Ballycumber () is a village located where the R436 regional road crosses the

River Brosna The River Brosna ( ga, An Bhrosnach) is a river within the Shannon River Basin in Ireland, flowing through County Westmeath and County Offaly. The river rises in Lough Owel north of Mullingar and is a tributary of the River Shannon. It mee ...

County Offaly County Offaly (; ga, Contae Uíbh Fhailí) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Uí Failghe. It was formerly known as King's County, in hono ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. It is west of the town of

Clara Clara may refer to: Organizations * CLARA, Latin American academic computer network organization * Clara.Net, a European ISP * Consolidated Land and Rail Australia, a property development consortium People * Clara (given name), a feminine giv ...

, on the western edge of

Clara bog Clara Bog is one of the largest relatively intact raised bogs remaining in Ireland. It lies southeast of the R436 regional road between the village of Ballycumber and the town of Clara, in County Offaly. Much of the bog is state-owned and ma ...

. According to the 2016 census, the population of Ballycumber was 208 people. Ballycumber is located in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

of Leamonaghan. The church in nearby Boher (dedicated to Saint

Manchán of Lemanaghan Saint Manchán mac Silláin (died 664), ''Manchianus'' in Latin sources, is the name of an early Irish saint, patron of Liath Mancháin, now Lemanaghan, in County Offaly.Stalmans and Charles-Edwards, "Meath, saints of (act. ''c''.400–''c''.900 ...

, a local saint) was opened in 1861; before that there was a mud-walled church in the area which has left no trace.

Transport

The

M6 motorway The M6 motorway is the longest motorway in the United Kingdom. It is located entirely within England, running for just over from the Midlands to the border with Scotland. It begins at Junction 19 of the M1 and the western end of the A14 at t ...

connecting

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

and

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...

is a ten-minute drive away.

Bus Éireann Bus Éireann (; "Irish Bus") is a state-owned bus and coach operator providing services throughout Ireland, with the exception of Dublin and the Greater Dublin Area, where bus services are provided by sister company Dublin Bus. It is a subsidia ...

runs an hourly schedule from

Moate Moate (; ) is a town in County Westmeath, Ireland. The name ''An Móta'' is derived from the term motte-and-bailey, as the Normans built an example of this type of fortification here. The earthwork is still visible behind the buildings on the m ...

and

Tullamore Tullamore (; ) is the county town of County Offaly in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is on the Grand Canal (Ireland), Grand Canal, in the middle of the county, and is the fourth most populous town in the Midland Region, Ireland, midlands reg ...

with buses going to Galway, Dublin,

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

, and

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

. Iarnód Éireann run a train from Dublin to Galway every half-hour from

train station. Ballycumber station opened on 1 March 1862 and closed on 17 June 1963.

Education

Boher National School is located beside Saint Manchan's Church in Boher, outside Ballycumber. It was reputedly founded by Saint Manchan and Saint Ciaran, hence its name. As of 2017, the school had more than about 120 pupils. The old schoolhouse, to the west of the church, was turned into living quarters as the new school was built to the east of the church in 1989.

Sports

Ballycumber GAA pitch is located outside of the village with an adjoining community centre. Ballycumber have many titles to their name. Their colours are blue and saffron. There is a senior team, consisting of just Ballycumber players. However, the minor, Under-21, U-16, U-14, U-10 and U-8's team are joined with Tubber GAA to form Ballycumber/Tubber. Brosna Gaels is the local

hurling Hurling ( ga, iománaíocht, ') is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic Irish origin, played by men. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goals, the number of p ...

team, made up of the parish of Leamonaghan, which includes Ballycumber, Doon and Pullough with permission players from Tubber. Brosna Gaels field teams at all levels from Senior to Under-6. They gained senior status following a 2009 Intermediate Championship win. Ballycumber also have an association football team, Ballycumber Rovers, which has won county cups and other titles.

Ballycumber in literature

The name of Ballycumber is defined in a jocular manner by writer

Douglas Adams Douglas Noel Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was an English author and screenwriter, best known for ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''. Originally a 1978 BBC radio comedy, ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' developed into a " ...

The Meaning of Liff ''The Meaning of Liff'' (UK Edition: , US Edition: ) is a humorous dictionary of toponymy and etymology, written by Douglas Adams and John Lloyd, published in the United Kingdom in 1983 and the United States in 1984. Content The book is a " ...

, as "BALLYCUMBER: (n) One of the six half-read books lying somewhere in your bed.". The mascot / symbol of

BookCrossing BookCrossing (also BC, BCing or BXing) is defined as "the practice of leaving a book in a public place to be picked up and read by others, who then do likewise." The term is derived from bookcrossing.com, a free online book club which was founde ...

was named after this phenomenon, it consists of a little yellow running book. Travelling books which are registered on Bookcrossing.com prominently display Ballycumber labels, currently (2017) over 11.7 million books travelling through 132 countries. Thus the name and symbol of Ballycumber has become an ambassador for literacy and

random acts of kindness A random act of kindness is a nonpremeditated, inconsistent action designed to offer kindness towards the outside world. The phrase "practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty" was written by Anne Herbert on a placemat in Sausalito, Cal ...

The play "Tales of Ballycumber" by

Sebastian Barry Sebastian Barry (born 5 July 1955) is an Irish novelist, playwright and poet. He was named Laureate for Irish Fiction, 2019–2021. He is noted for his lyrical literary writing style and is considered one of Ireland's finest writers. Barry's l ...

was shown in

Abbey Theatre The Abbey Theatre ( ga, Amharclann na Mainistreach), also known as the National Theatre of Ireland ( ga, Amharclann Náisiúnta na hÉireann), in Dublin, Ireland, is one of the country's leading cultural institutions. First opening to the pu ...

in Dublin in 2009.

People

Former or current residents of the village have included: *

Richard Crosbie Richard Crosbie (1755–1824) was the first Irishman to make a manned flight. He flew in a hydrogen air balloon from Ranelagh, on Dublin's southside to Clontarf, on Dublin's northside on 19 January 1785 at the age of 30. His aerial achievement ...

(1755-1824), first Irishman to make a

manned flight The history of aviation extends for more than two thousand years, from the earliest forms of aviation such as kites and attempts at tower jumping to supersonic and hypersonic flight by powered, heavier-than-air jets. Kite flying in China ...

lived in Twickenham House just outside the village in the 1780s * Seán William McLoughlin (born 1990), Irish

YouTuber A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006. Influence Influent ...

better known by the name of

Jacksepticeye Seán William McLoughlin (born 7 February 1990), better known as Jacksepticeye, is an Irish YouTuber, best known for his vlogs and comedic Let's Play series. , his channel has over 15.7 billion views and 28.9 million subscribers, and is the mo ...

, began his YouTube channel while living in the village circa 2008. * Luke O'Toole (1873-1929), Irish Gaelic games administrator was born in the village *

Sheila Wingfield The Rt Hon. Sheila Wingfield, Viscountess Powerscourt (née Sheila Claude Beddington; 23 May 1906 – 8 January 1992), was an Anglo-Irish poet. Life and work Lady Powerscourt was born in Hampshire and attended the Roedean School. She attended ...

(1906-1992), Anglo-Irish poet, whose family homes included the Bellair and Ballycumber estates

References