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Irish Family Name

O'Sullivan

Ó Súilleabháin — “descendant of Súilleabhán; Woulfe derives Súil-dubhán, 'black-eyed'”
Provincial colours of Munster — this name has no clan tartan tradition and no single agreed coat of arms
Irish formÓ Súilleabháin
Historic titleO'Sullivan Beare; O'Sullivan Mór
HeartlandThe Beara peninsula & south Kerry
RegionMunster

Driven from Tipperary into the south-west by the Normans, the O'Sullivans held Beara and Dunkerron. After Dunboy fell in 1602, Donal Cam O'Sullivan Beare led a thousand followers on a winter march to Leitrim.

Ancestral seats

  • Dunboy Castle, Castletownbere, Co. Cork
  • Ardea Castle, Co. Kerry

Where to walk in their footsteps

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

Dunboy Castle, Castletownbere

Ruined O'Sullivan Beare stronghold besieged and destroyed in 1602.

The Beara Way, Co. Cork

206 km waymarked trail looping the peninsula from Glengarriff, crossing the O'Sullivan Beare heartland.

Also recorded as

SullivanO'Sullivan BeareSulivan

Travelling to O'Sullivan 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