KilmaCduagh

There is a farm house nearby that sells a small book with the history of Kilmacduagh and the O'Shaugnessy's.

According to legend, Saint Colman MacDuagh was walking through the woods of the Burren when his girdle fell to the ground. Taking this as a sign, he built his monastery on that spot.

MacDuagh was an abbot-bishop, son of the Irish chieftain, Duac. He lived as a hermit at Arranmore and Burren, in County Clare, Ireland. Made a bishop against his will, he founded a monastery at Kilmacduagh, on landgiven by King Guaire of Connaught. Prominent branches of the dynasty held the hereditary ecclesiastical offices of Kilmacduagh. The lands were the responsibility of the O’Heynes, while the relics of St. Colmán –  his crozier and his girdle that could only be worn by the chaste – were placed in the care of the O’Shaughnessys.

 

kil-first element in many Celtic place names, meaning "cell (of a hermit); church; burial place," from Gaelic and Irish -cil, from cill, gradational variant of ceall "cell, church, burial place," from Latin cella (see cell).

mac-casual, generic term of address for a man, 1928, from Irish and Gaelic mac, a common element in Scottish and Irish names (literally "son of;" see Mac-); hence used generally from 1650s for "a Celtic Irishman."