What’s in a name?

The Clogheenmilcon Fen/Eanach Chloichín Míolchon
‘A hundred- acre wildlife spectacle in Cork City’

  • The name Clogheenmilcon has been anglicised as was common with all Irish placenames, to make them easier for the English to read, but as a result gives no indication as to the meaning.
  • The Irish translation (which is as always, rooted in the landscape), is Chloichín Míolchon and according to The Parish Histories & Place Names of West Cork by Bruno O’ Donoghue this may have two meanings.
  • Chloichin Ui Mhaol Chaoin translated as ‘Mulqueen’s little stone house or shelter’.
  • Chloichin an Mhaoil Con translated as ‘little stoney place of the mythical hound’.
  • Also known locally as the ‘Blarney Bog’, it isn’t actually a bog at all! Although both bogs & fens are considered peatlands, fens are typically fed by a steady source of ground water whereas bogs are usually enclosed depressions filled by rainwater.