Ederney () is a village situated primarily in the

townland A townland ( ga, baile fearainn; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a small geographical division of land, historically and currently used in Ireland and in the Western Isles in Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of Gaelic origi ...

s of Drumkeen and of Ederny in

County Fermanagh County Fermanagh ( ; ) is one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the six counties of Northern Ireland. The county covers an area of 1,691 km2 (653 sq mi) and has a population of 61,805 a ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. At the 2011 Census it had a population of 587. This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under th
Open Government Licence v3.0
© Crown copyright. Ederney lies in the Glendarragh River Valley near Lower

Lough Erne Lough Erne ( , ) is the name of two connected lakes in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is the second-biggest lake system in Northern Ireland and Ulster, and the fourth biggest in Ireland. The lakes are widened sections of the River Erne, ...

and Kesh. It is from

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

, over from

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

and about 16 miles from both

Omagh Omagh (; from ga, An Ómaigh , meaning 'the virgin plain') is the county town of County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is situated where the rivers River Drumragh, Drumragh and Camowen River, Camowen meet to form the River Strule, Strule. North ...

and

Enniskillen Enniskillen ( , from ga, Inis Ceithleann , 'Cethlenn, Ceithlenn's island') is the largest town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is in the middle of the county, between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of ...

. The village and its hinterland (the Glendarragh Valley area) has a population of several thousand.History of Ederney (Ederny)
, ederney.com; accessed 3 February 2016. Due to Ederney's position adjacent to

the village is located on a tourist route. It is approximately from the border with the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

and from the west of

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

tourism trail, the

Wild Atlantic Way The Wild Atlantic Way ( ga, Slí an Atlantaigh Fhiáin) is a tourism trail on the west coast, and on parts of the north and south coasts, of Ireland. The 2,500 km (1,553 mile) driving route passes through nine counties and three provinces, s ...

, in

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconne ...

Public transport

Ulsterbus Ulsterbus is a public transport operator in Northern Ireland and operates bus services outside Belfast. It is part of Translink, the brand name for the subsidiary operating companies of the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company, which also ...

route 194 serves Ederney with one daily journey in each direction except Sundays, linking it to

Irvinestown Irvinestown is a town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. In 2011 it had a population of 2,267 people. The most notable buildings are Necarne Castle, formerly known as Castle Irvine, and Castle Archdale. Irvinestown is situated within Ferman ...

and

Pettigo Pettigo, also spelt Pettigoe ( ; ), is a small village and townland on the border of County Donegal, Republic of Ireland and County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is bisected by the Termon River which is part of the border between the Republ ...

. Route 83A provides a link to

on Mondays & Thursdays only.

History

Local historian Leo Mulligan

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

details that at the time of the

Plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

there was a settlement of significance at Ederny when the land grant (titled "Edernagh") was given to Captain

Thomas Blennerhassett Thomas Blennerhassett (fl. 1584-1611) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1584 and 1611. Blennerhassett may have been the son of Richard Blennerhassett, a member of the Carlisle Council in 1569. In ...

of Norfolk in 1610. He created the Manor of Edernagh on a

demesne A demesne ( ) or domain was all the land retained and managed by a lord of the manor under the feudal system for his own use, occupation, or support. This distinguished it from land sub-enfeoffed by him to others as sub-tenants. The concept or ...

and a

court baron The manorial courts were the lowest courts of law in England during the feudal period. They had a civil jurisdiction limited both in subject matter and geography. They dealt with matters over which the lord of the manor had jurisdiction, primarily ...

on the shores of Lough Erne, which he later named Castle Hassett. He established the new village of Ederny (Edernagh). By 1797, the settlement is recorded in the ''

Topographia Hibernica ''Topographia Hibernica'' (Latin for ''Topography of Ireland''), also known as ''Topographia Hiberniae'', is an account of the landscape and people of Ireland written by Gerald of Wales around 1188, soon after the Norman invasion of Ireland. ...

'' as Ederny Bridge and "fair days" were held there.

Built heritage

One of the principal buildings in the village is Ederney Town Hall, locally styled as the "Townhall", erected in 1839. It remains in use as a village community centre. Another local landmark is Drumskinny stone circle. Drumskinny () is the site of a

stone circle A stone circle is a ring of standing stones. Most are found in Northwestern Europe – especially in Britain, Ireland, and Brittany – and typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with most being built from 3000 BC. The be ...

in the nearby

of Drumskinny. The site consists of 39 stones set in a circle. The arrangement is reportedly related to the seasons, moon and sun, and dates from the Bronze Age.

Sport

The village has a

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

club, Ederney St Joseph's.

Demographics

As of the 2011 census, there were 587 people living in Ederney. Of these: *17.21% were aged under 16 years and 18.91% were aged 65 and over *50.6% of the population were male and 49.4% were female *82.11% were from a

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 ...

background and 15.5% were from a

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 ...

background

Notable people

* Michael Barrett, Fenian and last man to be publicly hanged in Britain. * Martin McGrath, inter county

er for Fermanagh who was one only three Fermanagh players to win a GAA All Star award.

References

External links

St Joseph's Parish Website

{{authority control Villages in County Fermanagh Townlands of County Fermanagh Civil parish of Magheraculmoney Fermanagh and Omagh district