THE TOWNLAND OF MARLACOO BEG

The townland of Marlacoo Beg is in the parish of Mullaghbrack in Armagh County. It is labelled number 33 on the map.

The townland was described in 1838 in the Ordnance Survey Memoirs:

"Mills in Marlacoo
"Flax mill, situated in the townland of Marlacoo, is j the property of Robert Boyd. The wheel is 10 feet in diameter and 3 feet in breadth. It is a breast wheel and machinery of wood, built 1837.
"Flax mill, situated in the townland of Marlacoo a short distance west of the above and belongs also to Robert Boyd. The wheel is 16 feet in diameter I and 3 feet in breadth, the machinery of wood.
"Corn mill, situated in the townland of Marlacoo, the property of Arthur Quin. The wheel is 16 feet I in diameter and 4 feet in breadth. It is a breast wheel." (Ordnance Survey Memoirs 1835-38)

The Environment and Heritage Service Sites and Monuments Record (2002) notes the following in this townland:

Marlacoo Lake crannog of the Early Christian Period.
SMR NO: ARM 013:015
Grid Ref: H98604480
Townland: MARLACOO BEG
Sitename: MARLACOO LAKE, MAGHERLOCOW, MAGHARELOGHCOE, MAHERLACOO, MAGHIRLECOW
Condition: No visible remains
Although there are now No visible remains, a number of historical sources suggest that there was a crannog in Marlacoo Lake, and that it was of some significance in the campaigns around Armagh in the late Sixteenth Centuryand Early Seventeenth Century. In 1964, 3 upright piles could be seen projecting 2-3ft above the water level at the grid reference given, and it is possible that they belong to the monument.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
1. CALENDAR OF STATE PAPERS, IRELAND 1592-6, 204 & 1608-10, 541
2. J. R. S. A. I., XVI, 1883-4, 432
3. PSAMNI, 1940, 68

Rath of the Early Christian Period.
SMR NO: ARM 013:019
Grid Ref: H99144417
Townland: MARLACOO BEG
Sitename: LISDOO
Condition: some remains
On top of a small eminence, this is a poorly preserved site consisting of a roughly circular platform 36.5m diam., and raised c.0.9m above the surrounding ground. It is preserved at N & E by recent hedge boundaries and here there are the remains of a low perimeter bank c.2.1m wide & 0.6m above the interior. Earlier reports mention a re-cut ditch 2.3m wide x 0.9 m deep, but this is now very overgrown. The remaining portion of the perimeter is marked by a very slight scarp, almost completely ploughed away.

Fortification of uncertain period
SMR NO: ARM 013:033
Grid Ref: H9844
Townland: MARLACOO BEG
Edited Type: Fortification (unlocated)
Condition: Unknown
Not precisely located.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
1. PATERSON, T. G. F. NOTES, Vol. 135

The Public Record Office in Belfast lists the following in its Geographical Index for this townland: D.958 (Rental of lands.); D.958 (Encumbered estates court rental of lands, property of Robert Boyd.); D.1201/1 (Encumbered estates rental, etc.); OS/6/2/13/1 (Surveyed 1834-35. Engraved 1835.); OS/6/2/13/2 (Surveyed 1834-35. Revised 1860. Engraved 1863 (Stat file copy).); OS/6/2/13/3 (Surveyed 1834-35. Revised 1905-06. Published 1930.); OS/6/2/13/4 (Surveyed 1905-06. Revised 1954-55. Levelled 1888 and 1892 and 1902, 1905-1906. Levels part revised 1948. Published 1958. (2 copies).); VAL/1B/231 (1st valuation records.); VAL/12B/11/3A, VAL/12B/11/3B, VAL/12B/11/3C, VAL/12B/11/3D, VAL/12B/11/3E (Valuation annual revision list.); VAL/2B/2/29 (Griffith valuation list.).

H989446

In the accompanying recording, Primrose Wilson describes her home, Marlacoo House.

Use the audio controller to listen to this talk, given in 2003.