Through History
What was happening, why it mattered, and how it touches the name: a timeline that keeps evidence and interpretation apart.
The story
c.1100–1250
A family of the Cenél Conaill
Woulfe counts the Uí Bhaoighill among the principal families of the Cenél Conaill, the kindred that gave Tír Chonaill its name, and of the same stock as the O’Donnells and O’Dohertys. That is genealogical tradition; it cannot be checked against contemporary sources.18,19Tradition
The Annals of Ulster give the earliest evidence that they were at the centre of Tír Chonaill’s politics: in 1160 an Ua Baighill burned a house over a king of Cenél Conaill, and in 1203 a king of Tír Chonaill was killed by “Muinter Baighill”. By 1206–07 they appear as vassals of the O’Donnells.8,35
1247–1360
Chiefs of the Three Tuaths
From 1247 to 1360 the Annals call an Ó Baoighill “chief of the Three Tuaths”. O’Donovan places the Three Tuaths in the north-west of the barony of Kilmacrenan. This is where the Uí Bhaoighill first appear as chiefs of a named territory.2,44
They fought and died alongside the O’Donnells: the Cammhuinealach Ó Baoighill fell with Melaghlin O’Donnell at the Erne in 1247, and Maol Ruanaidh and others of the name fell with Donnell Oge O’Donnell in 1281.2
“an Cammuinélach Ua Baoighill priomh-taoiseach na t-Trí t-Tuath”“the Cammhuinealach O’Boyle, the head Chieftain of the Three Tuathas”
1343–1588
Tír Ainmhireach and Boylagh
In 1343 Aindiles Ó Baoighill, “chief of Tir-Ainmirech”, was killed. O’Donovan took Tír Ainmhireach to be the old name of the barony of Boylagh. Woulfe and O’Donovan say the family moved there when the MacSweeneys took the Three Tuaths, but the Annals do not say when or how that happened.2,44,18Scholarly interpretation
From 1530 the territory’s own name is in the Annals: “Tanist of Boylagh”. This is where the family’s name became a place: Críoch Bhaoigheallach, “O’Boyle’s country”, which survives in the barony of Boylagh today.3,18,21
1440–1611
Castles and burial places
Ó Baoighill had a castle at Baile Uí Bhaoighill on the north shore of Donegal Bay, facing the O’Donnell seat. The Annals mention it in 1440, and in 1601 it was called “O’Boyle’s chief house”. The family’s chiefs were buried at Donegal “in the burial-place of their ancestors”.10,45,4
Niall Ó Baoighill was Bishop of Raphoe from 1591; he was living in Kiltooris castle in 1601, and was buried on Inishkeel in 1611.26,46,4
“a adhnacal co n-onoir i n-Dun na n-Gall i n-othairlighe a shinnsior”“and was interred with honour at Donegal, in the burial-place of his ancestors”
1592–1607
The Nine Years’ War
In the war that ended the Gaelic order in Ulster, the Uí Bhaoighill stood with the O’Donnells. In 1592 English soldiers held Baile Uí Bhaoighill until Red Hugh O’Donnell drove them out; in 1600 Teige Oge Ó Baoighill was mortally wounded on O’Donnell’s raid into Thomond.4,45
Teige Oge Ó Baoighill died in May 1607 near Baile Uí Bhaoighill. That September the Earls left Ireland, and the Gaelic world in which the Uí Bhaoighill had been chiefs came to an end.4,24
Woulfe says the O’Boyles spread through Ireland during the Elizabethan wars, so that by the close of the sixteenth century the name was found in nearly every county.18Scholarly interpretation
1610–1650
Plantation and the loss of land
Under the Plantation of Ulster, Boylagh was given to Scottish undertakers. O’Boyle’s widow, Honora Bourke, received only a life interest in about 400 acres, and her son Tirlagh was moved to Kilmacrenan, where he had built a bawn at Faugher by 1619.49,47
In the rising of 1641 Protestant witnesses named Tirlagh Roe O’Boyle among the rebels (allegations, not proven facts), and his lands were later forfeited.11,47
1791–1931
A name in the records, and abroad
The name survives in the administrative map: Boylagh became a barony of its own in 1791, and the Ordnance Survey of 1835 recorded Croich Uí Bhaoighill and Baile Uí Bhaoighill. In 1901 more than one in three people of the name in Ireland lived in Donegal, densest in the Rosses and Gweedore.12,1,13,57
Men of the name went to Scotland each season, to America and to London, as Domhnall and Pádraig Ó Baoighill told the Doegen scheme around 1930. In 1880 there were about 16,000 Boyles and O’Boyles in the United States, three in four of them born in Ireland or with an Irish-born parent.6,7,56
None of this means that every Boyle today descends from one line; there were often several unrelated families of the name, and some Boyle families in Scotland and England have other origins.18,59Scholarly interpretation
Lives and records
Timeline
Gaelic Tír Chonaill
1099Directly about the name
The first Ua Baighill in the Annals
The Annals of Ulster say that Caencomrac Ua Baighill took the bishopric of Armagh on Whit Sunday 1099; he died in 1106. It is the earliest mention of the surname found, but how he related to the Uí Bhaoighill of Tír Chonaill is not known.8
1160–1203Directly about the name
Among the Cenél Conaill
In 1160 Ua Canannáin, king of Cenél Conaill, was killed when Ua Baighill burned a house over him, according to the Annals of Ulster. In 1203 Domnall Carrach Ua Dochartaigh, king of Tír Chonaill, was killed by “Muinter Baighill”. The Uí Bhaoighill were already at the centre of Tír Chonaill’s politics.8
1193Directly about the name
Eochaidh Ó Baoighill
Eochaidh Ó Baoighill was killed by the Uí Fhiachrach, according to the Annals of Ulster. He is also the first of the name in the Annals of the Four Masters.8
c.1206–1207Directly about the name
Under the O’Donnells
In an early mention, Éccnechán O’Donnell raided “with his O’Boyle vassals”, according to the Dictionary of Irish Biography. From the start the Uí Bhaoighill appear as chiefs under the O’Donnell lordship of Tír Chonaill.35
1222Directly about the name
Tadhg Ó Baoighill and Mór
Tadhg Ó Baoighill died, “the Prosperity and Support of the North of Ireland”, a giver of jewels and riches to men of every art. The same year Mór, daughter of Ó Baoighill and wife of Amhlaoibh Ó Beolláin, died; the entry uses the form “inghean Uí Bhaoighill”.2
1247Directly about the name
Head chieftain of the Three Tuaths
Melaghlin O’Donnell was killed at the Erne fighting Maurice Fitzgerald, and with him “the Cammhuinealach (wry-necked) O’Boyle, the head Chieftain of the Three Tuathas”. It is the first time an Ó Baoighill is named as chief of a particular territory.2
1281Directly about the name
The battle of Disert-da-chrioch
When Donnell Oge O’Donnell was killed, several of the Uí Bhaoighill fell with him: Mulrony, Chief of the Three Tuathas; Kellagh son of Giolla-Brighde, famed for his generosity to the learned; and Andiles and his son Dowell.2
1343Directly about the name
Chief of Tír Ainmhireach
In a struggle for the O’Donnell lordship, Donnell Duv O’Boyle helped Aengus O’Donnell drive out Niall. At the battle of Achadh Mona, Aindiles O’Boyle, “chief of Tir-Ainmirech”, was killed with his son.2,34
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1440Directly about the name
The castle of Baile Uí Bhaoighill
A son of O’Donnell took the castle of Ballyboyle when he found it unguarded, and found “great spoils in money, apparel, and armour” there. O’Donnell took it again and gave it back to O’Boyle.10,45
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The sixteenth century
1530Directly about the name
Tanist of Boylagh
Conor Oge O’Boyle, “Tanist of Boylagh”, was killed on the Leacach on 6 January by the sons of O’Boyle himself. By now the territory’s name, Boylagh, appears in the Annals.3†
1532Directly about the name
Bean Uí Bhaoighill
Máire, daughter of Mac Suibhne of Fanad and wife of Ó Baoighill, died suddenly on 21 April after falling from her horse at the door of her own house. The entry shows the marriage ties between the Uí Bhaoighill and the MacSweeneys.3
1591Directly about the name
Buried at Donegal
Turlough Roe O’Boyle died at his own fortress. The Annals call him “the most distinguished man that had come of his tribe for a long time” and say he was buried with honour at Donegal, “in the burial-place of his ancestors”. That year Niall Ó Baoighill was appointed Bishop of Raphoe.4,26
1592Directly about the name
Soldiers at Baile Uí Bhaoighill
English soldiers quartered in the Donegal friary moved to Baile-Ui-Bhaoighill, “a castle on the borders of the harbour”, thinking themselves safe there. Red Hugh O’Donnell drove them out.4,45
1594–1603Background
The Nine Years’ War
The Nine Years’ War, the defeat at Kinsale in 1601 and the Flight of the Earls in 1607 ended the Gaelic order in Ulster. The Annals name Bishop Niall Ó Baoighill in 1597 as one of the two bishops then in the country.24,4
1600–1601Directly about the name
War and castles
On O’Donnell’s raid into Thomond in 1600, Teige Oge O’Boyle was mortally wounded by accident by O’Donnell’s own men, and was buried at Donegal. In 1601 a state paper called Ballyboyle “O’Boyle’s chief house”, and Bishop O’Boyle was living at Kiltooris.4,45,46
The seventeenth century
1607Directly about the name
Baile Uí Bhaoighill
On 3 May Teige Oge O’Boyle died at Druim Arc “near Baile-Ui-Bhaoighill” and was buried at Donegal. In the Annals his entry comes immediately before the Flight of the Earls.4
1611Directly about the name
The last bishop
Niall Ó Baoighill, Bishop of Raphoe, died at Gleann Eidhnighe on 6 February and was buried at Inishkeel. Donagh Mooney calls him the last bishop of Raphoe.4,5
1610–1619Directly about the name
The Plantation
The precinct of Boylagh was given to Scottish undertakers. Honora Bourke, the widow of O’Boyle, received only a life interest in about 400 acres. Her son Tirlagh was moved to Kilmacrenan with about 2,000 acres, and by 1619 had built a bawn and a stone house at Faugher.49,47
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1641Directly about the name
Myntro-iboill
An inquisition records the placename near Dungloe as Myntro-iboill: the oldest form logainm.ie gives for Croich Uí Bhaoill, “the gallows of Ó Baoill”.1
1641–1643Directly about the name
The 1641 depositions
In the rising of 1641, Protestant witnesses named “Tirlogh Roe o Boyle”, his son and his brother among the rebels. These are allegations by people who suffered in the war, not proven facts. O’Boyle’s lands at Faugher were later forfeited.11,47
1649Directly about the name
“A Donegal nobleman”
During the wars of the 1640s, Bishop Heber MacMahon and Turlough O’Boyle, “a Donegal nobleman”, signed articles of agreement with the royalists on 20 October 1649.36
1700–1900
1791Directly about the name
The barony of Boylagh
An Act of the Irish Parliament divided the barony of Boylagh and Banagh. The new barony of Boylagh took in Templecrone, Lettermacaward and part of Inishkeel: the territory’s name survives in the administrative map to this day.12
1835Directly about the name
The Ordnance Survey
Working for the Ordnance Survey of Ireland, John O’Donovan wrote Croich Uí Bhaoighill near Dungloe, and Baile Ui Bhaoighill, “O’Boyle’s town”, near Donegal. A local man named Patrick O’Boyle told the survey the name had been “corrupted to Ballyweel”.1,13
1890Directly about the name
273 births
273 births were registered under Boyle in Ireland in 1890, 189 of them in Ulster. In Donegal, Boyle was joint third among surnames, after Gallagher and Doherty, according to Robert Matheson’s report.58
Census and revival
1901–1911Directly about the name
One in three in Donegal
The censuses recorded about 11,800 people under the name, more than one in three of them in Donegal. In 1911, 107 people wrote the name in Irish, even though there was no Irish-language form.57,38
1923Directly about the name
Woulfe’s Irish Names and Surnames
Fr Patrick Woulfe published Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall, the reference work that gives the form Ó Baoighill, its meaning and an account of Críoch Bhaoigheallach.18
1926Directly about the name
The Free State census
In the first census of the Free State, and the first with a form in Irish, 168 people wrote the name in Irish, as Ó Baoighill, Ní Bhaoighill or Uí Bhaoighill. 143 of them lived in Donegal.57,37
1928–1931Directly about the name
Voices on disc
The Royal Irish Academy’s Doegen scheme recorded Domhnall Ó Baoighill of An Chlasaidh telling a tale and Pádraig Ó Baoighill of Leitir Catha singing. They can still be heard.6,7
1954Directly about the name
A thousand pages of stories
The Irish Folklore Commission collector Seán Ó hEochaidh began writing down the stories of Micí Sheáin Néill Ó Baoill in Rann na Feirste; in the end he took down more than a thousand pages.29
Sharing a surname does not by itself show a shared family line.