placenamesDrumeague
Droim Éag
The three-faced Corleck Head was found in Drumeague around 1855. Local investigation brought the carving to national attention, while another prehistoric object from the townland acquired a second life as a working tool.
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
- Droim Éag · Irish · main form · validated name
- Drumeague · English · main form
Place & story
A three-faced carving
The Corleck Head, now in the National Museum of Ireland, was found in Drumeague around 1855. The museum's account describes three faces with prominent eyes, broad noses and narrow mouths, one pierced by a small circular hole. Another hole in the base may have secured the carving on a support. Although usually associated with ancient religious practice, its precise original setting and purpose remain matters of interpretation. [2]
Thomas Barron’s investigation
Local historian Thomas Barron brought the three-faced head to the National Museum's attention in 1937 and investigated traditions surrounding its discovery. The museum's account links it with other carvings found locally, including a bearded bust later incorporated into a barn at Corraghy. Barron interpreted the group as evidence of a shrine on Drumeague Hill. That interpretation helps explain the importance attached to the finds, rather than establishing the shrine's form or ceremonies as known facts. [2]
A prehistoric stone turned into a hammer
A perforated Neolithic stone macehead from Drumeague had a different later history. Archaeologist Marion Dowd's 2018 study cites a letter sent to the National Museum in 1967, recalling that the object had been kept in a stable for as long as the writer's father remembered. Around 1901 a boy removed it from the stable wall, fitted a wooden handle and used it as a mason's hammer. The account documents practical reuse of a prehistoric object centuries after its manufacture. [3]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Cavan
- Barony
- Clankee
- Civil parish
- Knockbride
- Coordinates
- 53.96216, -6.98498
- Logainm ID
- 1412202 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Drumeague. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Carved stone head, Drumeague, Corleck, Co. Cavan: museum account · National Museum of Ireland account reproduced by Bailieborough.com
- Bewitched by an Elf Dart: Fairy Archaeology, Folk Magic and Traditional Medicine in Ireland,2018, p467and fig12 · Marion Dowd, Cambridge Archaeological Journal
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2026-08-24. How this page was prepared.