Uí Lochlainn

The Uí Lochlainn,^[1] also known as the Ó Lochlainn family,^[2] were a leading kindred in the Burren region of County Clare.

The Uí Lochlainn were a branch of the Corcu Mruad.^[3] In Irish their surname was Ua Lochlainn and Ó Lochlainn.^[4] Forms of the personal name Lochlainn first appear on record in the tenth century; the earliest known bearer being Lochlaind mac Maíl Shechnaill, heir of the Corcu Mruad, whose death is noted in 983.^[5]

In the sixteenth century, the family's principal seat was situated in the Gragans, at a tower house near the site of the later Gregans Castle.^[6] The Uí Lochlainn chieftains lost autonomy in the seventeenth century, although later descendants of the chiefs continued to live in the heart of the family's ancestral lands until twentieth century.^[7]

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