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Table 1—Some contrasts between the fair plans and the printed OS map in the labelling of features on Valentia Island, Co. Kerry (NAI OS 105B/604/1,2). Grid reference As shown on the OS fair plans, 1842 As shown on the printed OS map, 1846 042077 The Foot, KNIGHTS TOWN Knight’s Town 040077 Traagwaan Strand Trabaun 040077 Harbert R[oc]k called in Irish Corrig-a Hourrahan Harbour Rock 040077 Traag na Irungu Tranaluinge 040075 Hibernian School School 040075 Khaalaan [Local name in Ballyhearny East; not included on printed OS] 036073 Dheeshgurth Dysert 035073 For t Cromwell’s Fort/Old Watch Tower (in ruins) 035073 ‘Clighnakartie Village’ ‘Clynacartan’ 035073 Cleeggluin Cliff Cleggum Cliff 033072 Cuas Dhearmuidtha Cove/Dermod’s Cave Coosdermoda 033072 Cushderridd [Not named on printed OS] 033073 Brayhead Signal Tower Bray Head Signal Tower (in ruins) 033073 Ne Berhabwee Rocks Bearhaboy Rocks 034075 CrucKauna Dtha Ghrean (Hill of the Two Suns) Knockaunadagrean Note: Grid references are taken from the Osi 1:50,000 Sheet 83, and identify the south-west corner of the kilometre square in which the named feature is located. Capitalisations and word spacings are as they appear on the plans. eliminated; for example, near Ballyfin, Queen’s County (now Co. Laois), two pubs, the Harrow and the Plough, are shown and named on the fair plan but not on the printed map (Fig. 1). The recording of public houses had not been a requirement in the original instructions to surveyors and appears to have been followed very inconsistently. With patchy recording, omission was probably the only choice, but there was perhaps also a more general issue regarding the appropriateness of including small drinking places that were very different to the English inn. Across County Westmeath around 40 public houses are recorded on the fair plans, yet only one, ‘the Pigeons’, a Below: Fig. 3—Part of the Foilhomerrum Bay area near Bray Head on Valentia Island, Co. Kerry, as depicted on the fair plan of 1842 (left, NAI OS 105 B 604.1) and on the engraved and printed version of the six-inch map (right), published in 1846. The fair plan has a less standardised orthography and appears more sensitive to the cadence of spoken Irish. On the printed map, the Bray Head signal tower is described as being in ruins. cruciform building in the townland of Cloghannagarragh near the border with County Longford, makes it onto the printed map. Its inclusion is very much linked to its being in the ambit of Auburn, the ‘deserted village’ that two generations earlier had been celebrated in a famous poem by Oliver Goldsmith (1726–74). The location of Auburn has been much debated, but the fair plans show that the 1830s OS was only too willing to identify it with County Westmeath. The result was that various elements of the former ‘village’ (construed by the OS as a rather dispersed entity) were identified on the six-inch maps. ‘Goldsmith’s Residence’ and ‘Goldsmith’s Tree’, both in the townland of Lissoy, made it to the 16 Autumn 2024
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Right: Fig. 4—Part of the area near Bray Head on Valentia Island, Co. Kerry, as depicted on the fair plan of 1842 (top, NAI OS 105 B 604.1) and on the engraved and printed version of the sixinch map (bottom), published in 1846. The fair plan has a less standardised orthography and appears more sensitive to Irish-language nomenclature. On the printed map, the Bray Head signal tower is described as being in ruins. ORDNANCE SURVEY printed map. However, other features from the poem are shown on the fair plans and are listed there under the heading ‘Reminiscences of Goldsmith’s deserted village’. It is on the fair plans that identifications appear for the never-failing brook, the busy mill, the site of the hawthorn bush, the pool, the blossomed furze of Thamrower and the decent church. There too the ‘spreading tree’ is shown beside the Pigeons (i.e. at a different location to the ‘Goldsmith’s Tree’ in Lissoy, which is shown on both the fair plan and the printed map) (Fig. 2). At least in some areas, it seems that the content of the final printed map sometimes involved significant amendments to the fair plan draft, with an editing that could see both reductions and, less frequently, additions. It is also evident that a significant standardisation of placename spellings was applied, to such an extent that the place-names might no longer be indicative of how the surveyors had heard them. On Valentia Island, Co. Kerry, for example, the fair plan uses ‘Dheeshurth’, which is presumably as it was spoken, whereas on the printed map the name is changed to ‘Dysert’ (Figs 3 and 4). Valentia Island is a particularly informative example of the extent to which the fair plans and printed map can diverge. As with other parts of County Kerry, there was a four-year interval, 1842 to 1846, between the making of the fair plans and the production of the printed map sheets. As a result, there seems to have been a need for some sort of revision to the plans to take account of new developments on the ground. At the eastern end of the island, the small village planned twelve years earlier by Alexander Nimmo was in the process of being renamed ‘Knightstown’ in 1842 (the earlier name ‘The Foot’ is crossed out on the fair plan). Only the new name appears in 1846, along with the names of two streets. At the western end of the island, Bray Head signal tower has had ‘in ruins’ added by 1846, whilst the ‘fort’ at Foilhomurrum Bay is ‘Cromwell’s fort’ in 1846. As Table 1 tries to indicate, however, these are just examples from a much wider range of adjustments to Valentia names that could involve radical standardisation and respelling, as well as the elimination of some (but not all) non-townland locality names (e.g. Khalaan and Craw, but not Imlagh, Crush or Dysert). Other examples could be cited besides those listed. What makes Valentia especially interesting is that the spellings on the fair plans appear to show sensitivity to Irish-language sounds and that they may record features and names omitted from the printed map. Autumn 2024 17

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Table 1—Some contrasts between the fair plans and the printed OS map in the labelling of features on Valentia Island, Co. Kerry (NAI OS 105B/604/1,2).

Grid reference As shown on the OS fair plans, 1842 As shown on the printed OS map, 1846 042077 The Foot, KNIGHTS TOWN Knight’s Town 040077 Traagwaan Strand Trabaun 040077 Harbert R[oc]k called in Irish Corrig-a Hourrahan Harbour Rock 040077 Traag na Irungu Tranaluinge 040075 Hibernian School School 040075 Khaalaan [Local name in Ballyhearny East; not included on printed OS] 036073 Dheeshgurth Dysert 035073 For t Cromwell’s Fort/Old Watch Tower (in ruins) 035073 ‘Clighnakartie Village’ ‘Clynacartan’ 035073 Cleeggluin Cliff Cleggum Cliff 033072 Cuas Dhearmuidtha Cove/Dermod’s Cave Coosdermoda 033072 Cushderridd [Not named on printed OS] 033073 Brayhead Signal Tower Bray Head Signal Tower (in ruins) 033073 Ne Berhabwee Rocks Bearhaboy Rocks 034075 CrucKauna Dtha Ghrean (Hill of the Two Suns) Knockaunadagrean Note: Grid references are taken from the Osi 1:50,000 Sheet 83, and identify the south-west corner of the kilometre square in which the named feature is located. Capitalisations and word spacings are as they appear on the plans.

eliminated; for example, near Ballyfin, Queen’s County (now Co. Laois), two pubs, the Harrow and the Plough, are shown and named on the fair plan but not on the printed map (Fig. 1). The recording of public houses had not been a requirement in the original instructions to surveyors and appears to have been followed very inconsistently. With patchy recording, omission was probably the only choice, but there was perhaps also a more general issue regarding the appropriateness of including small drinking places that were very different to the English inn.

Across County Westmeath around 40 public houses are recorded on the fair plans, yet only one, ‘the Pigeons’, a

Below: Fig. 3—Part of the Foilhomerrum Bay area near Bray Head on Valentia Island, Co. Kerry, as depicted on the fair plan of 1842 (left, NAI OS 105 B 604.1) and on the engraved and printed version of the six-inch map (right), published in 1846. The fair plan has a less standardised orthography and appears more sensitive to the cadence of spoken Irish. On the printed map, the Bray Head signal tower is described as being in ruins.

cruciform building in the townland of Cloghannagarragh near the border with County Longford, makes it onto the printed map. Its inclusion is very much linked to its being in the ambit of Auburn, the ‘deserted village’ that two generations earlier had been celebrated in a famous poem by Oliver Goldsmith (1726–74). The location of Auburn has been much debated, but the fair plans show that the 1830s OS was only too willing to identify it with County Westmeath. The result was that various elements of the former ‘village’ (construed by the OS as a rather dispersed entity) were identified on the six-inch maps. ‘Goldsmith’s Residence’ and ‘Goldsmith’s Tree’, both in the townland of Lissoy, made it to the

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Autumn 2024

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