Fingal


Fingal is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is one of three successor counties to County Dublin, which was disestablished for administrative purposes in 1994. Its name is derived from the medieval territory of Scandinavian foreigners that settled in the area. Fingal County Council is the local authority for the county. In 2022 the population of the county was 330,506, making it the second most populated council in Dublin and the third most populous county in the state.

Geography and subdivisions

Fingal is one of three counties into which County Dublin was divided in 1994. Swords is the county town. The other large urban centre is Blanchardstown. Smaller towns include Balbriggan and Malahide. Suburban villages with extensive housing include Baldoyle, Castleknock, Howth, Lusk, Donabate, Portmarnock, Skerries. Small rural settlements exist in the northern and western parts of the county. The motto of the arms of Fingal reads meaning "Abundance of Land and Sea". The motto reflects the strong farming and fishing ties historically associated with the area. It also features a Viking longboat, which represents the arrival of the Norse in Fingal, where they became integrated with the existing Irish.
Fingal is bordered by County Meath to the north, by Kildare to the west and by Dublin city to the south. At the Strawberry Beds, the River Liffey separates the county from South Dublin.

Towns and villages

Fingal varies enormously in character, from densely populated suburban areas of the contiguous Dublin metropolitan region to remote rural villages and small, unpopulated agricultural townlands.
The northernmost parts of Ballymun, Santry and Finglas are also part of Fingal. Clonee, part of County Meath, has housing estates in its hinterland that merge into the estates of Ongar in western Fingal.

Baronies and civil parishes

The former county of Dublin was divided into nine baronies. The part of Fingal within County Dublin was in later centuries subdivided into the following administrative baronies: Balrothery West, Balrothery East, Nethercross, Castleknock and Coolock. While baronies continue to be officially defined units, they are no longer used for many administrative purposes. The last boundary change of a barony in Dublin was in 1842, when the barony of Balrothery was divided into Balrothery East and Balrothery West. Their official status is illustrated by Placenames Orders made since 2003, where official Irish names of baronies are listed under "Administrative units". The boundaries of Fingal do not respect the boundaries of the baronies. As a result, only three baronies are entirely contained in the county: Balrothery East, Balrothery West, and Nethercross. Parts of three baronies are also contained in the county: Castleknock, Coolock, and Newcastle.
In the case of Castleknock, most civil parishes of the barony are under the jurisdiction of Fingal County Council. Some of the eastern parishes are under the jurisdiction of Dublin City Council. The core of the civil parish of Finglas lies within Dublin City. There are two substantial exclaves of the parish proper that are located in Fingal.
In the case of Coolock, most civil parishes of the barony are in Dublin City. The parishes listed in the table below are located in Fingal.
Name in IrishName in EnglishArea in Acres
Baile DúillBaldoyle.450
Baile GhrífínBalgriffin.540
Binn ÉadairHowth.1772
Cionn SáileKinsaley.1339
ClochránCloghran.994
Mullach ÍdeMalahide.606
Port MearnógPortmarnock.1020
SordSwords.5
Teampall MhaighréideSt. Margaret's1140

In the case of Newcastle, most of the barony is situated south of the River Liffey and so is under the jurisdiction of South Dublin County Council. Six townlands are located north of the Liffey in the civil parish of Leixlip. Listed in the table below, they are part of Fingal.
Name in IrishName in EnglishArea in Acres
Coill AlainAllenswood210
–Coldblow279
Láithreach ConLaraghcon295
–Pass-If-You-Can88
Páirc San CaitríonaSaint Catherine's Park195
Baile an BhaspailighWestmanstown437

History

Terminology and etymology

The name "Fingal" derives from the medieval territory of Fine Gall, the Viking settlement north of Dublin. The Vikings referred to the hinterland of Dublin as Dyflinarskiri.
In Ireland, the usage of the word county nearly always comes before rather than after the county name; thus "County Clare" in Ireland as opposed to "Clare County" in Michigan, US. In the case of those counties created after 1994, they often drop the word county entirely, or use it after the name; internet search engines show many more uses of "Fingal" than of either "County Fingal" or "Fingal County". The local authority uses all three forms.
Fingallian is an extinct language, a hybrid of Old and Middle English and Old Norse, with Leinster Irish influences. It was spoken by the people of Fingal until the mid-19th century.
Fingal is within the part of the Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly, established in 2015, one of three such regional assemblies in the state. Within that, it is part of the Dublin strategic planning area.

Early Gaelic history

In the 2nd century AD, Ptolemy identified Eblana as the capital of a people called the Eblani. In later centuries the territory north of the river Liffey was known as Mide or Midhe, i.e. "the Kingdom of Meath". The west of this area was known as Teffia, and the east as Bregia. Bregia comprised five Gaelic triocha-cheds or the later baronies, and was ruled by the king at Tara. These princes, and various Gaelic chieftains, held sway over the area until the coming of the Vikings in the 8th century.

Vikings and Hiberno-Norse

By 841 AD a Scandinavian settlement had been established at Dublin; this was abandoned in 902, re-established in 917, and developed thereafter. It was so established by the 11th century that it was regarded even amongst the surrounding native Gaelic population as a minor kingdom ruled by Hiberno-Norse kings. The Norse Kingdom of Dublin stretched, at its greatest, from Drogheda to Arklow, and while mostly a thin strip of coastal land, from the Irish Sea westwards as far as Leixlip in the central part.
After the Battle of Clontarf, when High King Brian Boru curtailed the power of the Vikings in Ireland, the Norse-Irish Kingdom of Dublin continued, with its own bishop, part of the Westminster hierarchy rather than the Irish, though it gradually came under the influence of the Kings of Leinster. Diarmait Mac Murchada established himself there before his expulsion by the High King in 1166, a series of events that led to the area being invaded in the late 12th century, by the Cambro-Normans. This was to form part of the heartland of the area known as The Pale during the successive periods of rule by Anglo-Norman and the later kings of England.

After the Anglo-Norman invasion

Early Anglo-Norman grants

With the arrival of the Anglo/Cambro-Normans in 1169, the territory of the old Gaelic Kingdom of Meath was promised in around 1172 to Hugh de Lacy by King Henry II of England. At that time, Meath extended to most of the current county of Fingal, County Westmeath and part of County Kildare. Fingal was therefore implicitly included in the grant of "Meath" either as part of Meath proper or under the additional element of that grant "and for increase to the gift, all fees which he has or shall acquire about Dublin". This element of the grant related to his role as Bailiff and was copied into the Gormanston Register.
Strongbow was probably also assigned some fees within the royal demesne of Dublin, as in the case of Hugh de Lacy's custodianship of Dublin, in payment of his services. This appears evidenced by several grants which he made in his own name within the city to St. Mary's Abbey, and his foundation of a hospital of St. John of Jerusalem at Kilmainham. Therefore, both Strongbow and Hugh de Lacy exercised lordships within the royal demesne of Dublin.
In addition to Dublin city, the royal demesne itself also consisted of the royal manors of Crumlin, Esker, Newcastle, and Saggart, in the south-west of the county, and the royal demesnes of O Thee, O Brun, and O Kelly in the south-east of the county, which were rented from the Crown by Irish-speaking tenants. Over half of the land in the county of Dublin was granted to religious houses and priories, as well as archbishops and monasteries, and minor lay lords. In such a way too, an estate was given to the Irish chieftain MacGillamocholmog, who held sway over the territory of Cualann when the Anglo-Normans arrived.
De Lacy parcelled out most of this land to his vassals, who were to hold these lands from him, as he had held the Lordship of Meath from King Henry, by military tenure. D'Alton also provides a reference to the enumeration of these grants given in Hibernica, by Harris. Hugh de Lacy was appointed Viceroy in 1178, and again in 1181 after a brief period of royal disfavour.
By virtue of his grant of Meath, Hugh de Lacy was appointed a Palatine Count in that territory and divided it amongst his various vassals who were commonly called "De Lacy's Barons". These were: Hugh Tyrell, Baron of Castleknock; Jocelyn de Angulo, Baron of Navan and Ardbraccan; De Misset, Baron of Lune; Adam de Feypo, Baron Skryne; Fitz-Thomas, Baron of Kells; Hussey, Baron of Galtrim; Richard de Fleming, Baron Slane; Adam Dullard or Dollard, of Dullenvarty; Gilbert de Nugent, Baron Delvin and later Earl of Westmeath;Risteárd de Tiúit, Baron of Moyashell; Robert de Lacy's descendants, Barons of Rathwire; De Constantine, Baron of Kilbixey Petit, Baron of Mullingar; Meyler FitzHenry of Maghernan, Rathkenin, and Ardnocker. As Burke points out, to some of these there descended the De Genevilles, Lords of Meath; Mortimer, Earl of March ; the Plunkets, of Danish descent, Baron of Dunsany and of Killeen, and later Earl of Louth and Earl of Fingall ; the Prestons, Viscounts Gormanston and Viscount Tara, the Barnewalls, Baron Trimlestown and Viscount Barnewall; the Nettervilles, Barons of Dowth; the Bellews, Barons of Duleek; the Darcys of Platten, Barons of Navan; the Cusacks, Barons of Culmullin; the FitzEustaces, Baron Portlester. Some of these again were succeeded by the De Baths of Athcarn, the Dowdalls of Athlumny, the Cruises, the Drakes of Drake Rath, and others.