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Irish Family Name

Byrne

Ó Broin — “descendant of Bran, 'raven'”
“Certavi et vici” · I have fought and I have conquered — borne with the O'Byrne arms
Provincial colours of Leinster — this name has no clan tartan tradition and no single agreed coat of arms
Irish formÓ Broin
Historic titleLord of Ranelagh (Gabhal Raghnaill), Chief of the Name
HeartlandCo. Wicklow & the Wicklow mountains
RegionLeinster

Pushed out of Kildare into the Wicklow mountains after the Norman invasion, the O'Byrnes became one of the two great mountain clans harrying the Pale. Fiach Mac Hugh O'Byrne routed an English army at Glenmalure in 1580.

Ancestral seats

  • Ballinacor, Glenmalure, Co. Wicklow

Where to walk in their footsteps

Access, opening hours and admission change. We confirm every site before it goes into an itinerary.

Glenmalure, Co. Wicklow

Deep glen where Fiach Mac Hugh O'Byrne destroyed Lord Grey's army in 1580.

Glendalough, Co. Wicklow

OPW visitor centre open year-round; the monastic valley sat inside the O'Byrne lordship, though it is not their foundation.

Also recorded as

O'ByrneBeirneBurns

Travelling to Byrne country

Cashel Travel has arranged clan gatherings and heritage tours across Scotland and Ireland since the 1990s, including full gatherings for Clan Gordon, Hay, Keith, Lindsay, Hunter, Dunbar, Graham, Sutherland and MacLaren. We research the family history, build the itinerary around it, and arrange access to places that are not normally open to the public.

Plan a heritage tour