page_title: Ó hAnluain
section_title: O'Hanlon strongholds
hierarchical_section_title: Ó hAnluain / O'Hanlon strongholds
caption_attribution_description: Map of the baronies of County Armagh in Ireland; taken from Atlas and cyclopedia of Ireland, p.36
context_page_description: The Ó h-Anluain family was an agnatic extended family comprising one of a string of dynasts along the Ulster-Leinster border. Depending on the advantage to the sept, the named leader—The O'Hanlon—supported either the Earl of Tyrone or authorities within the English Pale. During the 15th century, ties were close with the famed Earls of Kildare. Frequently, members of the sept would be on either side of a rebellion. Some would be outlawed; others pardoned; some ending up on the winning side.
  The heart of "O'Hanlon's Countrie" was centered on south central Ulster, much of it being in what is now the Republic of Ireland. The first O'Hanlon on record is Flaithbheartach Ua h-Anluain, lord of Ui Niallain, whose murder in the year 983 AD is recorded in the Annals of the Four Masters.
  The modern version of the name is usually given as Hanlon or O'Hanlon, but there are many variants: Handlon, Handlan, Hanlan, Hanlen, Hanlin, Hanlyn etc. Occasionally some variants of the names Hanly, Hanley and Handly are also derived from Ó h-Anluain, although Hanly is usually the anglicised form of Ó h-Ainle, an ancient Roscommon sept.
context_section_description: Anciently, the O'Hanlons – when sitting as kings of Aithir – kept their residence, and the sept's assembly, at Loughgall (Loch gCál), north of Armagh city. Even after the sept moved east toward Loughgilly, Loughgall was retained as a summer residence. When Edmond Mortimer arrived in Ireland in 1380 as Lord Justice, the chief O'Hanlon was recorded as amongst the righdamhna (those legible to become a tanist, or heir-apparent, of an Irish kingdom) that were required to pay their court to him. The rock of Tanderagee rose to support the family's castle. Having secured the northern lowlands of County Armagh and the highlands approaching and surrounding the Ring of Gullion, the O'Hanlons located the chieftain's gateway strongholds on the approaches from Armagh and eastern Ulster in the north, and Dublin and the English Pale in the south."  The northern roads converged on the modern-day village of Tandragee; the approaches from Dublin and the English Pale had to force the Gap of the North, and the chieftain's stronghold adjacent to Forkill at Mullagh. The third stronghold, Mullaghglass, guarded the road north from the English frontier town of Newry.  Closer to the center of the O'Hanlon lands than Tanderagee and Forkill, Mullaghglass is also the easternmost edge of a tract of land stretching from the Newry vale to the Fews, passing Camlough lake and the northern slope of Sliab Gullion, to which the sept retreated after the fall of the Gaelic order.
  Despite surrender and regrant under her father, Queen Elizabeth I confiscated O’Hanlon territory in 1571, granting all of Orior to a Captain Thomas Chatterton. He was unable to found a settlement as required, and had his grant revoked, with Sir Eochaidh “Oghy” O’Hanlon of Tanderagee able to reassert control over south Armagh.
  After the Plantation of Ulster, Oliver St John (the Lord Deputy of Ireland) took over and rebuilt O'Hanlon Castle. During the Ulster Rebellion of 1641 the clan attempted to take back their former lands, however failed with the castle burnt down. Having passed out of the family it became known as Tandragee Castle and remained a ruin for 200 years, until it was completely rebuilt by the Comtes de Salis, and later the Dukes of Manchester.
caption: Orior, Upper and Lower, at left.
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