A story is told of a Kerryman, up to his knees in water at the summit of Carrauntoohill during The Deluge, hailing Noah's Ark as it sailed by, only to be informed that Noah regretted it but he was full. "You can keep your oul' lift," retorted the Kerryman, "it's only a shower anyway!"
But whence the recollection of this worldwide disaster? "The study of Irish pre-history fascinated the mediaeval Irish, and over the centuries they elaborated a detailed history of the successive invasions of Partalon, Nemed, the Fir Bolg, the Tuatha De Danann, and the sons of Mil", writes Francis John Byrne in his Irish Kings and High-Kings, adding that these events were "a fantastic compound of genuine racial memories, exotic Latin learning and world history derived from Orosius and Isidore of Seville, euhemerised Celtic mythology, dynastic propaganda, folklore, and pure fiction".
And part of that was Anno Mundi (A.M.), the Year of the World, the claimed beginning of the World. The Deluge is said to have occurred in A.M. 2242, and in A.M. 2520, 278 years later, Parthalon, said to be a native of Grecian Sicily, Ireland's first invader, arrived. Accompanying him were his three sons - Slainge, Laighlinne and Rudhraighe, and his four wives - Dealgnat, Nerbha, Ciochbha and Cerbnad. Ten years later, the Fomorians did battle with the Parthalonians at Sleamhnai Muighe Ithe. They survived that, and the eruptions of the lakes in Ireland in A.M. 2536 and A.M. 2546, but the 9,000 of them were carried off by a plague in A.M. 2820.
However, the name Parthalan, said to be a borrowing from the Latin Bartholomaeus, survived to become the surname Mac Parthalain, a sept of the kingdom of Oriel, first on record in the 15th century. They were noted as poets and scribes, the most famous being the 15th century Diarmaid Bacach Mac Parthalain. It has been variously anglicised MacParlan, Mac Parland, Mac Partlan and Mac Partlin. It has also been made into the Scottish Mac Farlane, and there has been much confusion between the two. Current spelling cannot therefore be treated a reliable guide to the origins of a particular family.
Current telephone directories lists five Mac Partlin and one Mac Partland in the Republic, while to the north of the Border there are two Mac Partlan entries, around 190 MacPartland, and a single Mac Partlin, in Co Derry. "In Ireland the Gaelic form is Mac Pathalain, giving Mac Parland, Mac Parlan and so on. The form Mac Pharthalain gives Mac Farland and, in Ireland, Mac Farlane." (Ulster Surnames: Robert Bell). That, we feel, attributes more neat planning in surname anglicisation than is merited.
Heading the pardoned in a Fiant of 1601 was Donell Spaynagh alias Kavanaghe, of Clonemullin, (?Co Carlow), gent, and among the others were three surgeons - Edmond O Cullon, Shane O Bolger, and Moylemurry M'Parralan. A Fiant of 1590 lists a number of this surname - Cahill oge, Phelim Ballfe (?Balbh, dumb), Brian boy (bui, yellow), and William of Carrye (?Carry, Co Fermanagh). Pardoned in the same year was Pharrell M'Parrhelan of Killygar, Co Leitrim, while in 1602 Onyriagh M'Parlane of Armagh was among the pardoned. The "census" of 1659 lists McParlan among the principal Irish names of the Co Armagh baronies of Orier and Fews.
Owners of Land of One Acre and Upwards (1876) lists two tidy M'Farlane holdings in Co Carlow and one in Co Kilkenny, the only ones outside the province of Ulster. Of those therein, only Co Armagh has any spelled with an initial P. At Edenknappagh are three M'Parlans, with one, five and six acres, and four M'Parlands at Carricknagavna, and at Drumilly, with two, three, eight, and 13 acres. There are four modest M'Farland holdings in Co Down (three, four, five and 20 acres), and two in Co Derry.
However, it is Co Tyrone that the majority of the M'Farlands had their holdings. There was Henry with 1,628 acres; John, Omagh, with 1,732 acres; a second John, Omagh, with 645 acres, and a Mrs William M'Farland, Strabane, with 466 acres. The vast majority of the remaining 20 were at Omagh, Strabane and Plumbridge. Gasitear na hEireann/Gazetteer of Ireland gives Droichead an Phlum as the Irish for this place-name. Whatever this final element means, it is not the fruit, which is pluma in Irish. This names a village at the foot of Glenelly, the name being rendered Plumb Bridge in the Shell Guide to Ireland (1967).