Uisce a’ Fhéir

Uisce a’ Fhéir is the name of a stream on the south side of Kippure, draining to the Liffey. So reported Eugene Curry for the Ordnance Survey in 1838 although the name was never published on any OS map, they having little interest in unenclosed mountainy land. Charles Thompson writes the name as Eskineir in the early 1900s. Liam Price was likely aware of the name but doesn’t appear to have investigated it. The name is not known locally nowadays, the last man who might have been familiar with it died in recent years.

I’ve weighed up the evidence for the names of the various brooks in this area and I think the most likely brook is that crossing the Military Road at the Liffey Head bridge. Uisce a’ Fhéir would mean something like ‘the water of the grass or grazing’ or ‘the grassy brook’ and if you look at the photo here, you’ll see this brook has a width swathe of grazing along its banks.

The other possibility is the brook further south which goes by the name ‘Meadow Brook’ as it has a wide strip of grazing in the bog to its north. However Uisce a’ Fhéir was grouped with two other brooks by both Curry & Thompson – the Tromán Mór and Tromán Ata and these three brooks prominently form the head waters of the Liffey. They coalesce into the Quarry Brook which then flow to the Liffey.