placenamesCarra
Ceara
The Mayo barony preserves a history of divided lordship, inherited manors and family leases.
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
- Ceara · Irish · main form · validated name
- Carra · English · main form
Place & story
Carra and Clancowane
Hubert Thomas Knox's history of Mayo describes Carra's reorganisation after Richard de Burgo displaced the O'Connors in 1236. The territory was divided into two major fees, Carra and Clancowane. Knox associates the Carra grant with Adam Staunton or his son Philip, and links the family with Castlecarra and the small settlement remembered in the name Burriscarra. [2]
An inherited manor
The later descent of the manor followed family inheritance rather than a simple sequence of conquests. Knox records Adam Staunton's death in 1299 and the division of his estates among five daughters. Carra ultimately went to Nesta. By 1325, Nesta and her husband Fromund Le Brun had transferred the manor to John, Earl of Louth, marking another change in its ownership. [2]
A lease across three lives
A deed catalogued by the University of Galway Archives offers a later view of property holding within the barony. Dated 13 May 1837, it concerns lands, houses and goods associated with the Semple family of Turlough. The catalogue traces an earlier lease of June 1792 from Charles L. Fitzgerald to Mary Semple's father, running for the lives of Mary and her brothers John and James. Family relationships thus formed part of the lease's practical structure. [3]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Carra. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- The History of the County of Mayo to the Close of the Sixteenth Century, chapter XXXI, The Barony of Carra, printed page 287 · Hubert Thomas Knox, 1908
- Assignment of property in Barony of Carra, UGA LE/LE40/3/105 · University of Galway Archives
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2026-09-19. How this page was prepared.