Banagher ( or ''Beannchar na Sionna'') is a town in
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...
, located in the midlands, on the western edge of
County Offaly
County Offaly (; ga, Contae Uíbh Fhailí) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is named after the Ancient Ireland ...
in the province of
Leinster
Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of ...
, on the banks of the
River Shannon
The River Shannon ( ga, Abhainn na Sionainne, ', '), at in length, is the longest river in the British Isles. It drains the Shannon River Basin, which has an area of , – approximately one fifth of the area of the island of Ireland.
The Sha ...
. It had a population of 3,000 at the height of its economic growth in the mid-19th century; as of 2016, the population was over 1,700.
Banagher was historically an important strategic location on the River Shannon and was one of the few crossing points between the provinces of Leinster and
Connacht
Connacht ( ; ga, Connachta or ), is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms ( Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, Conmhaícne, and ...
. It thus became a natural focus for a number of historical buildings, including a 19th-century
Martello Tower
Martello towers, sometimes known simply as Martellos, are small defensive forts that were built across the British Empire during the 19th century, from the time of the French Revolutionary Wars onwards. Most were coastal forts.
They stand u ...
and a number of
castles
A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified ...
around the town, which were built in the 14th and 15th centuries. The town used to be the focus of thriving river business and was an important stop on the
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...
to
Limerick
Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2 ...
navigation. It supported a number of industries, including a maltings and distillery, which are now defunct. Tourism has supplanted this to a certain extent with a modern
marina
A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : ''marina'', "coast" or "shore") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats.
A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships or ...
providing support for river cruisers and watersports facilities and the town is an angling centre, with particular attraction for pike anglers.
[Offaly County Council – History of Banagher.]
Retrieved 3 November 2008. Banagher is the centre of the
Shannon Callows
The Shannon Callows () are areas of flat land along the shores of the River Shannon. These areas lie between Athlone in County Westmeath, where the river flows out of Lough Ree, and Portumna in County Galway, where it enters Lough Derg, in cent ...
, grassy meadows which flood in winter and provide living space for waterfowl.
Etymology
There are more than twenty places in Ireland called Banagher or a version thereof. Banagher can be derived as the anglicised version of the Irish 'Beannchor' or 'Beannchar'. Most Irish placenames relate to topographical features and this is the case with 'Beannchor' - in this sense 'beann' refers to or means a 'peak' or 'top' and is widely used in the names of hills and mountains while 'cor' also appears in numerous placenames and refers to or means a rounded or curved hill, such as Cor Hill, Cormore, Corbeg Corbane and many others. A related interpretation uses the Irish form in its two-word version, understood in English as "the place of the pointed rocks on the Shannon".
History
It is thought that St. Rynagh (also Reynagh, Rinagh), who founded Banagher and after whom the parish is named, was a sister of
St. Finnian of Clonard. According to research, they came from a place near
New Ross
New Ross (, formerly ) is a town in southwest County Wexford, Ireland. It is located on the River Barrow, near the border with County Kilkenny, and is around northeast of Waterford. In 2016 it had a population of 8,040 people, making it t ...
in
County Wexford
County Wexford ( ga, Contae Loch Garman) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Southern Region. Named after the town of Wexford, it was based on the historic Gaelic territory of Hy Kinsella (''Uí C ...
. It is known that contact was maintained between Rynagh's Wexford home and her foundation at Banagher, and her mother came to live there. It is recorded that Reynagh's mother, Talech, or Talacia, became
Abbess
An abbess (Latin: ''abbatissa''), also known as a mother superior, is the female superior of a community of Catholic nuns in an abbey.
Description
In the Catholic Church (both the Latin Church and Eastern Catholic), Eastern Orthodox, Copt ...
of the Banagher
convent
A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Angl ...
. The death of St. Finnian is assigned to 563, but there does not seem to be an authoritative statement as to the date of St. Rynagh's death, although according to St. Rynagh's Parish Church in Banagher, St. Rynagh died about 610. The place of her burial is uncertain but it is likely to have been in either Banagher or
Kilmacduagh
Kilmacduagh () is a small village in south County Galway, near Gort, in Ireland. It is the site of Kilmacduagh monastery, seat of the Diocese of that name. The diocese is now part of the Diocese of Galway and Kilmacduagh in the Roman Cathol ...
near
Gort
Gort ( or ) is a town of around 3,000 inhabitants in County Galway in the west of Ireland. Located near the border with County Clare, the town lies between the Burren and the Slieve Aughty and is served by the R458 and R460 regional roads, wh ...
, the monastery founded by her son,
St. Colman.
Origins
The settlement that grew to become Banagher originated at a ford on the east bank of the River Shannon. The river banks and surrounding countryside were flood-free all year round. Travellers intending to cross the Shannon converged on this point along tracks which were the forerunners of the modern roads, and a community grew at this crossing point.
[''Banagher – A Brief History'': Civic Week Booklet (1951).]
Retrieved 3 November 2008.
Many of the early travellers were
pilgrims. North-west of Banagher, on the Connacht side of the river, was the monastic establishment of
Clonfert
Clonfert () is a small village in east County Galway, Ireland, halfway between Ballinasloe and Portumna. The village gives its name to the Diocese of Clonfert. Clonfert Cathedral is one of the eight cathedral churches of the Church of Ireland, ...
, with the more famous
Clonmacnoise
Clonmacnoise ( Irish: ''Cluain Mhic Nóis'') is a ruined monastery situated in County Offaly in Ireland on the River Shannon south of Athlone, founded in 544 by Saint Ciarán, a young man from Rathcroghan, County Roscommon. Until the 9th cen ...
a short distance further north. Not far to the south-west on the same side was another monastic foundation, at
Meelick. At Meelick, the three provinces, Leinster,
Munster
Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following t ...
and Connacht meet and just south of Banagher in the direction of Birr, the four
dioceses
In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
History
In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...
of Clonmacnoise,
Meath,
Killaloe and
Clonfert
Clonfert () is a small village in east County Galway, Ireland, halfway between Ballinasloe and Portumna. The village gives its name to the Diocese of Clonfert. Clonfert Cathedral is one of the eight cathedral churches of the Church of Ireland, ...
meet.
[
]
Military history
At Banagher, there are ridges on both sides of the river and roads were built along these many centuries ago. The first bridge was built over the Shannon at that point as early as 1049.[Moriarty, Christopher, ''Places to Visit – Banagher'', The Sacred Heart Messenger, March 1997.] It was a place of great strategic importance because the Shannon and its lowlands provided a natural barrier between Connacht and Leinster. An army that wanted to cross the river had few choices; apart from Banagher, the only other suitable places were Athlone, Shannonbridge
Shannonbridge () is a village located on the River Shannon, at the junction of the R444 and R357 regional roads in County Offaly, Ireland. It lies within the townland of Raghra (), at the borders of counties Offaly, Galway and Roscommon, with ...
and Portumna
Portumna ( - meaning 'the landing place of the oak') is a market town in the south-east of County Galway, Ireland, on the border with and linked by a bridge to County Tipperary. The town is located to the west of the point where the River Shann ...
.
The importance of Banagher as a military position on the Shannon and the highway from Leinster and Munster to Connacht was early appreciated by the English, whose forces seized it about the middle of the 16th century, coming up the river to do so. They constructed some fortifications which they called Fort Frankford (later Fort Falkland) and held the place in spite of the fact that the part of Offaly for some miles around Banagher was in the hands of the MacCoghlan clan. The MacCoghlans, aided by boundaries of bog and river, held their territories against all comers for about 500 years, even maintaining a footing by open defiance well into the 17th century. Garry Castle, Clonony Castle
Clonony () is a small village in County Offaly, Ireland, on the R357 regional road. Located between the River Brosna and the Grand Canal, it is noted for its late medieval tower house of the same name, which was built in 1500. It is situat ...
, and Moystown Castle are remains of MacCoghlan strongholds.[Irish Midlands Ancestry, ''Banagher – The Midland Boroughs in the 1830s''.]
Retrieved 3 November 2008. Sometime after 1554, when Queen Mary married Philip II of Spain
Philip II) in Spain, while in Portugal and his Italian kingdoms he ruled as Philip I ( pt, Filipe I). (21 May 152713 September 1598), also known as Philip the Prudent ( es, Felipe el Prudente), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from ...
, Offaly County was named King's County in honour of Philip, but it is doubtful if the royal jurisdiction extended to any of the MacCoghlan areas except Banagher. Ultimately, the MacCoghlans were overthrown and their lands were planted by order of James I James I may refer to:
People
*James I of Aragon (1208–1276)
*James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327)
*James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu
*James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347)
*James I of Cyprus (1334–13 ...
issued in 1621.[
The town was incorporated by charter of ]Charles I Charles I may refer to:
Kings and emperors
* Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings
* Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily
* Charles I of ...
on 16 September 1628.[ The corporation was allowed to elect two members to ]Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
and hold two fairs per year, amongst other wide-ranging powers.[OHAS, ''Banagher as a Corporate Town'']
Retrieved 3 November 2008.
In 1628, a permanent military garrison
A garrison (from the French ''garnison'', itself from the verb ''garnir'', "to equip") is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a mil ...
was established which continued with slight interruptions until 1863. The defences were further strengthened and it was officially named Fort Falkland, after Henry Cary, 1st Viscount Falkland
Henry may refer to:
People
*Henry (given name)
*Henry (surname)
* Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry
Royalty
* Portuguese royalty
** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal
** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...
who was Lord Deputy of Ireland
The Lord Deputy was the representative of the monarch and head of the Irish executive (government), executive under English rule, during the Lordship of Ireland and then the Kingdom of Ireland. He deputised prior to 1523 for the Viceroy of Ireland ...
from 1622–29. The forces of the Confederate Catholics took Banagher in 1642, but it was retaken by the Cromwellian Army in 1650, under the command of Henry Ireton
Henry Ireton ((baptised) 3 November 1611 – 26 November 1651) was an English general in the Parliamentarian army during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, and the son-in-law of Oliver Cromwell. He died of disease outside Limerick in November 16 ...
, Cromwell's son-in-law. By 1652 the Cromwellian conquest was completed and the transplantation of the Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
landholders to Connacht began in 1654. The lands from which they were expelled were divided among the adventurers and the soldiers
A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer.
Etymology
The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...
of Cromwell's army.
During the Williamite Wars of 1690–1691, the garrison espoused the cause of James II in contrast with that of Birr, which took the side of William
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
. A stone bridge across the Shannon was erected in 1685, and a Williamite army advancing from Birr in 1690 attempted to break it down but abandoned the attempt as too risky in consequence of the presence of Sarsfield's Army on the Connacht side. A broken arch of this bridge is still to be seen on that side a few yards below the present bridge of seven arches, which was erected by the Commissioners for the Improvement of Navigation of the Shannon in 1841–1843. The square tower on the lower side of the bridge at the Galway end was erected to protect the old bridge, as was the Salt Battery, with emplacements for four cannons facing west and north, a few hundred yards from town along the Crank Road.[
The Irish garrison remained in Banagher without further molestation until the ]Battle of Aughrim
The Battle of Aughrim ( ga, Cath Eachroma) was the decisive battle of the Williamite War in Ireland. It was fought between the largely Irish Jacobite army loyal to James II and the forces of William III on 12 July 1691 (old style, equivale ...
, after which Banagher was evacuated. The English re-occupied the town, where they remained until the middle of the 19th century when Banagher ceased to be a garrison town.[
]
Economic growth
In the 17th century, Banagher was the centre of a flourishing woollen trade. In 1699, the impost placed on the export of woollen goods to England practically killed the woollen trade. At the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
in 1775, an embargo placed on the export of foodstuffs to the American Colonies dealt another blow to the trade of Banagher. In 1780, the British Parliament
The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative supremacy ...
withdrew all these restrictions and Banagher's economy began to improve rapidly.[
From 1800 to 1847, Banagher enjoyed a period of prosperity unequalled in its history.][ Corn growing had long been one of the chief agricultural activities of the district and the opening of the Grand Canal at the end of the 18th century gave easy access to Dublin and Limerick and brought cheap and efficient water transport to the district. Banagher became the outlet for the grain raised in a wide area around the town, and the Banagher corn market on Fridays was one of the largest of its kind in Ireland.
The canal arrived at Shannon Harbour in 1804, and the water transport facilities stimulated the growth of existing industries and encouraged the establishment of new ones. Neat two and three-storey houses were built on each side of the road in Banagher to provide shops and dwellings for the merchants and other people who came to live there for the canal business.][ In 1834, there was a ]distillery
Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distillation is the heati ...
, a brewery, two tanyards, a malthouse and corn mills in full operation in the town. Several craftsmen carried on industries in smaller workshops and their homes. With the increase in trade and manufactures went a corresponding increase in population. In 1800, the population was estimated at 1500; in 1841, it was 2836, and in 1846, it was estimated at 3000.[
]
Decline
Contrasted with the flourishing state of trade in the first half of the 19th century is the rapid and sustained decline during the second half. In the period of 40 years from 1841 to 1881, the population fell from 2836 to 1192, a loss of over 57%. By the end of the century, all that remained of the major industries of the town was the malthouse of F.A. Waller & Co., while all smaller industries had vanished completely.
Various causes contributed to this decline. The abolition of the Corn Laws
The Corn Laws were tariffs and other trade restrictions on imported food and corn enforced in the United Kingdom between 1815 and 1846. The word ''corn'' in British English denotes all cereal grains, including wheat, oats and barley. They were ...
in 1846 allowed the free importation of grain into these islands. Unable to compete with foreigners, the Irish farmer turned his land to pasture
Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or swine ...
and grew only sufficient grain for his own use. The Banagher corn trade rapidly declined, and would have completely vanished were it not that barley growing was kept alive by Waller's malthouse. The clearances in East Galway in the years immediately succeeding the Great Irish Famine
The Great Famine ( ga, an Gorta Mór ), also known within Ireland as the Great Hunger or simply the Famine and outside Ireland as the Irish Potato Famine, was a period of starvation and disease in Ireland from 1845 to 1852 that constituted a ...
adversely affected the trade of the town while the smaller industries were unable to compete against the highly organised industries of Britain.[
The opening of Banagher Railway station in 1884, as the terminus of the ]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 ...
to Banagher branch of the Great Southern & Western Railway Company, brought some improvement, with several passenger and goods trains every day. However, the fuel crisis of 1947 caused passenger services to be withdrawn from the line and it closed altogether in 1963.[''Railscot – Irish Railways: Banagher Station''.]
Retrieved 3 November 2008. Although the site of the station is now covered by the marina, the trackway can still be seen, minus the track, at the gateway at the eastern corner of the marina.
Geography
Banagher is situated in north-west County Offaly on the east bank of the River Shannon. It is south-west of Dublin, south-east of Ballinasloe
Ballinasloe ( ; ) is a town in the easternmost part of County Galway in Connacht. Located at an ancient crossing point on the River Suck, evidence of ancient settlement in the area includes a number of Bronze Age sites. Built around a 12th-ce ...
, south of Athlone
Athlone (; ) is a town on the border of County Roscommon and County Westmeath, Ireland. It is located on the River Shannon near the southern shore of Lough Ree. It is the second most populous town in the Midlands Region with a population of ...
and north east of Limerick. It provides a crossing point between Offaly in Leinster and Galway in Connacht. Although Banagher is located in the flood-plain
A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...
of the River Shannon, the town itself was developed on high ground and remains virtually flood-free all year round. North of Lough Derg, the River Shannon has a very shallow gradient and regularly floods parts of the surrounding countryside. The resultant wet grassland area, known as the Shannon Callows, is an internationally recognised wild bird and wildlife habitat and is classified as a Special Area of Conservation
A Special Area of Conservation (SAC) is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), also known as the ''Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora''. They are to protect the 220 habitats and ap ...
.
The country on either side of the Shannon in the Offaly-Galway area has been described as "reminiscent of the Fens
A fen is a type of wetland.
Fen, Fenn, Fens, Fenns, may also refer to:
People
* Fen (name), a Chinese given name and surname
* Fen Cresswell (1915–1966), New Zealand cricketer
* Fen McDonald (1891–1915), Australian rules footballer
* Kees ...
, cut off and intersected by waterways, by the wide meandering Shannon itself, by its tributaries, the Suck
Suck may refer to:
*Suction, the force exerted by a partial vacuum
*.sucks, an Internet top-level domain
Arts and entertainment Music
* Suck (band), a South African hard rock group
* Suck, drummer for the 1990s Japanese punk band Teengenerate
* ...
, the Brosna and the Little Brosna and by the Grand Canal; traversed by a maze of narrow roads."[Bence Jones, Mark, ''Trollope's Corner of Ireland'', This Country Life, 13 July 1978.]
The travel writer and biographer, James Pope-Hennessy
James Pope Hennessy CVO (20 November 1916 – 25 January 1974) was a British biographer and travel writer.
Early life
Richard James Arthur Pope-Hennessy was born in London on 20 November 1916, the younger son of Ladislaus Herbert Richard Pope ...
, described the River Shannon at Banagher in September in his biography of Anthony Trollope
Anthony Trollope (; 24 April 1815 – 6 December 1882) was an English novelist and civil servant of the Victorian era. Among his best-known works is a series of novels collectively known as the '' Chronicles of Barsetshire'', which revolves ar ...
: "The month of September in Banagher, and all along the Shannon banks, is visually a glorious one, with golden autumn mornings, the low sun making long shadows of the houses in the street. At dusk the whole river reflects the varied sunsets as the days draw in – effects of palest pink, for instance, striped by cloudy lines of green, or an horizon aflame with scarlet and orange light."[
The ]Slieve Bloom Mountains
The Slieve Bloom Mountains ( ga, Sliabh Bladhma; la, Bladinae montes) is a mountain range in Ireland. They rise from the central plain of Ireland to a height of 527 metres. While not very high, they are extensive by local standards. The high ...
lie to the south of Banagher and the town is surrounded by the great bogs
A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main Wetland#Types, types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, ...
of the midlands, particularly to the east and west. The River Brosna is a major tributary of the River Shannon and meets the Shannon at Shannon Harbour
Shannon Harbour a small village on the banks of the Grand Canal of Ireland.
The village has the () older/regional name ''Cluain Uaine Bheag'' meaning 'Clononey Beg' or 'little Clononey' after the distance and population and low laying land of ...
, three kilometres north of Banagher.
Climate
Banagher has a temperate
In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...
climate. Average daily high temperatures are in July and in January. Precipitation, at an average of 804 mm per annum, is similar to that in much of the midlands and east of Ireland, and is significantly less than the precipitation on the west coast, which averages between 1000 mm and 1250 mm per annum.
Wildlife
In autumn and winter, the extensive flood plain of the Shannon Callows supports a large number of wader
245px, A flock of Dunlins and Red knots">Red_knot.html" ;"title="Dunlins and Red knot">Dunlins and Red knots
Waders or shorebirds are birds of the order Charadriiformes commonly found wikt:wade#Etymology 1, wading along shorelines and mudflat ...
s, swan
Swans are birds of the family (biology), family Anatidae within the genus ''Cygnus''. The swans' closest relatives include the goose, geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form t ...
s, wildfowl
The Anatidae are the biological family of water birds that includes ducks, geese, and swans. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring on all the world's continents except Antarctica. These birds are adapted for swimming, floating on ...
and other bird life. The most obvious of all Shannon birds is the mute swan
The mute swan (''Cygnus olor'') is a species of swan and a member of the waterfowl family Anatidae. It is native to much of Eurosiberia, and (as a rare winter visitor) the far north of Africa. It is an introduced species in North America, home ...
. Also seen are the Eurasian coot
The Eurasian coot (''Fulica atra''), also known as the common coot, or Australian coot, is a member of the rail and crake bird family, the Rallidae. It is found in Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and parts of North Africa. It has a slaty-bla ...
, common moorhen
The common moorhen (''Gallinula chloropus''), also known as the waterhen or swamp chicken, is a bird species in the rail (bird), rail family (Rallidae). It is distributed across many parts of the Old World.
The common moorhen lives around well-v ...
and little grebe
The little grebe (''Tachybaptus ruficollis''), also known as dabchick, is a member of the grebe family of water birds. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''takhus'' "fast" and ''bapto'' "to sink under". The specific ''ruficollis'' is from Latin ...
. The kingfisher
Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly colored birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species found in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, ...
is widespread as are the meadow pipit
The meadow pipit (''Anthus pratensis'') is a small passerine bird, which breeds in much of the Palearctic, from southeastern Greenland and Iceland east to just east of the Ural Mountains in Russia, and south to central France and Romania; an isol ...
and pied wagtail
The white wagtail (''Motacilla alba'') is a small passerine bird in the family Motacillidae, which also includes pipits and longclaws. The species breeds in much of Europe and the Asian Palearctic and parts of North Africa. It has a toehold in ...
. The area has one of the largest concentrations of breeding waders in Ireland including lapwing
Lapwings (subfamily Vanellinae) are any of various ground-nesting birds (family Charadriidae) akin to plovers and dotterels. They range from in length, and are noted for their slow, irregular wingbeats in flight and a shrill, wailing cry. A gro ...
, redshank, common sandpiper
The common sandpiper (''Actitis hypoleucos'') is a small Palearctic wader. This bird and its American sister species, the spotted sandpiper (''A. macularia''), make up the genus ''Actitis''. They are parapatric and replace each other geographic ...
and black-tailed godwit.
The corncrake can be seen at the bridge of Banagher in the summer. Once a common summer visitor to Ireland, corncrakes have suffered drastic population declines over the last few decades and are threatened with global extinction. Conservation efforts have focused on changing harvesting times to avoid the nesting season, May to August. The hay meadows of the callows support large numbers of these birds – one of the few places in the world where this globally threatened species is still common.
In winter, the resident bird population is increased by visitors from north-east Europe, in particular the Eurasian wigeon
The Eurasian wigeon or European wigeon (''Mareca penelope''), also known as the widgeon or the wigeon, is one of three species of wigeon in the dabbling duck genus ''Mareca''. It is common and widespread within its Palearctic range.
Taxonomy
Th ...
and the Greenland subspecies of the white-fronted goose
The greater white-fronted goose (''Anser albifrons'') is a species of goose related to the smaller lesser white-fronted goose (''A. erythropus''). It is named for the patch of white feathers bordering the base of its bill, in fact ''albifrons ...
. Riverside mammals
Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...
are seen frequently and Eurasian otter
The Eurasian otter (''Lutra lutra''), also known as the European otter, Eurasian river otter, common otter, and Old World otter, is a semiaquatic mammal native to Eurasia. The most widely distributed member of the otter subfamily (Lutrinae) of th ...
, American mink
The American mink (''Neogale vison'') is a semiaquatic species of mustelid native to North America, though human intervention has expanded its range to many parts of Europe, Asia and South America. Because of range expansion, the American mink i ...
and red fox
The red fox (''Vulpes vulpes'') is the largest of the true foxes and one of the most widely distributed members of the Order (biology), order Carnivora, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe ...
are common. Trout
Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salmoni ...
and salmon
Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...
are less common in the Shannon than they once were, however pike
Pike, Pikes or The Pike may refer to:
Fish
* Blue pike or blue walleye, an extinct color morph of the yellow walleye ''Sander vitreus''
* Ctenoluciidae, the "pike characins", some species of which are commonly known as pikes
* ''Esox'', genus of ...
is still plentiful and attracts anglers.
Demographics
Banagher was extensively planted by the English, particularly during the periods 1621–1642 and 1650–1690. The plantations had a profound impact on Ireland in several ways. The first was the destruction of the native ruling classes and their replacement with the Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
Ascendancy, of British-origin (mostly English) Protestant landowners. Their position was buttressed by the Penal Laws, which denied political and land-owning rights to Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
s. The dominance of this class in Irish life persisted until the late 18th century, and it voted for the Act of Union with Britain in 1800. As a result, by the early 20th century, Banagher had a mix of Irish of native descent and Irish of English descent and supported two churches, one Catholic and one Protestant, both of which still exist.
During the late 1960s to the early 1980s, several German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
, Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
and Swiss
Swiss may refer to:
* the adjectival form of Switzerland
* Swiss people
Places
* Swiss, Missouri
* Swiss, North Carolina
*Swiss, West Virginia
* Swiss, Wisconsin
Other uses
*Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports
*Swiss Internation ...
settlers were attracted to Banagher, mainly because of its proximity to the River Shannon and associated lifestyle. A number of these are still resident in Banagher. In the early 21st century a number of people from Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...
(for example Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
) moved to the area, and these now make up approximately 4% of the population.
According to the 2011 Census, Banagher had a population of 1,653 (a 1.0% increase on the 2006 Census) with 801 male and 852 female residents.[CSO Census 2011 Results.]
Retrieved 24 September 2012. By 2016, the population had increased further to 1,760 inhabitants.
Economy
The demise of the once-thriving canal and maltings businesses brought about a serious decline in Banagher's fortunes, including a significant population decrease. However, a number of businesses kept many people in the locality employed during lean times. The most notable of these was Bord na Móna
Bord na Móna (; English: "The Peat Board"), is a semi-state company in Ireland, created in 1946 by the Turf Development Act 1946. The company began developing the peatlands of Ireland with the aim to provide economic benefit for Irish Midland c ...
, a semi-state company founded in 1946 to manage the harvesting of peat
Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and is the most efficien ...
from Ireland's bogs
A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main Wetland#Types, types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, ...
, the most extensive of which are located in the midlands. However, the advancement of mechanised harvesting, the exhaustion of the bogs and the closure of a number of peat-fired power stations, means that this is no longer a significant employer in the region. Green Isle Foods had a facility just outside Banagher and provided good employment during the 1970s and 1980s. It was taken out of production some years ago and is now used as a storage facility only. The largest industry in Banagher these days is Banagher Precast Concrete Limited, a company specialising in precast concrete
Precast concrete is a construction product produced by casting concrete in a reusable molding (process), mold or "form" which is then cured in a controlled environment, transported to the construction site and maneuvered into place; examples i ...
structures. The company employs approximately 150 people and was one of the largest concrete firms in the country, employing over 400 people at its peak in 2008. It has supplied components for many major projects, including the Aviva Stadium, Croke Park, Channel Tunnel
The Channel Tunnel (french: Tunnel sous la Manche), also known as the Chunnel, is a railway tunnel that connects Folkestone (Kent, England, UK) with Coquelles ( Hauts-de-France, France) beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. ...
, the Dublin Port Tunnel
The Dublin Tunnel (Irish: ''Tollán Bhaile Átha Cliath''), originally and still commonly known as the Port Tunnel, is a road traffic tunnel in Dublin, Ireland, that forms part of the M50 motorway.
The twin tunnels form a two-lane dual carri ...
, Thomond Park
Thomond Park is a stadium in Limerick in the Irish province of Munster. The stadium is owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union and has Munster Rugby, Shannon RFC and UL Bohemian RFC as tenants. Limerick FC played home games in Thomond Park fr ...
and the Limerick Tunnel
The Limerick Tunnel () is a , twin bore road tunnel underneath the River Shannon on the outskirts of Limerick city. The tunnel forms part of the N18 Limerick Southern Ring Road. The tunnel is tolled.
Construction
Construction was carried out b ...
, and most recently Páirc Uí Chaoimh
Páirc Uí Chaoimh ( ) is a Gaelic games stadium in Cork (city), Cork, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is the home of Cork GAA. The venue, often referred to simply as The Park, is located in Ballintemple, Cork, Ballintemple and is built near to ...
in Cork. Other notable employers include Banagher Sawmills and the cruise liner businesses located at the marina.
Transportation
Banagher is an important crossing point on the River Shannon and consequently experiences a large volume of through traffic.[ Two regional roads meet in Banagher; the R356, which links the N62 and N65 national primary roads and is known as Harbour Street in Banagher and the R439 which links Birr with Banagher and is known as Main Street in Banagher. Harbour Street leads to the road to Shannon Harbour and Main Street begins at the hill at the southern entrance to the town and leads down to the bridge crossing the Shannon.
A railway station opened in Banagher in 1884 as the terminus for the Clara to Banagher line of the Great Southern & Western Railway Company. It operated both a passenger and goods service until 1947 when the passenger service was withdrawn. The station closed completely in 1963.][
Banagher was once a centre for river transportation on the Shannon system. River transportation fell into decline with the advent of rail and road transportation improvements. Banagher is still a centre for river cruisers, with a number of hire companies operating the town's marina.
]
Governance and administrative units
Banagher lies in the local council area of Offaly County Council. Local authorities have responsibility for such matters as planning, local roads, sanitation, and libraries. The Council is an elected body of 21 members with councillors elected from four electoral areas in the county. Banagher lies in the Birr electoral area, which returns five members to the council.
The town lies in the Barony Barony may refer to:
* Barony, the peerage, office of, or territory held by a baron
* Barony, the title and land held in fealty by a feudal baron
* Barony (county division), a type of administrative or geographical division in parts of the British ...
of Garrycastle (''Garraí an Chaisleáin'') and was in the poor law union of Birr. Divided by the road to Birr from Eyrecourt
Eyrecourt, historically known as Donanaghta (), is a village in County Galway, Ireland. Eyrecourt is on the R356 regional road 12 km west of the Banagher bridge over the River Shannon.
History
The Eyres after whom the village is named ...
, its eastern part lies in the townland of Curraghavarna and Portavrolla and its western part in the townland of Banagher or Kylebeg.
Religion
Saint Rynagh's Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
Church, Banagher is in the parish of Gallen and Rynagh (Reynagh), Diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise, within the ecclesiastical province of Armagh. The church was built in 1825.
Saint Paul's Church of Ireland
The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second ...
parish church of Banagher was built in 1829. The parish is in the parish group of Clonfert Cathedral
Clonfert Cathedral is a cathedral of the Church of Ireland in Clonfert, County Galway in Ireland. It is in the ecclesiastical province of Dublin. Previously the cathedral of the Diocese of Clonfert, it is now one of three cathedrals in the Uni ...
which is in the Diocese of Limerick and Killaloe
The Diocese of Limerick and Killaloe (''Full title'': The United Dioceses of Limerick, Ardfert, Aghadoe, Killaloe, Kilfenora, Clonfert, Kilmacduagh and Emly) was a former diocese of the Church of Ireland that was located in mid-western Irela ...
, part of the ecclesiastical province of Dublin.
Culture
Banagher Fair
As part of the charter
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...
of incorporation of 1628, the corporation was given powers to: "hold two fairs, one on the Feast of St. Philip and Jacob, the other on the Feast of St. Simon and Jude, each to continue for two days."[ These feast days equated to 1 May and 28 October. However, a fair was already in existence in Banagher since 1612 and was held in September. These three fairs were certainly still in existence in the mid-1830s, as they were described in a government-commissioned report in 1835.][
The fairs established by the first corporation continued to gain in size and importance during the 18th century and the early part of the 19th century. In 1826, the enormous number of 43,000 sheep was offered for sale at the September fair, with three-quarters of that number being sold.][ ]Pigot's Directory
Pigot's Directory was a major British directory started in 1814 by James Pigot.
Pigot's Directories covered England, Scotland, and Wales in the period before official Civil Registration began and are a valuable source of information regarding all ...
of 1824 described the workings of the fair: "...and there are three fairs; the principal one commences on the 15 September and continues for four days, the first for sheep, the second for horned cattle, the third for horses, and the last day is the country fair for linen, woollens and other merchandise."[OHAS, ''Offaly Towns in 1824 – Pigot's Directory''.]
Retrieved 3 November 2008.
It seems that the fair held in September was the main fair and is the one that has survived to the present. Pope Hennessy described the granting of the charter by Charles I which "empowered them to hold the famous Banagher Great Fair, at which everything from cattle and sheep to boots and basket chairs was on sale. This Fair, the greatest in all the Irish Midlands, began on September 15 and lasted four days. The line of horses tethered on each side of Banagher Main Street stretched from the Shannon river bridge to the crossroads two and a half miles outside the town known as Tailor's Cross."[Pope-Hennessy, James, ''Anthony Trollope'', 1971, p.73.]
The fair had achieved an international reputation by the early 20th century and a local newspaper report of 1909 states "The Banagher Great Fair was a huge success and among those present were Senor Gelline of Milan to make purchase on behalf of the Italian Government, while Mr Rodzanko bought for the Russian Government." The report also stated that "Eighty-nine wagons of horses were entrained at Banagher Railway Station...this representing in round numbers about 500 horses."
Architecture, buildings and structures
Banagher Bridge
The first bridge that is known to have been built at this point was erected as a "spacious stone bridge of 18 arches" by Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair
Ruaidrí mac Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair (Modern Irish: Ruairí Ó Conchúir; anglicized as Rory O'Conor) ( – 2 December 1198) was Kings of Connacht, King of Connacht from 1156 to 1186, and High King of Ireland from 1166 to 1198. He was the l ...
(Anglicised Roderic O'Connor), the King of Connacht
The Kings of Connacht were rulers of the ''cóiced'' (variously translated as portion, fifth, province) of Connacht, which lies west of the River Shannon, Ireland. However, the name only became applied to it in the early medieval era, being name ...
, around 1049.[ However, medieval sources tell of a "bridge of 27 arches of divers(e) architectural form, each different from its fellow", which stood here for over 500 years.][Trodd 1985, p.10.] A stone bridge of 17 arches was certainly constructed in 1685 and this was detailed in profile drawings by Thomas Rhodes in 1833.[
]
The bridge of 1685 featured prominently in the Williamite War in Ireland of the 17th century and was used by Patrick Sarsfield
Patrick Sarsfield, 1st Earl of Lucan, ga, Pádraig Sáirseál, circa 1655 to 21 August 1693, was an Irish soldier, and leading figure in the Jacobite army during the 1689 to 1691 Williamite War in Ireland.
Born into a wealthy Catholic famil ...
to retreat to Connacht after his ambush of a Williamite convoy at Ballyneety in Co. Limerick
"Remember Limerick"
, image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Limerick.svg
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Ireland
, subdivision_type1 = Province
, subdivision_name1 = Munster
, subdivision ...
during the siege of Limerick. Because of its affording Sarsfield and his army a method of advance and retreat, the old bridge was often referred to as ''Sarsfield's Bridge''. This bridge was blown up in 1843 by gunpowder by a section of the Corps of Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...
. The abutment
An abutment is the substructure at the ends of a bridge span or dam supporting its superstructure. Single-span bridges have abutments at each end which provide vertical and lateral support for the span, as well as acting as retaining walls ...
of this bridge can still be seen adjacent to Cromwell's Castle on the Connacht side of the river.
The present bridge of seven arches was erected by the Commissioners for the Improvement of Navigation of the Shannon in 1841–1843. The engineer was Thomas Rhodes, one of the commissioners of the Shannon Navigation, whose name can be seen on many of the bridges over the Shannon and on surviving lock mechanisms, notably at Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
and Athlone locks. This bridge was reconstructed and widened jointly by Offaly County Council
Offaly County Council ( ga, Comhairle Chontae Uíbh Fhailí) is the authority responsible for local government in County Offaly, Ireland. As a county council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. The council is responsible for housi ...
and Galway County Council
Galway County Council ( ga, Comhairle Chontae na Gaillimhe) is the authority responsible for local government in County Galway, Ireland. As a county council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. The council is responsible for hous ...
in 1971. Their work included replacing massive stone parapets on either side of the bridge with aluminium railings, and the removal of a swivel arch which had allowed passage for masted boats.
A heritage review of the bridges of County Offaly in 2005 described Banagher Bridge as of national heritage significance, of high architectural merit and demonstrative of mid-19th century construction work by a government body. It states "This is the only six-arch masonry span in the county. It is an interesting contrast with the 1750s bridge at Shannonbridge. Although both are approximately the same length, Banagher Bridge achieves the crossing with fewer spans (six as opposed to 16). It also has the longest masonry arch spans of all the county's bridges, averaging 17.88 m".
All of the castellations around and near the bridge were built to protect it, including Cromwell's Castle, The Salt Battery (Fort Eliza), Fort Falkland and the Martello Tower. However, the guns mounted on these forts could be used to destroy the bridge if necessary, as well as to bombard attacking forces on the river.[
A narrow ]quay
A wharf, quay (, also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more berths (mooring location ...
passes under the old swivel section of the bridge from Waller's Quay to the marina. A well-worn handrail offers the pedestrian some protection against a slip into the river. This rail has been known as the ''Duke's Rail'' since in 1897 the then Duke of York, later to become George V
George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936.
Born duri ...
, paid a state visit to Ireland. The royal party travelled up-river from Portumna
Portumna ( - meaning 'the landing place of the oak') is a market town in the south-east of County Galway, Ireland, on the border with and linked by a bridge to County Tipperary. The town is located to the west of the point where the River Shann ...
on the steamship ''Countess of Mayo''. Disembarking at Waller's Quay, the Duke was received by Lord Rosse
William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse (17 June 1800 – 31 October 1867), was an Irish astronomer, naturalist, and engineer. He was president of the Royal Society (UK), the most important association of naturalists in the world in the nineteenth ...
, the Lord Lieutenant of King's County
This is a list of those who have served as Lord Lieutenant of King's County.
There were lieutenants of counties in Ireland until the reign of James II, when they were renamed governors. The office of Lord Lieutenant was recreated on 23 August 1 ...
. The party had to traverse the narrow quay under the bridge to get to Banagher Railway Station, and undoubtedly made good use of the ''Duke's Rail''. The stretch of the Shannon from Portumna to Banagher was known for some time after as the ''Duke of York's Route''.
Barracks
This former constabulary barracks was built around 1800. Irregular in plan and now in ruins, it comprises a partially roughcast rendered rubble limestone enclosing wall with a cut stone segmental-headed entrance to the east and is situated to the south of the River Shannon, adjacent to the bridge. Remains of structures within the enclosure include a barrel-vaulted powder magazine built around 1806, with a gun platform above. These
walls are thought to be the perimeter walls of Fort Falkland from 1642.[''County Development Plan 2009–2015: Record of Protected Structures.'', Offaly County Council, 2008.]
Retrieved 14 June 2010. According to Pigot's Directory of 1824, the barracks housed two companies of foot, had apartments for three officers, a bomb and waterproof magazine and an artillery battery mounting three 12-pound guns. The Directory also states that the barracks was formerly a nunnery
A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican C ...
(possibly that of Saint Rynagh, which would have been founded around 580) and communicated with ''Saint Rynagh's Old Abbey'' by a subterranean passage of some 400 yards. Although the British garrison had left the town in 1863, the barracks were looted and burned shortly after the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty
The 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty ( ga , An Conradh Angla-Éireannach), commonly known in Ireland as The Treaty and officially the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was an agreement between the government of the ...
of 1921–22.
Bow-fronted Georgian houses
Banagher has two bow-fronted Georgian buildings dating from the mid-to-late 18th century and both are listed as protected structures.[ One is a detached seven-bay, two-storey building, called Crank House, due to its location on the corner of Main Street and Crank Road. It was restored in the early 1990s by the Offaly West Enterprise Co-operative Society and opened in 1992. It was formerly used as the headquarters for Crann, an NGO dedicated to planting native trees and protecting Ireland's woodlands. It is now used by the West Offaly Partnership as a Community Enterprise Centre which includes an exhibition hall, tourist office, retail and enterprise units and a hostel. The building is also the location of the Midlands branch office of Birdwatch Ireland.
The second of these buildings is a terraced, three-bay, three-storey house with an adjoining four-bay, two-storey coach house, which still has its original limestone carriage arch.][ It has been used as a hotel since the early 19th century and was home to ]Anthony Trollope
Anthony Trollope (; 24 April 1815 – 6 December 1882) was an English novelist and civil servant of the Victorian era. Among his best-known works is a series of novels collectively known as the '' Chronicles of Barsetshire'', which revolves ar ...
during his stay in Banagher in the 1840s. It has a prominent location next to the marina and close to the bridge. Long called the 'Shannon Hotel', the name was changed to 'The Royal Shannon' in the 1990s. It has ceased to trade as a hotel and is now falling into neglect.
Charlotte's Way
Charlotte's Way, formerly known as Hill House, is located close to Saint Paul's Church of Ireland
The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second ...
church. This house was once the home of Charlotte Brontë
Charlotte Brontë (, commonly ; 21 April 1816 – 31 March 1855) was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood and whose novels became classics of English literature.
She enlisted i ...
's husband, Mr Nicholls, who returned to Banagher after Charlotte's death. Nicholls remarried and lived at Hill House until his death in 1906. The house was sold to a Major Bell in 1919. He died in 1944 and his wife inherited the property. Florence Bell died in 1959. This connection to Charlotte Brontë and the Brontë family
The Brontës () were a nineteenth-century literary family, born in the village of Thornton and later associated with the village of Haworth in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. The sisters, Charlotte (1816–1855), Emily (1818–1848) ...
is revealed in its present name. It is a detached three-bay two-storey house, built in 1753, with a gabled central bay to the façade with modern porch and single-bay two-storey wing to the south and two-bay two-storey wing to the north.[ It is now used as a bed and breakfast.][Byrne, Michael, ''Charlotte Brontë – and her association with Banagher'', OHAS.]
Retrieved 3 November 2008.
Cromwell's Castle
The structure that stands on what is known locally as the Canal Bank, called Cromwell's Castle, primarily derives its current form from the Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
. Similar to the Martello Tower that stands opposite it, on the same bank of the river, Cromwell's Castle was largely reconstructed as a defensive position to repel any invading fleet coming upstream towards Banagher.
The English had established many forts on the Leinster bank of the river, including Fort Frankford and, later, Fort Falkland (see Military History). The garrison at Fort Falkland was overrun by the forces of the Confederate Catholics in 1642 but was recaptured by Cromwell's army in 1650. The Cromwellians established a new fortification on the Connacht bank of the river leading up to the plantation of Connacht in 1654. The castle was modified in 1817 to enable it to mount artillery with a platform for a 24-pound traversing gun constructed on its roof. Its interior became a powder magazine and housed a garrison of 20 soldiers.[
Having fallen somewhat into disrepair, the structure came under the care of the Banagher Branch of the Offaly Historical Society in the 1980s and considerable restoration work has been undertaken since then. The Canal Bank on which it stands is the property of the people of Banagher and is held in trust as a public amenity. Considerable works around the castle have also taken place and the castle, park and riverside walk are open to the public.
]
Cuba Court
Cuba Court, also known as Cuba House, was a house dating from the 1730s and may have been constructed by one George Frazer, a former Governor of Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
and perhaps to a design of Sir Edward Lovett Pearce
Sir Edward Lovett Pearce (1699 – 7 December 1733) was an Irish architect, and the chief exponent of Palladianism in Ireland. He is thought to have initially studied as an architect under his father's first cousin, Sir John Vanbrugh. He is be ...
, who designed the Irish Houses of Parliament
Parliament House ( ga, Tithe na Parlaiminte) in Dublin, Ireland, was home to the Parliament of Ireland, and since 1803 has housed the Bank of Ireland. It was the world's first purpose-built bicameral parliament house. It is located at Colleg ...
in Dublin. It is certainly known to have been constructed with money from the sugar plantations in Cuba.[''Ireland of the Welcomes'', Vol. 28 no.6, November – December 1979.] In his biography of Anthony Trollope, James Pope-Hennessy describes Cuba Court as "a fine example of an Irish country-house of the mid-eighteenth century in the manner of the Dublin architect, Pierce (sic). The building contained...two circular rooms...and an avenue of lime trees led to the front door."[Pope-Hennessy, p. 74.] The Belfast writer, Maurice Craig, in his 1976 book ''Classic Irish Houses of the Middle Size'', describes Cuba Court as "perhaps the most splendidly masculine house in the whole country."[Craig, Maurice, J., ''Classic Irish Houses of the Middle Size'', 1976, Ashfield Press, Dublin, p.94.]
Towards the end of the 18th century, Cuba Court was the home of Denis Bowes Daly, who was a prominent member of the local ascendancy. Prior to his death in 1821 he had leased Cuba Court to the Army Medical Board on a 61-year lease. The building was little used as a hospital and the Medical Board was quite happy to give it up to the Commissioners of Education for the Royal School, which had eventually been established as a result of the Royal Charter
A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, bu ...
of 1621.
Charlotte Brontë
Charlotte Brontë (, commonly ; 21 April 1816 – 31 March 1855) was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood and whose novels became classics of English literature.
She enlisted i ...
spent her honeymoon at Cuba Court in 1854 following her marriage to Arthur Bell Nicholls (See Charlotte Brontë). She noted of Cuba Court: "It is very large and looks externally like a gentleman's country seat – within most of the rooms are lofty and spacious, and some – the drawing room and dining room are handsomely and commodiously furnished. The passages look desolate and bare – our bedroom, a great room of the ground floor, would have looked gloomy when we were shown into it but for the turf fire that was burning in the wide old chimney."[
During the 1820s, the Royal School at Cuba Court was attended by Sir ]William Wilde
Sir William Robert Wills Wilde FRCSI (March 1815 – 19 April 1876) was an Irish oto- ophthalmologic surgeon and the author of significant works on medicine, archaeology and folklore, particularly concerning his native Ireland. He was the fat ...
, who later married the poet Jane Francesca Agnes Elgee. The couple had two sons: Willie and Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...
, and a daughter, Isola Francesca, who died in childhood.[Ó Broin, Gearóid, ''Banagher's Remarkable Associations'', Ireland's Own Summer Annual, 1988.] Another pupil at the school was William Bulfin, the journalist and writer associated with Argentina through his work ''Tales of the Pampas'', who attended in the 1870s. His son, Eamon Bulfin
Eamon Bulfin (1892–1968) was an Argentina, Argentine-born Irish republican. He was the son of writer William Bulfin (1864–1910) of Birr, County Offaly, Birr, in County Offaly (then called King's County). His father had emigrated to Argentin ...
was one of the main participants in the 1916 Easter Rising
The Easter Rising ( ga, Éirí Amach na Cásca), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with the a ...
in Dublin and was sentenced to death, but this was commuted to deportation to Argentina where he had been born.
Due to the Irish policy on rates at the time, the house was unroofed in 1946 and this hastened its demise. Pope Hennessy described Cuba Court in 1971: "Like so many of Ireland's great houses, Cuba Court is now being slowly but deliberately demolished. The lime trees have long since been hacked down."[ In spite of this, it was described as "a superb ruin that could tell the history of Ascendancy Ireland", as late as 1979.][ It was eventually acquired by a local businessman and demolished in the 1980s. Craig describes the loss of Cuba Court as "particularly to be lamented". A development of four houses was built on the site at Cuba Avenue in 2003. An archaeological survey revealed nothing of significance.
]
Fort Eliza
Fort Eliza, also known as the Salt Battery, is a freestanding five-sided four-gun battery, constructed around 1812, and standing on the east side of the River Shannon. Three sides face the river and were formed of broad parapets. The other two sides meet at the rear salient angle at a guardhouse, which is now ruined. The battery is surrounded by a dry moat, with the entrance originally across a drawbridge close to the guardhouse. At the centre of the enclosure was the brick-vaulted powder magazine. This fort, combined with Cromwell's Castle, the Martello tower and Fort Falkland would have protected both the town and the river crossing from all angles.[
]
Martello Tower
Martello towers (or simply Martellos) are small defensive forts
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
built in several countries of the British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...
during the 19th century, from the time of the Napoleonic Wars onwards. They stand up to high (with two floors) and typically had a garrison of one officer and 15–25 men. Their round structure and thick walls of solid masonry made them resistant to cannon fire, while their height made them an ideal platform for a single heavy artillery
Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...
piece, mounted on the flat roof and able to traverse a 360° arc. Fear of an invasion by Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
reached panic proportions amongst the authorities in Ireland and England in 1804 and the first towers were built in Ireland that year.[Enoch, Victor J., ''The Martello Towers of Ireland'', 1970, Eason & Son Ltd.]
In case an invasion fleet tried to sail up the River Shannon, two towers were built on the middle reaches of the river to defend its crossing points. One of these was located at Meelick and the other at Banagher. The tower at Banagher is located on the west (Galway) bank of the river and measures in diameter and height. The tower was described in 1970 as having "...no corbels, a ridge around the top, much vegetation growing around it, and its general condition is fair."[
]
Memorials and sculptures
A memorial in the form of a stone Celtic Cross
The Celtic cross is a form of Christian cross featuring a nimbus or ring that emerged in Ireland, France and Great Britain in the Early Middle Ages. A type of ringed cross, it became widespread through its use in the stone high crosses er ...
is situated at the eastern side of the town. It is known as the Barnes & McCormack Memorial and dedicated to two local men who were executed in Birmingham in 1940 for their involvement in the Coventry Explosion of 1939 in which five people died. The executions caused a public outcry in Britain and internationally as the men had admitted to constructing the bomb, which was intended to be used to destroy a power station, but claimed not to be involved in planting it. The cross was erected in 1963 by The Barnes & McCormack Memorial Committee in association with The National Graves Committee and bears an inscription in both Irish and English: "In commemoration of Staff Captain James McCormack and Company Captain Peter Barnes, Irish Republican Army, who for love of country, were executed by the British Government at Winson Green Prison
HM Prison Birmingham is a Prison security categories in the United Kingdom, Category B men's prison, located in the Winson Green area of Birmingham, England. The prison was operated by G4S from 2011, before it was returned to HM Prison and Probat ...
, Birmingham on the 7th February 1940." The monument was sculpted by Desmond Broe of Dublin and features images of the two men, a female head representing Ireland and symbols of the four provinces.[
In December 2011 the Zimbabwean artist, Parazai Havatitye, a sculptor who specialises in wood carving, created a sculpture from a tree stump, entitled ''The Musician'', which is dedicated to the musician ]Johnny McEvoy
Johnny McEvoy (born 24 April 1945) is an Irish singer and entertainer of Country and Irish genre born in Banagher, County Offaly, Ireland.
Personal life
Johnny was born in 1945, one of four children with two sisters and a brother to John a ...
, who was born in Banagher in 1945. The sculpture is located on the main road, at the gate of the marina.
Places of worship
Arising from its history as a plantation garrison town, Banagher has active Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
and Church of Ireland communities. The lane between Market Square and Pucka Lane (formerly Queen Street) is called Church Lane and it is here that the first church in Banagher was sited. The 6th-century abbey of St. Rynagh is now in ruins. This church later became the Church of the Blessed Mary in the 16th century, and was also known as the ''Church of Banagher''. According to tradition, the ''Cross of Banagher'' once stood next to a crystal spring in the Market Square. The surviving sandstone shaft of the cross was found in the churchyard by a Birr antiquarian named Thomas Cooke in the 1840s and was in reasonable condition then as he described it in great detail in an article in the ''Transactions of the Kilkenny Archaeological Society'' in 1853. The stone that he found appears to have been part of a sepulchral or commemorative cross, set up at Banagher well to record the death of Bishop William O'Duffy, who was killed by a fall from his horse in 1297. Cooke had become so perturbed by the deterioration of the stone by 1852 that he had it removed to his residence in Birr. It is now housed in the National Museum of Ireland
The National Museum of Ireland ( ga, Ard-Mhúsaem na hÉireann) is Ireland's leading museum institution, with a strong emphasis on national and some international archaeology, Irish history, Irish art, culture, and natural history. It has thre ...
in Dublin.
The Church of Ireland community had worshipped at the old church, which was in a ruinous state by 1829 when the new St. Paul's Church was built at the top of the hill, overlooking the town.[ The new Catholic church of St. Rynagh's had been constructed some three years earlier and on land given by the Armstrongs, the most influential and wealthiest Protestant family in the area, who consistently and energetically advocated ]Catholic Emancipation
Catholic emancipation or Catholic relief was a process in the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, and later the combined United Kingdom in the late 18th century and early 19th century, that involved reducing and removing many of the restricti ...
and repeal of the Penal Laws. This situation demonstrated the friendly relations that existed between the two communities in Banagher during those difficult times for Catholics in Ireland.
St. Rynagh's Church houses a work by the well-known German sculptor, Imogen Stuart
Imogen Stuart (née Werner; born 1927) is a German-Irish sculptor. She is one of Ireland's best known sculptors with work in public and private collections throughout Europe and the U.S..
She was awarded the Mary McAuley medal in 2010 by Preside ...
, called ''The Madonna and Child'', a mandorla
A mandorla is an almond-shaped aureola, i.e. a frame that surrounds the totality of an iconographic figure. It is usually synonymous with '' vesica'', a lens shape. Mandorlas often surround the figures of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary in trad ...
carved in 1974. The most outstanding feature of St. Paul's Church is the ''Window of the Resurrection'', a stained-glass window commemorating the Bell family that was originally intended for Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...
in London.[Madden, J, ''Banagher Heritage Trail'', Tourist Guide to Banagher.]
Literature and the arts
Literary figures to have stayed at Banagher include Anthony Trollope
Anthony Trollope (; 24 April 1815 – 6 December 1882) was an English novelist and civil servant of the Victorian era. Among his best-known works is a series of novels collectively known as the '' Chronicles of Barsetshire'', which revolves ar ...
, who used the town as an inspiration for his first novel ''The Macdermots of Ballycloran
''The Macdermots of Ballycloran'' is a novel by Anthony Trollope. It was Trollope's first published novel, which he began in September 1843 and completed by June 1845. However, it was not published until 1847. The novel was "an abysmal failur ...
'' and Charlotte Brontë
Charlotte Brontë (, commonly ; 21 April 1816 – 31 March 1855) was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood and whose novels became classics of English literature.
She enlisted i ...
who married a curate who was raised in Banagher. The town is the source of the phrase: "Well, that beats Banagher!"[Cobham Brewer, Ebenezer, ''Wordsworth Dictionary of Phrase and Fable'', Wordsworth Reference, p.89.]
Banagher has an annual poetry festival called ''Readings from the Pallet'' which takes place in local bars. The town was one of the settings for the series '' Pure Mule'', as featured on RTÉ television
RTÉ Television is a department of Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), the Republic of Ireland's state controlled national broadcaster. Its first channel was Teilifís Éireann, which began broadcasting on 31 December 1961. Since the 1960s, RT ...
. The mini-series
A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...
was an RTÉ production and shot in 2005 in Banagher, Birr 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 ...
. The series was favourably received by some critics, although some locals maintained that it portrayed Midlanders in a bad light.
Johnny McEvoy is a singer and songwriter of the country and Irish
Country and Irish is a musical subgenre in Ireland formed by mixing North American country-style music with Irish influences. It is especially popular in the rural Midlands and North-West of the country, but less so in urban areas or in the South- ...
genre who was born in Banagher in 1945. He has had a number of chart hits since the 1960s and has toured both in Ireland and abroad.
The folk-singer Roger Whittaker
Roger Henry Brough Whittaker (born 22 March 1936) is a British singer-songwriter and musician, who was born in Nairobi to English parents. His music is an eclectic mix of folk music and popular songs in addition to radio airplay hits. He is bes ...
took up residence in Banagher for about 10 years until 2006. During the time he purchased and renovated Lairakeen House.
Mark Boylan is a singer/songwriter from Banagher. He was born in 1997 and first came to prominence when he wrote the theme song for the 2011 Cheltenham horse racing festival in England. Boylan went on to write a song for The Breeders' Cup, and performed the song at the event which took place at Churchill Downs
Churchill Downs is a horse racing complex located on Central Avenue in south Louisville, Kentucky, United States, famed for hosting the annual Kentucky Derby. It officially opened in 1875 and was named for Samuel Churchill, whose family was ...
in Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...
in November 2011.
In the past Banagher was noted for a number of crafts, including pottery
Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and por ...
and a popular pottery company, called Crannóg Pottery, was established at the West End by Valerie Landon in the early 1950s. It closed down in the 1980s.
Anthony Trollope
Banagher's greatest literary association is probably with Anthony Trollope, who had been employed by the General Post Office
The General Post Office (GPO) was the state postal system and telecommunications carrier of the United Kingdom until 1969. Before the Acts of Union 1707, it was the postal system of the Kingdom of England, established by Charles II in 1660. ...
in 1835 and was sent to Ireland in September 1841 at the age of 26. Trollope had had an unhappy life up to that point and remarked in his autobiography: "This was the first good fortune of my life." After landing in Dublin on 15 September, he travelled by canal-boat to Shannon Harbour and then on to Banagher, arriving on 16 September, which coincided with the second day of the annual Great Fair. Although very much smaller than the town of Birr, which is only eight miles away, Banagher had been chosen as the base of a Postal Surveyorship, probably because its position on the Shannon offered easy access by can boat to Dublin and Limerick.[
Trollope established himself at The Shannon Hotel, a long bow-fronted ]Georgian
Georgian may refer to:
Common meanings
* Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country)
** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group
** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians
**Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
building, which was over 100 years old at that time. The hotel, which still exists, is located at the bottom of the town, close to the river. The post office where Trollope worked was at the top of the town, which is a few minutes away on foot. Next to the post office was a two-roomed bungalow which was used by the Postal Surveyor and his new deputy as their working headquarters. This building is often erroneously considered to have been the residence of Trollope himself.[
Although Trollope's initial knowledge of Ireland was limited, he soon noted that the Irish were good-humoured and clever – "...the working classes very much more intelligent than those in England. They were not, as they were reputed to be, ]spendthrift
A spendthrift (also profligate or prodigal) is someone who is extravagant and recklessly wasteful with money, often to a point where the spending climbs well beyond his or her means. "Spendthrift" derives from an obsolete sense of the word "thrift" ...
s, but were economical, hospitable and kind." Their chief defects, he judged, were that they could switch to being very perverse and very irrational and that they were "but little bound by the love of truth."[
Trollope remained stationed at Banagher until late 1844 when he was transferred to ]Clonmel
Clonmel () is the county town and largest settlement of County Tipperary, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is noted in Irish history for its resistance to the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, Cromwellian army which sacked the towns of Dro ...
. It was while in Banagher that Trollope began to write his first novel, ''The Macdermots of Ballycloran
''The Macdermots of Ballycloran'' is a novel by Anthony Trollope. It was Trollope's first published novel, which he began in September 1843 and completed by June 1845. However, it was not published until 1847. The novel was "an abysmal failur ...
''. He had begun to contemplate this novel whilst walking outside Drumsna
Drumsna ( which translates as ''the ridge of the swimming place'') is a village in County Leitrim, Ireland. It is situated 6 km east of Carrick-on-Shannon on the River Shannon and is located off the N4 National primary route which li ...
in County Leitrim
County Leitrim ( ; gle, Contae Liatroma) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Connacht and is part of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the village of Leitrim. Leitrim County Council is the local authority for the ...
where the ruins of Ballycloran House stood into the 1840s and were still there in the 1970s. Trollope had been up in Leitrim inspecting the accounts of an errant postmaster. He thought the ruins of Ballycloran "one of the most melancholy spots I had ever visited" and he later described it in the first chapter of his novel. Although his first novel was initially unsuccessful, Trollope was undeterred and in all, went on to write forty-seven novels, as well as dozens of short stories and a few books on travel. He returned to England in 1856 and by the mid-1860s had reached a fairly senior position within the Post Office hierarchy. Postal history credits him with introducing the pillar box
A pillar box is a type of free-standing post box. They are found in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories, and, less commonly, in many members of the Commonwealth of Nations such as Cyprus, India, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, Malta, New Z ...
(the ubiquitous bright red mail-box) to Britain. Anthony Trollope died in London in 1882 and is buried at Kensal Green Cemetery
Kensal Green Cemetery is a cemetery in the Kensal Green area of Queens Park in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. Inspired by Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, it was founded by the barrister George Frederic ...
.
Charlotte Brontë
Charlotte Brontë
Charlotte Brontë (, commonly ; 21 April 1816 – 31 March 1855) was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood and whose novels became classics of English literature.
She enlisted i ...
had a brief association with Banagher in the mid-1850s when she married one Arthur Bell Nicholls, her father's curate
A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy w ...
. Nicholls was born of Scottish parents in County Antrim
County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...
in 1818. He was orphaned early and subsequently brought up by his uncle, Alan Bell, in Banagher. Alan Bell was headmaster at the Royal School at Cuba Court at that time.[ The couple honeymooned in Ireland and stayed at Cuba Court for a period in June 1854. According to Pope Hennessy, Mrs Nicholls disliked both Banagher and its inhabitants, although she greatly admired the surrounding countryside.
If Bell Nicholls was a poor unknown ]curate
A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy w ...
in England – in Banagher he was a member of a respectable family. In a letter quoted by Elizabeth Gaskell
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (''née'' Stevenson; 29 September 1810 – 12 November 1865), often referred to as Mrs Gaskell, was an English novelist, biographer and short story writer. Her novels offer a detailed portrait of the lives of many st ...
in her book ''The Life of Charlotte Brontë'', Charlotte wrote: "My dear husband, too, appears in a new light in his own country. More than once I have had deep pleasure in hearing his praises on all sides. Some of the old servants and followers of the family tell me I am a most fortunate person; for that I have got one of the best gentlemen in the country... I trust I feel thankful to God for having enabled me to make what seems a right choice; and I pray to be enabled to repay as I ought the affectionate devotion of a truthful, honourable man."
In January 1855, Brontë discovered she was pregnant. It was accompanied by severe illness and she died on 31 March 1855, officially from tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
. Mr Nicholls remained with Brontë's father for a further six years before returning to Banagher in 1861, taking with him his wife's portrait, her wedding dress (of which a copy has been made), some of Charlotte's letters and other mementoes. Forty years later, when the critic Clement Shorter
Clement King Shorter (19 July 1857 – 19 November 1926) was a British journalist and literary critic.
After editing the '' Illustrated London News'', Shorter founded and edited ''Sketch'', ''The Sphere'', and ''Tatler''.
Biography
Clement S ...
prepared to write ''Charlotte Brontë and Her Circle'', he found at Banagher among other relics, two diaries of Emily and Anne Brontë, Anne, in a tin box, and some of Charlotte's minute childhood writings wrapped in newspaper at the bottom of a drawer.[
]
James Pope Hennessy
James Pope-Hennessy came to Banagher in 1970 to write his biography of Anthony Trollope. Pope Hennessy had published his first book, ''London Fabric'' in 1939, for which he was awarded the Hawthornden Prize and was a well-established biographer and travel writer by the time he arrived in Banagher. Among his works were a biography of Mary of Teck, Queen Mary for which he was rewarded by being created a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in 1960, ''Verandah'' (1964) a biography of his grandfather, the Irish colonial governor John Pope Hennessy and ''Sins of the Fathers'' (1967), an account of the Atlantic slave traffickers.
Like Trollope before him, Pope Hennessy took rooms at The Shannon Hotel, near the river and set about trying to capture the essence of the town which had inspired Trollope's first novel, ''The Macdermots of Ballycloran''. He proved to be a very popular figure in the town, evidenced by the fact that he was asked to adjudicate at a local beauty pageant and the horse fair. Pope Hennessy gives particular mention to the Corcoran family, the proprietors of The Shannon Hotel in the 1960s and 1970s, for their help in the production of his work. They sold the hotel in 1977.
Pope Hennessy stayed in Banagher from March 1970 to April 1971 and largely completed his study of Trollope during this time. The finished biography, ''Anthony Trollope'', won the Whitbread Award for Biography in 1972 and is largely regarded as Pope Hennessy's finest work since ''Queen Mary''. Pope Hennessy grew very fond of Banagher and returned to stay at The Shannon Hotel several times before his premature death in 1974. This is illustrated by his description of Banagher in ''Anthony Trollope'': "...in Trollope's words, Banagher then seemed 'little more than a village'. It retains a quality of friendly village life to this day and can have changed little since Trollope's time, save that its population has declined to eleven hundred."[
]
Sir Jonah Barrington
Jonah Barrington (judge), Sir Jonah Barrington was born in 1760 near Abbeyleix in the County Laois, Queen's County (Co. Laois). He was first elected to Parliament as a member for Tuam in 1790. He lost this seat in 1798 and was elected as a member for Banagher in 1799. He voted against the Acts of Union 1800, Act of Union in 1801 and as a result, he was deprived of his £1,000 a year sinecure in the Custom house, Customs House and this also stopped his further advancement.[ In 1809 he published, in five parts, the first volume of the ''Historic Memoirs of Ireland''. It is thought that he was induced to delay the second volume – the English government shrinking from the exposure of their conduct in carrying the Act of Union, and it was understood that to purchase his silence he was permitted to reside in France from about 1815.
In 1827, he published two volumes of ''Personal Sketches of His Own Times''. In 1830, by an address from both Houses of Parliament, he was removed from the Bench, in consequence of well-proven misappropriation of public money. The third volume of ''Personal Sketches'' appeared in 1833 as did the delayed volume of his ''Historic Memoirs''. This book was subsequently reproduced in a cheaper form as ''The Rise and Fall of the Irish Nation''. His works are interesting, racy, and valuable – although his statements of fact cannot always be depended on – containing much of personal incident, related in a fascinating style. He died at Versailles (city), Versailles on 8 April 1834.
]
In popular culture
The town of Banagher is most likely the source of a phrase that is widely known in many English speaking countries in the world. "That beats Banagher!" is a common reaction to something extraordinary or to describe something that surpasses everything. The most commonly proposed explanation is that Banagher was entitled to send two members to Parliament following its charter of incorporation in 1628. It was known as an infamous pocket borough where the members were representative of the landed class, or indeed nominated by the local lord, without a vote taking place at all. When a member of the house spoke of a family (or rotten) borough, it was not unusual for someone to reply "Well, that beats Banagher!"[
An alternative explanation is suggested, whereby there was an Irish minstrel called Bannagher, who was famous for telling wonderful stories; and a line from W.B. Yeats gives this theory some credence: "'Well', says he, 'to gratify them I will. So just a morsel. But Jack, this beats Bannagher.'" There is also an entry in Captain Francis Grose's ''Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue'' of 1785 which says: "He beats Banaghan; an Irish saying of one who tells wonderful stories. Perhaps Banaghan was a minstrel famous for dealing in the marvellous".
There are numerous uses of the phrase in literature, including Trollope's ''The Kelly's and the O'Kellys'' (1848), p. 221; James Joyce's ''Finnegans Wake'' (1939), p. 87.31; James Plunkett's ''Farewell Companions'' (1977), p. 293 and Edna O'Brien's ''Down by the River'' (1996), p. 1.
The phrase has a riposte: "And Banagher beats the Devil!". The origins of this are more difficult to trace but it does feature in a work by the Irish writer Brian Oswald Donn-Byrne, ''Messer Marco Polo'' (1925), p. 25, and it is in common usage in Ireland. Anthony Trollope, Trollope asserted on his arrival in Ireland, "I was to live at a place called Banagher on the Shannon which I had heard of because of its having once been conquered, though it had heretofore conquered everything, including the Devil". John O'Donovan, in an Ordnance Survey letter for King's County in 1838, attempts to trace the origins of the name Banagher. He states: "Of all the words which enter into Irish nomenclature Beannchair seems the most difficult of explanation" and goes on to say "This name 'beats the Devil.'" M.F. Kenny in his 2003 book ''Marathon Marriage'' uses a story of the devil losing a game of cards to a blacksmith named Banagher at the ''Black Stile'' at Garry Castle on the road between Banagher and Birr, as an explanation for the phrase.
]
Education
St. Rynagh's National school (Ireland), National School (NS) caters for children between the ages of 4 and 12 and accommodates approximately 200 students.[Offaly County Council – Offaly County Development Plan – Banagher Town, 2006, p.71.]
Retrieved 3 November 2008. Secondary education is provided by Banagher College (Coláiste na Sionna), a multi-denominational school under the responsibility of Laois and Offaly Education and Training Board. Banagher College is an amalgamation of La Sainte Union Secondary School and St. Rynagh's Community College. La Sainte Union is a voluntary Catholic School run by the Sisters of Holy Union Sisters, La Sainte-Union des Sacrés-Coeurs, a congregation founded in France in 1826 by Abbé Jean-Baptiste Debrabant to promote Christian education. The school was their first in Ireland and opened its doors in 1863 in a house on Main Street when the Abbé arrived with Mother Anatolie Badger and three sisters of the order.[
St Rynagh's CC, originally known as Banagher Vocational School, opened in 1953 with 40 students enrolling under the guidance of the first principal, Ms Elsie Naughton. Amalgamation discussions began in 1999 and by November 2005 it was agreed that a new school be constructed on the La Sainte Union site. The school accommodates approximately 500 students.
]
Sport
Banagher is home to St Rynagh's GAA, St Rynagh's GAA Club, which was founded in 1961 and represents the parishes of Banagher and Cloghan, County Offaly, Cloghan, with hurling played at Banagher and Gaelic football, football at Cloghan. St Rynagh's has won 20 Offaly Senior Hurling Championships (Sean Robins Cup) and dominated senior hurling in the county from the mid-1960s to the early 1990s. Outside of the county, St Rynagh's were the inaugural winners of the Leinster Senior Club Hurling Championship, in 1971 and have won the title on a further three occasions, 1973, 1983 and 1994. The club also contested the first All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championship final in 1971, losing to Roscrea GAA, Roscrea from County Tipperary. Three St Rynagh's players have captained the Offaly county hurling team to All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship, All-Ireland success, Padraig Horan in 1981, Martin Hanamy in 1994 and Hubert Rigney in 1998. A number of St Rynagh's players have also won GAA All Stars Awards, All Stars – Martin Hanamy (3), Aidan Fogarty (Offaly hurler), Aidan Fogarty (2), Damien Martin, Padraig Horan, Hubert Rigney and Michael Duignan (hurler), Michael Duignan. Damien Martin was the Goalkeeper (Gaelic games), goalkeeper on the first All Stars team in 1971, effectively making him the first ever GAA All Star.
Banagher schools have won the All-Ireland Vocational Schools Championship on seven occasions. Banagher College were the most recent winners of the senior championship in 2010, with Banagher having won on three previous occasions, in 1985, 1986 and 1989. Banagher also won a junior championship in 1984 and St Rynagh's Banagher won a junior championship in 2004.
In 1910, Banagher won the Offaly Senior Football Championship title, playing as Banagher.Offaly Senior Football Championship Roll of Honour from Offaly GAA Website.
Retrieved 3 November 2008.
Soccer is also played in Banagher and the Banagher United club fields teams in the Midlands Senior and Junior Leagues.
A billiards and snooker hall is located between The Shannon Hotel and the Marina. There is a pitch and putt course located adjacent to Cromwell's Castle on the Canal Bank and part of the river on this bank has been enclosed to form a swimming pool. There is also a sub aqua club in the town.
See also
* List of towns and villages in the Republic of Ireland, List of towns and villages in Ireland
* St. Rynagh's GAA, St. Rynagh's GAA Club
* Banagher (Parliament of Ireland constituency)
References
External links
Offaly County Council – Banagher Town
Offaly Historical & Archaeological Society
{{River Shannon
Towns and villages in County Offaly
Marinas in the Republic of Ireland
Populated places on the River Shannon