The creation of surnames from placenames, e.g. Ardagh, Athy, Bray, Sutton etc, might equally have happened in the case of Knocknageehas. (Did you see the Knockhageesha coming out of Mass? Old Knocknageeha was down at the pub last night!) This names townlands in counties Clare, Kerry, Mayo, Monaghan and Sligo, and as Knocknageehy in Cork and Mayo. It derives from Cnoc na Gaoithe, "the hill of the wind".
A place called "Wind Hill" in England gave rise to the surname Windle, a name that appears to be no longer extant in that country. It has been in Co Limerick since the 17th century, with Winkle, found in Co Cork, a possible variant, according to de Bhulbh's Slionnte na hEireann/Irish Surnames, Poverty to Promise: the Monteagle Emigrants 1838-58. It notes the 1856 arrival at Sydney, Australia, of the John and Lucy and the Maitland.
Among the passengers on the first ship were Elizabeth Wingle with her children Henry and Ellen, and on the latter Mary Windle with her four-year-old children John and Honora. They were from Shanagolden, Co Limerick. Current telephone directories list 12 Windle entries, of which seven are in the 06 area (Kerry, Clare, Limerick) and nine Winkle entries, of which five are in the 02 (Co Cork) area.
Henry Windell, Ballyridle, Co Limerick, made his will in 1692, and Anne Windel (widow), Ridelstown, Co Limerick, made hers in 1702. Ballyridle is the earlier anglicisation of Baile an Ridealiagh, with the part-translation Riddestown its current "English" name. Concerning this placename in the Co Limerick parish of Doondonnell, Contae Luimni Logainm neacha na hEireann Imleabhar 1 informs: "1586 Ballynrydealye - on sloinne Rideal". Rev Patrick Woulfe's Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall (1923) gives Rideal as the Irish for Riddell/Riddle, with Riodal as the Irish for the old English surname Ruddell/ Ruddle. He adds that it may be the same as Riddell. de Bhulbh's Sloinnte na hEireann/ Irish Surnames, which does not equate it with Riddell, adds: "Ulster, generally English, from French ridel, small hill". This source separately notes Riddall, an English toponymic.
Of Riddell, Mac Lysaght's The Sur- names of Ireland says: "An English surname found in Ulster. It was also found in the Claddagh, Galway, as Riodal. See Ruddle." Ruddle is the spelling in countiess Limerick and Kerry, and Ruddell in Co Armagh. The earliest references are to Leinster in the 13th century, and it is suggested that it was originally de Ryedale. In Co Limerick Ruddle is occasionally a synonym of Ruttle, a Palatine name in Co Limerick, with Ruckle as a variant. The earlier authorities linked all three names, with (de) Riodal as the Irish for all, but Sean de Bhulbh's Irish Sur- names gives no Irish for Riddell, Riddall or Ruttle, with Riodal as the Irish for Ruddell/Ruddle.
Owners of Land of One Acre and Upwards (1876) has but a single Ruttle entry, the 179 acres in Co Kildare. There are seven Ruddell holdings and 15 Ridddall/ Riddell holdings, all modest. There were holdings in Kilkenny (312 acres), Laois (342 acres), and in Ulster in counties Antrim, Armagh, Down, Monaghan and Tyrone. Of the eight Armagh holdings, four were Riddell and four were Ruddell.
South of the Border telephone directories list Ruddle 35 times, half in the 06 area; Riddell 16 times, half in the 09 (north Connacht and Donegal) area, with two Ruddells and one Riddle. Northern telephone entries are Riddell 66; Riddle 17; Riddles 14, and Ruddell 44.
Charlote Eliza Lawson Riddell, nee Cowan, born in Carrickfergus in 1832, died in Middlesex in 1906, began writing as a girl and published 30 novels and books of short stories: The Race for Wealth, Above Suspicion, The Banshee's Warning, etc. Cork-born John Windele (1801-1865), was as early as 1826 the editor of the Quarterly Magazine in Cork, writing many of the articles himself, mainly on literature and antiquarian subjects. He was one of the most able of the members of the South Munster Antiquarian Society. He was a member of the Celtic Society, founded in Dublin in 1845. This was the precursor of Conradh na Gaeilge, founded in 1893.
He saved many Ogham stones from being broken up for building materials, by removing them from the fields to his home.