Spellan family genealogy

Arms: Sa. a fess erm. a bend gu. guttée d'or; another: Sa. a fess erm. a bend or, guttée de sang; another: Sa. ten bezants, four, three, two, and one, betw. two flaunches ar.; and another: Gu. a chief erm.

THIS family is variously called O'Spealain, Spellan, Splaine, Spollen, Spellman, and Spilman; and is descended from Mahon, son of Kennedy, the brother of Brian Boroimhe, who is No. 105 on the "O'Brien Kings of Thomond" Stem. The O'Hanrahan family is also descended from this Mahon or Mahoun. The tribe-name of the O'Spellan sept was Hy-Leughaidh, a name subsequently given to the lands of which they were possessed in the barony of Eliogarty, county of Tipperary: and a name derived from Leughaidh, a remote ancestor of the family. O'Heerin says:

Of this family was the learned author of the Manual of Therapeutics. A branch of the house of Hy-Leughaidh in early times settled in the barony of Galmoy in the county of Kilkenny, and gave name to "Ballyspellane," celebrated for its mineral waters; another branch settled in the barony of Barrymore, county of Cork, and gave name to "Ballyspillane," a parish in that barony.

We believe the present representative of this family is Philip Splaine, Esq., The Green, Passage West, county Cork, whose ancestors, for many generations, resided in Templemartin parish, barony of Kinalmeaky, co. Cork, their chief residence being built in the centre of an old fort in the townland of Gurranes, in that parish, and convenient to the old palace of the O'Mahony Princes.