Ráth Chairn (anglicised as Rathcairn) is a small village and

Gaeltacht ( , , ) are the districts of Ireland, individually or collectively, where the Irish government recognises that the Irish language is the predominant vernacular, or language of the home. The ''Gaeltacht'' districts were first officially recog ...

(

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

-speaking area) in

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 about 55 km northwest of

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 ...

. Ráth Chairn Gaeltacht was founded in 1935 when 41 families from

Connemara Connemara (; )( ga, Conamara ) is a region on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of western County Galway, in the west of Ireland. The area has a strong association with traditional Irish culture and contains much of the Connacht Irish-speak ...

were settled on land previously acquired by 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 ...

. Each family was provided with a Land Commission house and a farm of approximately 8.9

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is a ...

s (22

acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imp ...

s), a sow, piglets and basic implements. A further 11 families joined the original settlers in 1935. In all, 443 people moved from Connemara to the Ráth Chairn area. In 1967 Ráth Chairn received official recognition as a Gaeltacht, following a local campaign. Today, it and the nearby village of

Baile Ghib Baile Ghib () is a small Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking area) in County Meath, Ireland. It and one other village, Ráth Chairn, make up the Meath Gaeltacht. The Meath Gaeltacht has 1,591 inhabitants, representing 2% of the total population of Ireland ...

make up the Meath Gaeltacht. According to the 2016 census 16% of the population of Ráth Chairn and

speak Irish on a daily basis outside the education system. A

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

(the "Ráth Chairn Cooperation Society") was formed in 1973. Ráth Chairn has since grown into a village with a Catholic church, community hall for dramas, Comharchumann Ráth Chairn and RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta (also used by Coláiste na bhFiann during the summer months), sports facilities, an all-Irish primary and secondary school, a library and a pub (An Bradán Feasa). Several facilities in Ráth Chairn host children and adults wishing to learn Irish, and residential Irish language courses,

Coláiste na bhFiann Coláiste na bhFiann (CnabhF) is an Irish language summer course for students aged 10–18 years. The company was founded by Domhnall Ó Lubhlaí and the first course was in Rosmuc, County Galway, Ireland in 1968. Since then, fifty thousand stud ...

, are run for teenagers in the summer months.

Public transport

Local Link route 188 provides a twice daily bus service linking the village to

Athboy Athboy () is a small agricultural town located in County Meath. The town is located on the ''Yellow Ford River'', in wooded country near the County Westmeath border. Local Clubs are Clann Na nGael and Athboy Celtic. History In medieval tim ...

Navan Navan ( ; , meaning "the Cave") is the county town of County Meath, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In 2016, it had a population of 30,173, making it the List of urban areas in the Republic of Ireland by population, tenth largest settlement in ...

and

Drogheda Drogheda ( , ; , meaning "bridge at the ford") is an industrial and port town in County Louth on the east coast of Ireland, north of Dublin. It is located on the Dublin–Belfast corridor on the east coast of Ireland, mostly in County Louth ...

History

Campaign for Ráth Chairn

The Ráth Chairn "colony" was a social experiment to redress the 17th-century ethnic cleansing of Ireland, having been moved there under Cromwell’s draconian action ‘To hell or Connaught’. The colonists were poor farmers largely from

and

Kerry Kerry or Kerri may refer to: * Kerry (name), a given name and surname of Gaelic origin (including a list of people with the name) Places * Kerry, Queensland, Australia * County Kerry, Ireland ** Kerry Airport, an international airport in Count ...

, who were planted by the government in order to save the Irish language and traditions.

The resettlement

In 1935, the first batch of families from the Connemara Gaeltacht moved east to Ráth Chairn to live on land acquired by the Land Commission. The initiative promised potential migrants a higher quality of life, greater crop yields than Connemara and newly built homes. The proposal also aimed to stop the decline of the Irish language by creating an Irish-speaking community in a new location. For the most part, when the migrants arrived, they were welcomed into a county where the ethos of the romantic Gaelic revival was in full swing. However, resentment manifested itself in local newspapers, that the migrants were given the land in preference to the local farmers. The Meath Chronicle reported on April 27, 1935 that a local Meath resident was arrested for threatening the life of a Land Commission employee but was released without charge and secondhand accounts report that a migrant woman was harassed by gangs and told "to quit talking that gibberish here".

Notable people

* Sibéal Ní Chasaide, sean-nós singer *

Darach Ó Catháin Darach Ó Catháin (30 September 1922 – 29 September 1987) was an Irish sean-nós singer. Along with his fellow Connemara-native, Seosamh Ó hÉanaí, he was one of the most prominent sean-nós singers of his day and was praised by Seán Ó Ri ...

, sean-nós singer *

Bláthnaid Ní Chofaigh Bláthnaid Ní Chofaigh (; born 12 November 1970) is an Irish TV presenter, she has presented ''Echo Island'', ''The Afternoon Show'' and ''Charity ICA Bootcamp''. She was a judge in ''The All Ireland Talent Show'' and participated in ''Celebrity ...

, television personality *

Ciarán Ó Cofaigh Ciarán Ó Cofaigh is an Irish film director and producer. Biography A native of Ráth Cairn, County Meath, but now resident in Indreabhán, County Galway, Ó Cofaigh has worked in the Irish film and broadcast industry for almost thirty ye ...

, director and producer *

Liam Mac Cóil Liam Mac Cóil is an Irish language novelist, a critic, and an essayist. Career Born in Dublin in 1952, Liam Mac Cóil lives in the Gaeltacht of Ráth Cairn, County Meath. Before becoming a full-time writer he worked for a time at An Coiste Téa ...

, novelist, critic and essayist

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rath Cairn Articles on towns and villages in Ireland possibly missing Irish place names Gaeltacht places in County Meath Gaeltacht towns and villages Intentional communities in Ireland Planned communities in the Republic of Ireland Towns and villages in County Meath