From Ballyboyle to Corglass... a Boyle family's story
Part 1 - Ballyboyle - our ancient ancestors
Donegal or Tyrconnell or Tír Chonaill?
Nowadays, when we speak of the traditional homeland of the Boyles, we call it County Donegal. But this was a creation of the late 16th century and is a combination of two districts that were distinct in the medieval and early modern period. They take their names from Conall and Eoghain (Owen), the mythical sons of Niall of the Nine Hostages
For nearly all of the centuries that they existed as a distinct social and political group, the sept of Boyles would have said that they lived in Tír Chonaill, the Land of Conall. This was the lordship of the O’Donnells, and occupied by them and their subject septs, principally the Mac Sweeneys, Gallaghers and Boyles.
Inishowen, the most northerly peninsula of the modern county, was originally occupied by the descendants of Eoghain, but since the 13th century by the Dohertys ( who, confusingly, claim descent from Conall, not Eoghain)
When the modern County Donegal was made a shire by order of the English Crown in 1585, the authorities at Dublin Castle formed the new county by amalgamating the old Kingdom of Tír Chonaill with the old Lordship of Inishowen. The county was named after Donegal, the principal town in the south of the county which was the base of the most powerful branch of the O’Donnells.
When Rory, Chief of the O’Donnells, submitted to the Crown in 1603 he was created Earl of Tyrconnell, an anglicised version of Tír Chonaill
The county was divided into baronies, with Inishowen retaining its identity as a barony, the others being Kilmacrenan, Boylagh, Tirhugh, Lifford and Portlough. (At various times, Boylagh was split into Boylagh and Banagh, Lifford and Portlough were amalgamated into Raphoe, and Inishowen and was split into East and West).
In this story, Tír Chonaill and Donegal are used interchangeably, since Inishowen is seldom relevant as the Boyles never had any significant presence there.