Origins
Domhnal Uí Cléirigh, seventh by descent from Eoghan Uí Cléirigh who died in 1063, was forced from his ancestral lands in Hy Fiacrach Aidne (South Co Galway) and who had four sons; John “Sciamhach” (the Comely) had a son Cormac who travelled to Assaroe in Tír Connaill, was the ancestor of the Uí Cléirighs of Kilbarron. The second son Donal was the ancestor of the Uí Cléirighs of Tirawley in Co.Mayo. The third son Thomas was the ancestor of the Uí Cléirighs of Breffni (Co Cavan). The fourth son, Cormac was the ancestor of the Uí Cléirighs of Ossory or Kilkenny. Apart from this statement in Cú Coigcríche Uí Cléirigh’s Book of Genealogy, very little is known about this branch of the clan.
At that time the southern part of Kilkenny was under the control of the Norman Marshall family and later held by Theobald Fitzwalter Butler but the northern part still known as the old Gaelic name for the whole of Co Kilkenny, Ossraigh. This part was ruled by the Mac Giolla Páidraigs, still calling themselves as Kings of Ossraigh
In the Civil Survey of 1657 in which records the principle Irish families in each barony in Co Kilkenny, the only Barony with the surname “Cleary or Cleere” is that of Gowran with seven families recorded. The Barony of Gowran was granted to Theobald Fitzwalter Butler at the end of the 12th Century, The Butler family would later own most of Co Kilkenny as well as most of Co Tipperary as the Earls of Ormond..
Perhaps it was to this district that Cormac Uí Cleirigh travelled to at the end of the 14th Century but by the time Griffith’s Rate valuation compiled between 1846 and 1863 but took place in County Kilkenny in 1850, the majority of Cleary ratepayers, sixteen in total, were living in the barony of Kells situated in the south western part of the county (See Map). The Barony of Kells bounds County Tipperary and this may explain the predominance of the name there when Griffiths Survey took place in the county.
Kells Priory
