Clonduff Place-Names Folklore, part I

Dinnseanchas ó Chluain Daimh.
le Ciaràn Dunbar
Originally published in An tUltach

Tá Paróiste Chluain Daimh (Clonduff) suite i lár dheisceart Chontae an Dúin, ceantar mór atá ann faoi bhun na Beanna Boirche. De réir cosúlachta, mhair idir an Ghaeilge bheo agus logainmneacha Gaeilge ní b’fhaide sa cheantar seo ná i gceantar ar bith eile i gContae an Dúin. Bhí sé seo le rá ag Ó Mainnín (1993, L. 73) fá dtaobh de na logainmneacha.

…one is left with the impression that, of all the parishes in this part of the county, the original Irish forms of place-names lingered longest in Clonduff.

Luaigh Eymrs Evans ina leabhar, ‘Mourne Country’ a scríobh sé i 1951 Down (1989 L. 6), cainteoirí dúchais na Gaeilge thart ar Hilltown, sráidbhaile Chluain Daimh.

The Gaelic language could still be heard in Hilltown in the late nineteenth century, and the last native speakers, as distinct from those who have learnt Gaelic in the schools, have only recently died out.