Askamore History and Heritage
Askamore, the big moor or marsh, and its companion Askabeg, the little moor or marsh, lie under the western slopes of Sliabh Bhuí, a peak of some 420m (1369 ft) in the central area of north Wexford.
Askamore gives its name to an area of seventeen townlands which make up the Roman Catholic curacy in the parish of Kilrush. There are now approx 270 inhabited dwelling in this area of fertile rolling land, traditionally devoted to a mixture of tillage crops and grass lands.
The area is served by a network of small roads intersecting the area between the main Carnew-Gorey road running west to east, and the Carnew-Ferns road running east-south-east under Sliabh Bhuí and Ballybeg.
It was MacMurrough-Kavanagh country for many centuries until the clan was finally driven from their Borris Castle stronghold after the Cromwellian invasion of 1649-1650.
In the Civil Survey taken soon after the Cromwellian conquest, the townlands of the area are mostly detailed under the Parish of Carnew, which was the civil administration of the time. Proprietors listed as of 1640 were Briene Kavanagh, Henry Kenny, Mr. Clebroke and Nicho Loftus.
The Townland Names of Askamore (with thanks to Fr. S. de Vál)
Aska Beg / Aska More: the little / big marsh or bog
Ballyconran: O’Conaráin’s homestead or town
Ballyellis: Ellis homestead
Ballynancoran: Bealach an Corann (?) possibly the way or road of the weir
Ballytarsna: cross-town
Bolinrush: Buaile an Rois – The cattle enclosure or milking place of the wood
Brideswell: Brigid’s Well from the Irish Tobar Bhríde
Burrow: An Coinigéar: the rabbit warren
Castlewhite: Caisleán an Fhaoitigh: White’s Castle, from the family of that name
Drummond: Dromainn, a ridge
Dunishal: An Dún Íseal, the low fort
Kiltilihane: Coill tSaileacháin(?): the wood of the willow herb, or possiblye the wood of the willow or sally tree
Knocknamota: Cnoc na Móta: the hill of the embankments of mounds
Knochshaunfin: Cnoc Sheáin Fhinn: Fair-haired Seán’s hill
Money: Muine: a thicket or shrubbery
Motabower: An Móta Bodhar: the deaf moat or mound, possibly deaf meaning hollow-sounding
Park: An Pháirc
Heritage and Features of Interest locally
Brideswell Cemetery
The “Blue School”
1798
