Galmoy is a barony

Barony (Ireland)

In Ireland, a barony is a historical subdivision of a county. They were created, like the counties, in the centuries after the Norman invasion, and were analogous to the hundreds into which the counties of England were divided. In early use they were also called cantreds...

 in County Kilkenny

County Kilkenny

County Kilkenny is a county in Ireland. It is part of the South-East Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the city of Kilkenny. The territory of the county was the core part of the ancient Irish Kingdom of Osraige which in turn was the core of the Diocese of...

, Ireland

Republic of Ireland

Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

. It had been established by 1672. A barony is an historical geographical unit of land and Galmoy is one of 11 baronies that make up the county. While it is named after the village of Galmoy

Galmoy

Galmoy is a village in the barony of Galmoy, County Kilkenny in the southeastern part of the midlands of Ireland.-See also:*List of towns and villages in Ireland*Galmoy Mine...

, today the chief town of the barony is Urlingford

Urlingford

Urlingford is a town in the barony of Galmoy, County Kilkenny, Ireland.The town lies on the R639. The M8 motorway runs just west of the town, from which both Urlingford and nearby Johnstown are accessed via junction four. Urlingford is a bus hub, with major operator JJ Kavanagh and Sons based there...

. It lies at the north-western corner of the county between Fassadinin to the east(whose chief town is Castlecomer

Castlecomer

Castlecomer is a town in the barony of Fassadinin, County Kilkenny in Ireland.The Irish name for the town translates to "The castle at the confluence of the rivers"; the "rivers" refers to the rivers Deen, Brocagh and Clohogue while the "castle" refers to the castle built by the Normans in 1171...

), and Crannagh to the south (whose chief town is Freshford). It is surrounded on two sides by counties Tipperary to the west and Laois to the north. The M8

M8 motorway (Ireland)

The M8 motorway is an inter-urban motorway in Ireland, which forms part of the road from the capital - Dublin - to Cork city. The 149 km motorway commences in the townland of Aghaboe, County Laois and runs through the counties of Kilkenny, North Tipperary, South Tipperary and Limerick,...

 Dublin/Cork motorway bisects the barony. It is situated 121 kilometres (75.2 mi) from Dublin city and 131 kilometres (81.4 mi) from Cork

Cork (city)

Cork is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the island of Ireland's third most populous city. It is the principal city and administrative centre of County Cork and the largest city in the province of Munster. Cork has a population of 119,418, while the addition of the suburban...

 city. It is currently administered by Kilkenny County Council

Kilkenny County Council

Kilkenny County council is the local authority for County Kilkenny in Ireland. The council is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. The county council has 26 elected members...

.

History

Galmoy was once part of the ancient Gaelic

Gaelic Ireland

Gaelic Ireland is the name given to the period when a Gaelic political order existed in Ireland. The order continued to exist after the arrival of the Anglo-Normans until about 1607 AD...

 Kingdom of Osraige

Kingdom of Osraige

The Kingdom of Osraighe , anglicized as Ossory, was an ancient kingdom of Ireland. It formed the easternmost part of the kingdom and province of Munster until the middle of the 9th century, after which it attached itself to Leinster...

.
The main landholders in the barony were the Butlers

Butler dynasty

Butler dynasty refers to the several branches of the Butler family that has its origins in the Cambro-Norman family that participated in the Norman invasion of Ireland in the 12th century. Variant spellings include le Boteler and le Botiller. The surname has its origins in the hereditary office of...

. The Viscount Galmoye peers were descended from the 10th Earl of Ormond (see Piers Butler, 3rd Viscount Galmoye

Piers Butler, 3rd Viscount Galmoye

Piers Butler, 3rd Viscount Galmoye, otherwise Viscount Galmoy, was an Anglo-Irish nobleman. He was descended from the 10th Earl of Ormond...

).

List of civil parishes

Legal context

Baronies were created after the Norman invasion of Ireland

Norman Invasion of Ireland

The Norman invasion of Ireland was a two-stage process, which began on 1 May 1169 when a force of loosely associated Norman knights landed near Bannow, County Wexford...

 as subdivisions of counties and were used for administration. While baronies continue to be officially defined units, they have been administratively obsolete since 1898. However, they continue to be used in land registration and specification such as in planning permissions. In many cases, a barony corresponds to an earlier Gaelic

Gaels

The Gaels or Goidels are speakers of one of the Goidelic Celtic languages: Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx. Goidelic speech originated in Ireland and subsequently spread to western and northern Scotland and the Isle of Man....

túath which had submitted to the Crown.

External links

• Placenames Database of Ireland Source given is "Ordnance survey".