Easkey
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Easky Iascaigh
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| Village | |
St James R.C. Church
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 Easky
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| Coordinates: 54°17′19″N 8°57′42″W / 54.2886°N 8.9617°WCoordinates: 54°17′19″N 8°57′42″W / 54.2886°N 8.9617°W | |
| Country | Ireland |
| Province | Connacht |
| County | County Sligo |
| Elevation | 1 m (3 ft) |
| Population (2006) | |
| • Urban | 240 |
| • Rural | 1,233 |
| Time zone | WET (UTC+0) |
| • Summer (DST) | IST (WEST) (UTC-1) |
| Irish Grid Reference | G374381 |
Easky or Easkey (Irish: Iascaigh, meaning "abounding in fish") is a village in County Sligo, Ireland. It is on the Atlantic coast, 26 miles from Sligo and 15 miles from Ballina, County Mayo. The village name derives from the Irish language term for fish ("iasc") and "Iascaigh" literally means "abounding in fish", due to the Easky River that lies adjacent to the village itself. Easky, as a parish, was originally called "Imleach Iseal". The area is a popular tourist destination due to its scenery and water sport options. Easky is a designated area on Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way tourist route.
The parish of Easky is part of the barony of Tireragh. Tireragh is a corruption of Tír Fhíacrach Múaidhe in Irish, meaning "the land of Fiachra of the Moy". This tuath was founded by the Uí Fiachrach Muaidhe, who were, themselves, a branch of the Uí Fiachrach dynasty of Connachta.
Easky was originally named "Imleach Iseal/Isil" which means the "low imleach", or "low land verging on the water". The first settlements in the area seem to have taken residence in Castletown, a townland that exists to the west of the present-day village. Geologists have become increasingly interested in the rugged coastline around Easky, as it holds fossil structures that date back for millions of years.
In John O'Donovan's textbook The Genealogies, Tribes and Customs of Hy-Fiachrach, commonly called O'Dowd's Country, it is documented that a man called Maoldubh, a son of Fiachra Ealgach (the son of King Daithi), was born and bred in Easky and established a fort in the area called "Dun Maoilduibh".
In O'Donovan's book, Easky is also mentioned through the following reference: "To Iasca, of the land of the white-blossomed apple-trees, Belongs the O'Mailduns of high renown." This is a reference to a powerful clan known – in modern parlance – as the O'Muldoons, a surname that is virtually non-existent in the area today. They held the "mansion seat" in Castletown and were defenders of the area at large.
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