Tullyorior

 region, townland

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Tulaigh Oirir 'hillock of the boundary'

The current local pronunciation of Tullyorior omits the final syllable of the written form, and this is of long standing. However most of the early forms, from the first attestation in 1609, contain the final -r. Mount Hill on the southern boundary was possibly the tulach or 'hillock' of the townland name. O'Donovan's informant for Tullyorior was a man in Downpatrick gaol (OSNB 1834), who took the second element to refer to the people of Orior barony in Armagh, but this is surely too far away. Four miles to the west along the Bann, outside Banbridge, is Tullyear townland in Seapatrick, part of the Magennis district of Loughbrickland, taken by Dean Mooney to be the 'western hillock' in relation to Tullyorior, which he interpreted as Tulaigh Oirthir 'eastern hillock'. However neither hill seems to be notable enough to be contrasted like this. Tullyorior is in the west of the parish of Garvaghy and borders the three parishes of Annaclone, Seapatrick and Magherally. The boundary between Tullyorior and the townlands of Tullintanvally, Cappagh and Tullyconnaught is also the boundary between the Lower Half and Upper Half of Upper Iveagh, and the boundary between Tullyorior and the Corbet is also the boundary between Upper and Lower Iveagh. It must have been in this area that the Bann, which flows through Tullyorior, began to be treated as the barony bound. This makes it likely that the second element of the name is oirear 'border region', hence Tulaigh Oirir. The modern pronunciation is thus close to the original, except for loss by haplology of the final -r. The spelling -orior was influenced by the supposed connection with Orior in Co. Armagh.