From the Birth of Christ to the coming of St. Patrick .
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33 AD
The province of Olnemacht was then divided in three, Gamaradii, Tuatha-taidhen and Fir Craibii was the name of the area that included our parish.Fergus of the Fir Craibii being the ancestor of most of the people then living in this area.
100 AD
King Conn is credited with having constructed great highways from Tara to Ulster, Munster and Connacht.
200 AD +
The name Olnemacht was changed to Connacht, from the Milesian Tribe named Connachta, who settled here. Those tribes were the Conmaicne, the Ciarraighe and the Corcamogha, all descendants of Conn, brother of the ancestor-deity Eogan. They settled over the old tribes. In our area we find:The Conmaicne of Cuil Toladh in the baronies of Kilmaine and Ross, Shrule being included in their territories.The Conmaicne Mara, it became Conemara,The Conmaicne Dunamoir, Dunmore.O’Talcharain was a chieftain of the Conmaicne Cuile and is said to have resided near Kilmaine. However his name does not appear in later times and it is most likely that the clan became extinct at an early date.The legend of Naoise and Deirdre.A legend of the Ulster cycle with a connection with the Kilmaine barony including Shrule parish. As it is a very long story and most of it concerns Ulster we will give only the main lines.At the birth of Deirdre it was professed that she would marry a king and cause the death of many Ulstermen.
Warriors present at her father’s house would have killed her but for king Connor, a friend of her father, who decided to bring her up in an isolated place and marry her as soon as she is of age.As she was coming of age she eloped with Naoise, a warrior, to Scotland.After many years king Connor send Fergus McRoy, a man of influence and friend of Naoise’s family, with the message that all was for- given and that they could come back to Ulster.
According to custom of the time Fergus as emissary and he and his clan would be responsible for Naoise and Deirdre’s safety.As they landed on the shore of Ulster one of the king’s men had a message for Fergus McRoy to go somewhere else. Fergus gave his protégés to the charge of his two sons and left. When the group arrived to Emain Macha, the king’s house, the king was having a feast with his warriors and could not received them, they settled for the night in a nearby lodging house.
During the night the king’s men attacked them. One of Fergus’s son changed sides in exchange for land, the other was killed; all of Fergus and Naoise’s followers were also killed. Naoise and his two brothers were captured and beheaded in front of the king. Deirdre was wedded to Connor; she died of sorrows within the year. When Fergus McRoy returned to Emain Macha and found one of his sons a traitor, the other dead and his protégés massacred. He promised the king that he would take revenge with fire and sword and he left for Connacht, with him went members of his clan and of Naoise and Deidre’s clan, also many warriors sickened by the king’s action did join them.
In Connacht they offered their services to Queen Maeve. The Queen’s forces being so strengthened she made alliance with the king of Leinster and attacked Ulster, this is the cattle raid of Quelgny that brought down the house of Ulster and caused the death of Cuchulain. According to tradition after the raid on Ulster Fergus McRoy and his followers settled in Conmaicne Cuile, including what is now Shrule parish. For many years Fergus was a lover of Queen Maeve and when the Queen died she was first buried on Knockmaa,later her remain were removed to Sligo.
300 AD +
Brian Orbsen is King of Connacht, the same that gave his name to Lough Corrib, ie: Lough Orbsen or Lough Orbs
350 AD +
The Ui Briuin, also known as the Muintir Murchadha, move into Magh Seola (the area between Caherlistrane and Galway, South of Shrule parish) from Roscommon, driving the original inhabitants across Lough Corrib. They traced their ancestry back to Brian Orbsen, later the royal family of the clan took the surname of O’Flaherty.