Farrell

The Farrells, Irish Ó Fearghail, were descendants of Fearghail, whose great-grandfather Angaile gave his name to Annaly in the Irish midlands. They belonged to the Conmaicne peoples, and around 1070 the Ó Fearghail and allied tribes conquered Tethbae, later County Longford, where they ruled as princes of Annaly from Longphoirt, the future Longford.

After the Norman invasion the territory was granted to Hugh de Lacy and an English colony was planted at Granard. English power receded in the fourteenth century: Edward Bruce sacked Granard in 1315 and the O'Farrells re-established control of Annaly.

They kept their Gaelic lordship until Tudor conquest reached the midlands. Annaly was shired as Longford in 1586, and the O'Farrell estates were broken up in the Plantation of Longford of 1620, dispossessing the family of its principality.