placenamesKnockalough
Cnoc an Locha
Knockalough’s lake preserves an island castle associated with the MacMahons, while local history recalls race meetings that drew crowds from across West Clare.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- Cnoc an Locha · Irish · main form · validated name
- Knockalough · English · main form
Place & story
A tower on the lake
Knockalough Castle occupies a walled island in the lake east of Kilmihil. Writing in the early twentieth century, antiquarian Thomas Johnson Westropp described a substantial tower fragment among the island’s trees. He suggested that the island might earlier have been a crannog, or lake dwelling. That remains an interpretation of the site, rather than a securely dated origin for the castle. [2]
The MacMahon estate
Westropp traced the property through a settlement made in 1621 by Thomas, son of Murtagh MacMahon, for himself, his son Murtagh and the latter’s wife More and their descendants. In 1641 its holders included Murtagh MacMahon, John MacNamara and John O’Gillahinane. Confiscation followed in 1652, and the lands were sold in June 1676 to a group of purchasers. The island ruin thus belongs to a wider history of family estates and seventeenth-century dispossession. [2]
Race day at Knockalough
In the early 1900s, race meetings made Knockalough a gathering place for a much wider district. Clare County Library’s local history records spectators, hawkers and traders arriving from across West Clare. The meetings brought an unusually large crowd into the townland, adding a commercial and social occasion to the sporting event. [3]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Clare
- Barony
- Clonderalaw
- Civil parish
- Kilmihil
- Within
- Knockalough
- Coordinates
- 52.71135, -9.27264 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 1412562 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Knockalough. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Antiquities Around Kilmihil,1904–05 · Thomas Johnson Westropp
- Kilmihil: Places of Interest · Clare County Library
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.