placenamesSkreen
An Scrín
The de Feipo grant linked Skryne with a network of settlements extending towards the Boyne.
The name
A reliable full-name meaning has not been established here. The recorded Irish and English forms are given without an unsupported translation.
Recorded forms
- An Scrín · Irish · main form
- Achall · Irish · main form · historical name
- Skreen · English · main form
Place & story
Adam de Feipo’s grant
Following the Anglo-Norman conquest, Hugh de Lacy granted Skryne to his knight Adam de Feipo. The Navan and District Historical Society's account describes the subsequent division of the territory into holdings for twenty followers. Its history also points to the grant's appearance in the medieval Song of Dermot and the Earl. Skryne therefore functioned as the centre of a wider lordship, rather than simply the hilltop settlement visible today. [2]
Athlumney and the river crossing
Athlumney was one of the manors within that territory. A charter from before 1194 identifies Amauri de Feipo the Big as its lord, holding from Adam. The motte beside the Boyne occupied a position suited to controlling a crossing, while the river marked the boundary with Navan barony. The historical society's archaeological account dates the earthwork broadly between 1173 and 1200, retaining uncertainty about its precise construction year. [3]
The lordship passes by marriage
The de Feipo family's tenure at Skryne continued until the late fourteenth century, when an heiress brought the lordship to the Marwards. They subsequently held the title of Baron of Skryne into the early modern period. This inheritance illustrates how a territory originally distributed through military service could pass through marriage, preserving a named lordship while changing the family responsible for its principal seat. [2]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Skreen. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Skryne: Norman grant and succession · Navan and District Historical Society
- Athlumney: a short history and motte analysis by Noel E. French, 2005 · Navan and District Historical Society; Noel E. French
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2017-12-01. How this page was prepared.