Agher () is a crossroads and

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 ...

County Meath County Meath (; gle, Contae na Mí or simply ) is a county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. It is bordered by Dublin to the southeast, Louth to the northeast, Kildare to the south, Offaly to the sou ...

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

. It is located southwest of

Summerhill Summerhill or Summer Hill may refer to the following places: Australia * Summer Hill, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney *Summerhill, Tasmania, a suburb of Launceston * Summerhill (Mount Duneed), a prefabricated iron cottage in Victoria Canada * ...

Agher Demesne

Turn left at the crossroads; continue a kilometre down the road and on the left is the entrance to Agher Demesne or also called Agher Pallis. This was the seat of the Winter family, and had a number of out-houses, gardens, and orchards. The residence was situated in a demesne of about 350 acres. It is said that the cottages on his estate were excellent, showing Winter's regard for comfort of his tenants and employees.

Agher House

Agher House faced east with the wing to the south side. The gardens included trees and shrubs, with a pond to the west of the house. The Winters had many servants including a butler, cook, housekeeper and maids as well as a coachman, a carpenter and a gardener. In the early 1930s Colonel Winter sold the estate to the

Irish Land Commission The Irish Land Commission was created by the British crown in 1843 to 'inquire into the occupation of the land in Ireland. The office of the commission was in Dublin Castle, and the records were, on its conclusion, deposited in the records tower t ...

. The Land Commission divided the land among some local people and people from the west and south of Ireland. The Commission tried to sell the house but could get no offers and in 1947 a decision was taken to demolish the house by controlled explosion. The rubble was pushed into the basement of the former mansion and a modern house was built beside it. The site retains some original features like the entrance, gate lodges, out-offices and the farmyard.

Agher Church

Agher Church is the local

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

church. The church holds a very important stained-glass window made by Thomas Jervais. It is the second-earliest known Irish-made stained-glass window. The unusual subject is St Paul preaching to the Athenians on top of Mars Hill outside the Court of Areopagus. The window was originally erected in the private chapel of the nearby

Dangan Castle Dangan Castle is a former stately home in County Meath, Ireland, which is now in a state of ruin. It is situated by Dangan Church on the Trim Road. The castle is the former seat of the Wesley (Wellesley) family and is located outside the villag ...

, the former stately home and seat of the Wellesley family (the childhood home of

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain, serving twice as prime minister o ...

), which burnt down in the 1809. The window was presented to Agher by the O'Connor family, who were then occupying Dangan. Soon after the new Agher Church was constructed, Samuel Winter erected a family burial vault in the churchyard. Agher church was re-built in 1902. The church's history goes back to 1407, when The Reverend W. Edwards and Reverend N. Vale was a part of the clergy. The poet, political writer, and clergyman

Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish Satire, satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whig (British political party), Whigs, then for the Tories (British political party), Tories), poe ...

(1667–1745) was rector of the ''Church of Ireland'' Church at Agher. The adjoining cemetery contains the graves of the Winter family, who provided the land on which the church was built in 1802. Members of the

O'Higgins Family O'Higgins (Irish: ''Ó hUiginn'') is an Irish noble family. Its Ballynary line is descended from Shean Duff O'Higgins (fl. 1600 C.E.), Gaelic Baron of Ballynary, who was married to a daughter of the royal family of O'Conor at Ballintuber Castl ...

who were descended from the Barons of

Ballynary Ballynary () is the name of a townland on the eastern shore of Lough Arrow in the southern corner of County Sligo in Ireland. Ballynary was the ancestral seat of the O'Higgins family (or ''Ó hUiginn'' in Irish) for 700 years, until they were f ...

County Sligo County Sligo ( , gle, Contae Shligigh) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the Border Region and is part of the province of Connacht. Sligo is the administrative capital and largest town in the county. Sligo County Council is the local ...

and of whom

Bernardo O'Higgins Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme (; August 20, 1778 – October 24, 1842) was a Chilean independence leader who freed Chile from Spanish rule in the Chilean War of Independence. He was a wealthy landowner of Basque-Spanish and Irish ancestry. Althou ...

of Chile was a kinsman are also buried in Agher Cemetery. Agher Church is in the Rathmolyon and Dunboyne Union of parishes. The rector of the union is Rev. Eugene Griffin.

Sport

Summerhill Golf Club is a 9 hold golf course located on the

Rathmolyon Rathmolyon (; ) is a village in the southern portion of County Meath, Ireland, situated 8 km south of Trim. It is situated at the junction of the R156 regional road and the R159 regional road connecting Trim to Enfield. Rathmolyon serves ...

end of the area close to the Rahinstown Estate. It is owned by the Nangle family. As of 2013, the captain was Joe Crowe. Agher's local Association football (soccer) club is Park Celtic Summerhill. Originally formed in the 1980s as Agher Park FC, with just one team playing in the Meath and District League, the club grew to 12 teams by 1995. Agher Park FC amalgamated in 2009 with another local club Summerhill Celtic to become Park Celtic Summerhill.

References

External links