an organized document it just won't happen. The nature of the material that I have to present also gives me an excuse for the disjointed and unorganized form. The following are snippets that I have collected from the study of thousands of sources of material, picking out small pieces in an attempt to provide a picture of the history of the area occupied by the Bruins that is the descendants of Bishop Bron. As I indicated in the name study there are actually really over 30 different spellings in "original source"documents of that name, that is the descendants of Bishop Broin. I will try to use the name Braoin in cases rather than the spelling or form in the source material.
Nothing that I present is an invention on my part, there are areas where I will speak of speculations on my part or others but I will always to identify them as that. Absent that designation you can assume that I have developed the material from source I have studied, you might expect that I would present a list other sources, however that list would simply be to large to organize at present in any case not be very helpful sense in many if not most of the cases one would have to read through hundreds of pages in order to find a single item that I have presented. I do have a library on my Google books account(which you should be able to access) which contains many somewhat esoteric books annals and articles and I may develop as an appendix a list of key books that can be found,some important ones are regrettably only in a limited number of libraries in Ireland or possibly(I cant remember clearly)in the main New York Public library.
That anybody will ever read this is the other reason that I am not too embarrassed at its format
Over the years I have made scribble very readable notes as I went through the many sources I mention. This is a is a selection from that material approximately 12 notebooks. Obviously I am selecting the material that I am most interested in recording in a place that someone who was interested in the subject would be able to find it.
LOCATIONS
I will collect here a number of comments how about locations and places where are the Bruins(the dictation software chooses that spelling) came to Live or have property. As I have indicated in the name study there are three places in the Roscommon and Sligo areas the descendants of The bishop had their homes and families. These are the areas around Rosses Point(and others north) ,Loc Key and French Park. Bruins still live in all of those areas however very few in French Park. The second and quite distinct Area is an area in West Meath where are the descendants Mac Rime who was sent as bishop to Corcaree there became Kings lords over area known as Brawny or Bregamahine, it is located in an area historically known as Treffia which was an area where the Ui Mac Uais of Airgialla(tribe associated with early Bruins and descendants of Maine so of Niall of the Nine Hostages) were in control. Brawny the Braoin area is located in Westmeath directly across Shannon River from Athlone. It is essentially co terminus with St. Mary's parish what diocese. This is well-established fact and this conclusion which I had speculated on early in my studies has been confirmed by several sources including the recent scholarly Book by the Oxford professor "Early Christian Ireland by Professor T.M.Charles-Edwards that I mentioned in an earlier post,
There where a number of locations and rivers with the Braoin name before O'Donovan miss translated or anglicized it to Breen.there are a number of books by Paul Walsh(The Place Names of West Meath among others) that cover this area in minute detail and could provide the basis for much speculation about sites related to the Braoins there.Notable attributed to the BRAOINS are sites of Garycastle and Cusan Castle
.Conclusive ,to me in regard to Brawney being Mac Rimes descendants is that DNA studies I am involved with (with others,see FTDNA account mentioned earlier0 show a very close relation of them with Bruen DNA (mine). Them being several individuals,historically from that area, by the name O,Bryan,and O.Brien(a spelling of Braoin that evolved in the West Meath area)
Also under the title of locations I should point out that there are several other confirmed location where are the Braoin name existed. I am somewhat uncertain about the connection or lack of connection that these families had with the other descendants of Bishop Bruen. In at least one case it is hard to believe that there wasn't a connection. This has to do in particular with Braoins in Loc Gealgosa.Loc Gealgosa is in western Mayo near the Bacs where one can find a river Bruin that runs into Loc Mask or Loc Conn,this family disappeared and the records consist of no more than mentioning them.There is another Family that was located in Meath in the district called Luigne again essentially nothing is known them other than they're being mentioned in some of the early documents.
I'm not sure that this is the best place to mention several other locations of interest, certainly it is important to note the existence and location of Ardabrone or Ardnabroin (aka Anaglass)this is a"village"near Skreen between Easky and Sligo and a clear Bruins location, some people have speculated that there the ruins there are of a castle in the area might have been a property belonging to Bishop Bruen's ancestors, but the castle part is pure speculation although there are many sites of forts and raths which must include a Bruen site especially if you accept that as it was said Icne was a leader in that area.See pictures in the Archaeology report for one of the larger ones in the Ardabrone area.
Rossbirn is another ,I am certain that this spelling is a corruption of Ross Broin a property given by the daughter of the local king at the time of her wedding,,close in time after Clarus McMillan was granted KILLBRYAN(lathach cille braoin) in 1237 by the McDermot king.
there also is an area known as Magh Broin(the area of Broin)it has been speculated(by others) that this is Killybrone which is also the site of a church by St Patrick near Foculot wood where he was a shepherd during his first period in Ireland
;which was the original home of MacFirbish the famous and reliable historian. and Area on western Sligo that makes it tempting to believe that it is in some way related to the Bruins however there is no information to expand on that point.There is also particularly Magherow an area(peninsula)just across the bay north of Rosses point.That land was given by a local big wig by the name of Marii and Cairbre the leader of that entire area later the barony of Carbury. to MaccRime and Bron an a church was built there by them on instruction from St.Patrick.No information at all is known about this beyond what i have said.
I am in fact very reluctant to adding to the name study the following material. The reason for my hesitance is the fact that the material I will presents is totally unorganized and haphazardly put together. My decision to do it is based on the fact that if I wait any longer to write an organized document it just won't happen. The nature of the material that I have to present also gives me an excuse for the disjointed and unorganized form. The following are snippets that I have collected from the study of thousands of sources of material, picking out small pieces in an attempt to provide a picture of the history of the area occupied by the Bruins that is the descendants of Bishop Bron. As I indicated in the name study there are actually really over 30 different spellings in "original source"documents of that name, that is the descendants of Bishop Broin. I will try to use the name Braoin in cases rather than the spelling or form in the source material.
Nothing that I present is an invention on my part, there are areas where I will speak of speculations on my part or others but I will always to identify them as that. Absent that designation you can assume that I have developed the material from source I have studied, you might expect that I would present a list other sources, however that list would simply be to large to organize at present in any case not be very helpful sense in many if not most of the cases one would have to read through hundreds of pages in order to find a single item that I have presented. I do have a library on my Google books account(which you should be able to access) which contains many somewhat esoteric books annals and articles and I may develop as an appendix a list of key books that can be found,some important ones are regrettably only in a limited number of libraries in Ireland or possibly(I cant remember clearly)in the main New York Public library.
That anybody will ever read this is the other reason that I am not too embarrassed at its format
Over the years I have made scribble very readable notes as I went through the many sources I mention. This is a is a selection from that material approximately 12 notebooks. Obviously I am selecting the material that I am most interested in recording in a place that someone who was interested in the subject would be able to find it.
LOCATIONS
I will collect here a number of comments how about locations and places where are the Bruins(the dictation software chooses that spelling) came to Live or have property. As I have indicated in the name study there are three places in the Roscommon and Sligo areas the descendants of The bishop had their homes and families. These are the areas around Rosses Point(and others north) ,Loc Key and French Park. Bruins still live in all of those areas however very few in French Park. The second and quite distinct Area is an area in West Meath where are the descendants Mac Rime who was sent as bishop to Corcaree there became Kings lords over area known as Brawny or Bregamahine, it is located in an area historically known as Treffia which was an area where the Ui Mac Uais of Airgialla(tribe associated with early Bruins and descendants of Maine so of Niall of the Nine Hostages) were in control. Brawny the Braoin area is located in Westmeath directly across Shannon River from Athlone. It is essentially co terminus with St. Mary's parish what diocese. This is well-established fact and this conclusion which I had speculated on early in my studies has been confirmed by several sources including the recent scholarly Book by the Oxford professor "Early Christian Ireland by Professor T.M.Charles-Edwards that I mentioned in an earlier post,
There where a number of locations and rivers with the Braoin name before O'Donovan miss translated or anglicized it to Breen.there are a number of books by Paul Walsh(The Place Names of West Meath among others) that cover this area in minute detail and could provide the basis for much speculation about sites related to the Braoins there.Notable attributed to the BRAOINS are sites of Garycastle and Cusan Castle
.Conclusive ,to me in regard to Brawney being Mac Rimes descendants is that DNA studies I am involved with (with others,see FTDNA account mentioned earlier0 show a very close relation of them with Bruen DNA (mine). Them being several individuals,historically from that area, by the name O,Bryan,and O.Brien(a spelling of Braoin that evolved in the West Meath area)
Also under the title of locations I should point out that there are several other confirmed location where are the Braoin name existed. I am somewhat uncertain about the connection or lack of connection that these families had with the other descendants of Bishop Bruen. In at least one case it is hard to believe that there wasn't a connection. This has to do in particular with Braoins in Loc Gealgosa.Loc Gealgosa is in western Mayo near the Bacs where one can find a river Bruin that runs into Loc Mask or Loc Conn,this family disappeared and the records consist of no more than mentioning them.There is another Family that was located in Meath in the district called Luigne again essentially nothing is known them other than they're being mentioned in some of the early documents.
I'm not sure that this is the best place to mention several other locations of interest, certainly it is important to note the existence and location of Ardabrone or Ardnabroin (aka Anaglass)this is a"village"near Skreen between Easky and Sligo and a clear Bruins location, some people have speculated that there the ruins there are of a castle in the area might have been a property belonging to Bishop Bruen's ancestors, but the castle part is pure speculation although there are many sites of forts and raths which must include a Bruen site especially if you accept that as it was said Icne was a leader in that area.See pictures in the Archaeology report for one of the larger ones in the Ardabrone area.
Rossbirn is another ,I am certain that this spelling is a corruption of Ross Broin a property given by the daughter of the local king at the time of her wedding,,close in time after Clarus McMillan was granted KILLBRYAN(lathach cille braoin) in 1237 by the McDermot king.
there also is an area known as Magh Broin(the area of Broin)it has been speculated(by others) that this is Killybrone which is also the site of a church by St Patrick near Foculot wood where he was a shepherd during his first period in Ireland
;which was the original home of MacFirbish the famous and reliable historian. and Area on western Sligo that makes it tempting to believe that it is in some way related to the Bruins however there is no information to expand on that point.There is also particularly Magherow an area(peninsula)just across the bay north of Rosses point.That land was given by a local big wig by the name of Marii and Cairbre the leader of that entire area later the barony of Carbury. to MaccRime and Bron an a church was built there by them on instruction from St.Patrick.No information at all is known about this beyond what i have said.
There are a large number of town lands whose names derive from a Bruen family name association.usually these end in “brone”. I don't think there is much point him listing them all, most of course are located in the area of Boyle and Sligo. However I should mention that there is also a significant number with the brone ending or breen in the series counties across our land north of Sligo and Roscommon. That is the Counties of Louth Monahan and Fermanagh. Those town-lands in that area together with DNA data on various tribes would indicate that the Bruins prior to ICNE and Bron were from that area most likely the town land of Trough on the edge North Monahan and Armagh.
Finally there is an area called ARD MAC RIME(the heights of MacRime) where there was battle in 794.I will write separately on the subject of Cluain O’Braoin(Cloonybrien) because of its centrality to the Bruens in the Loc Ce area and because it is one of the major questions that I am not satisfied about.
A total non sequitur but I am afraid I will forget it is that the Vikings raided Inis Murray Island and almost certainly Killeaspuigbroin,I doubt they got as far inland as Killbraoin,but some could speculate it was built to avoid further attacks .
I doubt it ,but one could speculate it was founded by the follows of St.Patrick to counter moves and establishments by St,Columba who had two establishments in the area"already?"they would be Assylin a little way up the Boyle river and Church Island" Eas Mac nErc ",in the year 530 on Loc Ce.
The second point in this interruption is there were several Major disasters in Ireland around the years 540 and also around 560.These were plagues and a climatic condition which was disaster-est to any agricultural or animal feed activities. This is important if we try to picture what Broins descendants were doing during these periods.The events and dates are recorded and confirmed by tree ring and ice core studies.
They were undoubtedly similar to the Krakatoa event though much bigger in scope.enough of the digression.
One might wounder what brought Broin and/or followers to Loc Ce and found lathrac cille Broin(Killbryan )and Cluainobraoin.Loc Ce was a hotbed of ecclesiastical activity with several holy people attempting to establish themselves and their followers there(see above). There was and there continued to be great competition between the followers of the various key people,in the case of Clonmacnoice and the Durrow group it actually lead to "war".
St.Partick's followers were among this group and probably the most aggressive.I speculate that Broins followers were sent to Loc Ce to counter and replace the Columba group that had established a monastery on Church Island.This was done by the establishment of Trinity Abbey on Trinity Island by theO.Praemonstratensians order (St.Norbet)
Continuing, the subject wish I had eluded to above involves Cluain O'Braoin which necessarily involves several other subjects ,specifically the questions about Dicull which will pull us into one of the interesting many "interesting" stories involved in Saint Patrick.
I will start with the question of the size of Clooneybrian it is currently a town-land in the Lock Key area It is my belief speculation that in fact Cloonybrien
was at one point much larger and encompassed Kill Brian. It is a fact that regardless of the meaning or simple translation of the word Irish word CLUAIN that is is 90% of the time the site of an Abbey or
Monastery. One can only conclude that one time there was an Abbey or Monastery there. This is supported by the fact that there was a castle or major building on the site of cloonybrien. In fact the famous Annals of Loc Ce were written in that building as late as the 1600's. So one can also only conclude that in fact at a very early time the Abbey itself no longer was functioning and ecclesiastical structure and organization was that of Killbryan. Careful study including ground penetrating radar Killbryan be site shows it to be significant ,well beyond this small ancient stone church currently existing there but would not seem to support it as the site of an Abbey or Monastery. I have run across a reference ,( I know longer can no longer locate )that said as I speculated that the area occupied by the original Cluain O'Braoin was much larger than the current town-land of that name. I am tempted to speculate that one very early point in time it covered the land from the current Clooney Brian all the way over to Kill Bryan which one make it essentially the land later known as Rockinghan, but it is speculation on my part.
One of the reasons that CluainO'Braoin is of interest is that several of the Marterologies contain a reference to a Dichul being of that place. I should point out that I can find no other place in Ireland in the histories or annals by that name I will allude in a moment to a possible modification of that
Colgan (one of the key experts working in 1600 in the Bollandist site in Belgium) in his Acta Sanctorum on ecclesiastical Ireland speculates on which of a large number of Dichulls this one could be without ever coming to a conclusion. What is of interest about this Dichul is that his existence at CluainO'Braoin would be one of the earliest references to are subject of the Bruins after the early mentions of Bron. My own guess from the list of possible Dichull's(a frequent name in early Irish annals) is that he would be from the period 600to 700AD.if he is not the Dichull who was referred to as a disciple of St.Patrick This is based on the a fore mentioned known dates of various Dichulls that are recorded'. I mentioned earlier a story about Saint Patrick involving Dichul(of Cluain O'Braoin?) the story is that Saint Patrick through his bell into a thicket and predicted that's someday someone will come along and retrieve. It was this that was supposedly Dicull who reportedly found it and took it to Louth when he became the Abbot there(that much is "fact"). Some confirmation or confusion could be generated by the fact that in Louth there is a church reportedly( a church not an Abbey!) call Cill Broin. This church is noted and written about how St. Bridget who was from that area and who as this story is told one evening was walking to avoid a suitor toward a Church that is known as Cill Broin as well as a different name.
that concludes the current discussion of CluainO'Braoin{the Abby of the Bruens}
THE AREA OF LOC CE AND KILLBRAOIN
Lock key and Killbraoin are obviously Central to the discussion of Bruins being the only site other than Killeaspuigbroin and Cluainbraoin historically recorded(ex the west Meath Brawney area).
Lock key was a sight of much ecclesiastical interest from the earliest times. St. Columba had established as I indicated earlier two sites around or in lock key. At some point ,unknown ,(so they could sail to Rome)the Church of the Bruins was established possibly as I indicated earlier in competition with St. Columba who had established his sites at a very early. Probably in the late 500's AD
The first recorded mention of Kill Bryan(apposed to Dicul at Cluainobraoin)is in the ANNALS OF LOC CE in the year 1237 where it is recorded at the local King Dermot gave to the Abbot Clarus McMillan "lathac cille braoin". McMillan was a very powerful Church person in the area and eventually among other things founded Trinity Island Abby or Monastery at that cite with the Order of Premonstratens in 1215 .He also put a group of Augustinians and Abby on church Island ,the site of the much earlier Columba foundation which probably went out of business as the followers of St.Patrick came to dominate the area
but back to the grant.The land is currently,approximately the current townland of Killbryan in the parish of Killbryan (in the Dioceses of Elphin.) The land started at the lakes edge (actually a small island Drummans Island off the land and went back what is now 6 town-lands including Carrowmore the site of a massive stone Rath or circular fort.
I am discouraged and embarrassed in making some these citations in the Boyle area here ,though my discovery very early of the grant of Killbraoin was key to my whole career on this subject.That embarrassment is because there is a book(a somewhat private publication by Drumlin Publications) which has massive detail information on the subjects of interest to me, there are no new discoveries for me and he draws on the same sources I have(however he did have access. to private documents of Mc Dermot's at Coolavin for detailed trans actions on land ownership)
but he has done a fantastic job in just the area I failed, in organizing and recording the detail.The Book is "The Mc Dermot's of Moylurg" a life long work of a man of that name who started to write when he retired but did not finish, a relative finished it. Embarrassed because by comparison it is a very professional job..It as usual has the usual mistakes and omissions as it pertains to the Bruens and is wholly focused on the Mc Dermot's but is utterly invaluable to anyone interested in this area.Unfortunately for me it did not get published until 30 years after I started my study.
One of the things this book supports is the is the importance of CluainO'Braoin at an earlier period being a major site including castles and a at substantial amount land belonging to the Thauniste(king in waiting) of Dermot Kingdom.That support comes from the "Composition of Connaught" written in the 1585 to record the re granting to the Irish of the lands Queen Elizabeth's troops secured by their military victory transcribed by Martin Freeman(i have a rare xerox copy of the document.
Killbryan parish has fascinated me for a number of reasons but before I get to that ,another short digression.It is a little known fact that every Dioceses in Ireland must have access to the sea(so they could sail to Rome!!).This will explain the odd shape of theses dioceses and The Dioceses of Elphin within which Killbryan exists is no exception.And this is particularly fortunate for us because in creating an outlet to the sea the dioceses lines had to be pushed up to the Sligo coast.In doing so it captured the are of Killeaspuigbroin and the areas where Bron's descendants lived so that when the rare and famous Census of the dioceses of Elprin was conducted and written it captured the recording of those Bruens.
Back to Killbryan,here also is a peculiar layout for a parish .Killbryan is the only parish that contains land or exists across a major lake.Killbryan exists as 6 town-lands(and a small island Drumans)on the south side of Loc Ce as well as a number of town lands(including Smutternagh)on the north side of the lake.In addition the key islands of Church and Trinity are also in Killbryan.But the oddity does not end there.it breaks off on the north side for several miles and then picks up to include Kilteishin
which at an early time had been a "summer?"residence of the Bishop.All of this (and much more I wont bore you with) to my mind shows,proves that Killbryan Church(or Cluain O'Braoin) site was at,least at one time , a major Ecclesiastical site and controlled by the "Abbots"independent of the "civil" authorities.Killbryan was also listed with the big ,major sites like Clonmacnoice and Boyle Abbey as places that were raided by in punishment by English forces .Sadly there are no records of the individuals there during the many years.When it became a small parish church there was a farther Duignan mentioned (1700's?)
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