Drumconrath Parish

Aodh Mac Domhnaill

Aodh Mac Domhnaill
Poet and Philosopher
1802 – 1867
Aodh Mac Domhnaill was born in 1802 in Lower Drumgill, Co. Meath. His name is variously translated as McDonnell or McDaniel. We Know very little about his family or about his early life. His ancestors had come originally from County Louth and from some letters we know that his father’s name was Seamus MacDomhnaill. When we made enquiries from some of the older residents in the area, nobody could recall having heard about him in their youth. However, Rose Markey of Cloughrea, can vividly recall that her father often spoke about an old couple called McDaniel that lived in the Drumgil area when he was a child in the 1870’s. They were brother and sister and the
lady’s name was Margaret McDaniel. They lived in an old house near the road just below where Tom Duff now lives in New Park. The ruined walls of this house are still visible and the gable end appears to be of mud which would fit with that era. Rose Markey says that they were considered educated people at the time and used to read a lot. We feel that it is quite likely that Hugh Mac Domhnaill was a member of this family and indeed this old couple could have been his sister and brother. Unfortunately, we have not been able to confirm this beyond all doubt. There was also a McDonnell family living near Summerhill, Dromconrath at that time but we feel that the house near New Park is
more likely to have been his home. There is a field in Rooskey called the McDaniel’s field, which is near to the Carrick Road.
Drumgill is derived from the Irish word, Druim Ghaill which means the ridge of the foreigner and is situated in the west part of the parish along the road to Meath Hill and Kingscourt. In the Ordnance Survey for 1835/36, Lower Drumgill is described as ” an area containing 332 acres, 2 roods and 34
perches, statute measure, mainly cultivated. It is the property of the Hon. And Rev. E. Taylor and is let at rents of between 30 to 40 shillings per Irish acre. There are 15 acres of marsh and in the south part is a standing stone and in the south east part is an ancient fort”. When we look a t the census for 1841 we find that there were twenty three houses in Lower Drumgill with a population of 112 people. By 1851 there were only ten houses and a population of 73 people-this significant change was obviously related to the great famine in the late 1840’s.
Hugh was baptized here in Drumconrath in 1802. A t that time the church in Drumconrath was at the other end of the village on a lane called Chapel Hill. This church was situated just above Ita Kane’s house and some of the old walls and stones can still be seen there today. The present church was not erected until 1833, when Rev. Patrick Sheridan was Parish Priest. There was also a thatched church in Balnavoran but this was closed down in 1843 and replaced by the church in Meath Hill. At the time of Hugh’s baptism, Rev. Philip Mulligan was Parish Priest. He had come to Drumconrath in 1794 and remained until 1809, when he was replaced by Fr. John Hackett who stayed until 1811. During Hugh’s youth and early manhood, the Parish Priest here was Rev. Patrick Sheridan and the parochial house then was at Drumbride House. The present parochial house was not built until 1862.

We know little about Hugh’s formal education. It is likely that he attended one of the local hedge schools that were common at that time. They were called Hedge Schools because they were held outdoor under hedges when education was suppressed in the 17th and 18th Centuries. However,
when Hugh was at school age, the laws against education were less strictly enforced and school was usually taught in a cabin, a barn or a church, but they continued to be called Hedge Schools. When Dr. Plunkett did his visitation in 1788 there were two schools in the parish. In 1824 there were four schools in the parish, one in Balnavoran where Edward Smith held school in the chapel, one in Barley Hill and two schools in Drumconrath. One of these schools was a free school held in a house given by Mr. Francis Singleton and had forty-five pupils. The other was a pay school and was held in the chapel. This school had 109 pupils and the teacher was paid by subscription from the parishioners. In
1835, we know that there were hedge schools at Lower Drumgill, Newstone, Balnavoran, Meath Hill, and Barley Hill. We could speculate that Mac Domhnaill may have taught in one or more of these schools a t that time. The National Schools Act came in 1831 but things did not get moving in Drum-
conrath until the 1840’s. Fr. O’Brien erected a school adjoining the church and it opened on 1st February, 1848. This school remained in use until 1911 when Fr. Geraghty built a new school – the building which is now the Parochal Hall. This original school, built in 1848 was unfortunately demol-
ished in 1973. In Meath Hill following local subscriptions a school was built and opened in October 1854 and this replaced the hedge schools in that area.


Hugh appears to have got a good education especially in relation to the times in which he was growing up. We know little about his youth but we have firm evidence that Hugh was involved in Bible teaching in the late 1820’s in the Meath/Cavan area. This Bible teaching was to play an important part in Hugh’s life and needs further explanation. In 1818, a Bible teaching Society
was set up in Ireland, under the aegis of the established church. The true aim of the Society was “the instruction of the native Irish in their own language with the view of leading them to and assisting them in the reading of the Bible.” The long term aim was that many of these people might be led to the Protestant faith but this aim was kept in the background. The Irish Society was introduced to Kingscourt by the Rev. Robert Winning in 1823 and for many years, Kingscourt was the headquarters of Proselytism in this region. In 1826, a free school, subsidised by the Irish Society was held in a poor cabin in Carrickleck and it appears fairly certain that Mac Domhnaill taught at that school in 1826/27. These schools would assemble on Sundays and holidays when working men and women would read the bible under the direction of their teacher. People who were literate in the Irish language were engaged as salaried teachers at £10 per year, among them Hugh and also Peadar Galligan
from Moynalty. No pressure was put on these teachers to change their religion and at first the Catholic Church did not disapprove of the Bible teaching schools. However, as the true aims of these schools became apparent, the Catholic clergy did launch a strong attack against them. The Kingscourt Revolutions were drawn up in September 1827 and signed by 135 teachers in an attempt to sort out the difficulties and reassure the Catholic Clergy. However, severe condemnation of the Society and its teachers continued especially from Fr. Kiernan of Moynalty and Fr. Halpin of Nobber and soon the activities of the Bible society became subdued in the North Meath area.


It is interesting to note that Irish was widely spoken in this area in the 18th century and in the first half of the 19th century. This area of North Meath also produced a great number of notable poets and writers during that time. Apart from Mac Domhnaill, there was also Peadar Galligan and Fr. Paul
O’Brien from Moynalty, Tadg and Sean O’Neachtain from Nobber, Seamus Dall Mac Cuarta and Paddy Reilly from the Ballyhoe area. Many of these are forgotten by the passage of time but they have made a significant contribution to Irish literature.

Meanwhile, during the late 1820’s, Hugh found himself a wife – Brigid Roe from Ballybaile near Ardee. They were married on the 7th February, 1827 at “the Bog of Ardee” and a record of their marriage is in the Ardee Parish Records. We do not know where they lived, but Brigid died in 1836 at
the young age of thirty-four. She was buried with her family in Ballapousta. There is a headstone there from that period belonging to the Roe family, but she is not mentioned by name on it. Hugh and Brigid had one daughter called Anna. Hugh’s friend Peadar O’Gealacain from Moynalty has written a very fine poem lamenting the death of Brigid Roe. In the poem he mentions Drumgil and Rooskey.


After his wife’s death in 1836, Hugh left this area and spent the next twenty years in County Antrim, mostly in Belfast. He again was actively involved in Bible teaching in the Glens of Antrim and became an inspector of the Bible Schools in that area. However, in the 1840’s the Bible schools were
again being strongly denounced by the Catholic Bishop of Down and Connor and soon the schools ceased to function.

Researched and Compiled by Kathleen McArdle, “Brookville”, Drumconrath. Source: Faith History of Drumconrath – Meath Hill.