Boland Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Boland Family History

Boland Family History

The family history of the ancient name Boland was found in the irishsurnames.com archives. The name Boland is of ancient Irish origin and is derived from two distinct O'Beollain septs.

A sept or clan is a collective term describing a group of persons whose immediate ancestors bore a common surname and inhabited the same territory. It is also the case that many Irish septs or clans that are related often belong to a larger groups, sometimes called tribes. For example the 'Tribes of Galway' consisted of fourteen distinct families. The 'Tribes of Kilkenny' were ten families, etc.

One sept was of the Ui Fiachrach, seated at Doonaltan in County Sligo where they were erenaghs of the Church of Saint Columban. A separate Dalcassian sept was descended from Mahon, brother of Brian Boru. In modern times the Bolands and O'Bolans are found in north Connacht Province and in the eastern part of County Clare where the village of Ballybolan still survives. The ancient texts 'The Annals of the Four Matsters' contain several references to the name. Bolands Mill was the scene of a famous encounter in the Easter Rising of 1916, in which the Irish revolutionary Harry Boland played a part. The Boland family crest (or coat of arms) came into existence many centuries ago. The process of creating these coats of arms began as early as the eleventh century although a form of Proto-Heraldry may have existed in some countries prior to this, including Ireland. The new more formalized art of Heraldry made it possible for families and even individual family members to have their very own family crest, coat of arms, including Boland descendants.