Banagher (pronounced , ) is a

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

County Londonderry County Londonderry (Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry (), is one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty-two Counties of Ireland, count ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. The parish is made up of the medieval parish of Banagher and parts of the ancient parish of Boveva and the townland of Tireighter and

Park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...

, once in the parish of Cumber.The Parish
at banagherparish.com (accessed 3 March 2008) Banagher has many ancient monuments, including churches, holy wells, standing stones and chambered graves.

Geography

Banagher lies in the western foothills of the

Sperrin Mountains The Sperrins or Sperrin Mountains () are a mountain range in Northern Ireland. The range stretches from Strabane and Mullaghcarn in the west, to Slieve Gallion and the Glenshane Pass in the east, in the counties of Tyrone and Londonderry. ...

, between the rivers Roe and Faughan. The landscape is mostly rugged, with glens and narrow valleys rising into the highlands. Banagher Glen is a good example of the area's terrain and forms an important conservation area, preserving one of the few surviving examples of old-growth

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. The Glen has a trail which climbs through the woods to Altnaheglish Dam and Reservoir, which supplies water to

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry, is the second-largest City status in the United Kingdom, city in Northern Ireland, and the fifth-largest on the island of Ireland. Located in County Londonderry, the city now covers both banks of the River Fo ...

. The path up to the dam from the valley floor climbs through deciduous woodland and higher

coniferous Conifers () are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a sin ...

woodland to moor and

heathland A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and is characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a coole ...

. Rare red squirrels can be spotted foraging for acorns.

Climate

History

It is clear from the ''

Annals of Ulster The ''Annals of Ulster'' () are annals of History of Ireland, medieval Ireland. The entries span the years from 431 AD to 1540 AD. The entries up to 1489 AD were compiled in the late 15th century by the scribe Ruaidhrí Ó Luin� ...

'' that there was a church at Banagher in 1121. In that year it is recorded that ''Giolla Easpaig Eoghain O hAindiaraidh'' (), king of Keenaght, was killed by kinsmen in the Banagher cemetery. His name means 'servant of Bishop Eoghan', apparently a reference to St Eugene, Bishop of

Ardstraw Ardstraw (from (hill or height of the holm or strath)) is a small village, townland and civil parish in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, three miles northwest of Newtownstewart. In the 2001 census, it had a population of 222 people (in 81 hous ...

. On a sandy ridge by the River Owenreagh are the ruins of the old church and of a small square building sometimes called 'the abbey', with sharply pointed gables which once supported a stone roof. The church had a nave and chancel, but little remains of it. In the nearby cemetery is an ancient cross and a monument to St Muriedhach O'Heney, who is said to have founded the church and to have been

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...

of the building next to it, and on one side of this is an effigy of him.from Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, 1837
County Londonderry, Ireland : Civil Parishes : Banagher
, online at from-ireland.net (accessed 3 March 2008) However, St Muriedhach O'Heney appears in no

calendar of saints The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context does n ...

. According to local legend, St Muriedhach was led to the site of his church by a stag which carried his book on its antlers, acting as a movable lectern.Colton, John, ''Acts of Archbishop Colton in His Metropolitan Visitation in the Diocese of Derry, AD MCCCXCVII, with a Rental of the See Estates at that Time'' (Dublin, Irish Archaeological Society, 1850)
pages 107-108
online at books.google.co.uk (accessed 4 March 2008) Beside the remains of the ancient church is the hole from which sand called 'Banagher sand' is drawn, long believed to give good luck to

race horse ''Race Horse'' was an 1850 clipper barque. She set a record of 109 days from New York to San Francisco during the first Clipper Race around the Horn. Construction ''Race Horse'' was similar to a barque built by Samuel Hall a few years earlier, ...

s when thrown over them. There were also ruins of ancient churches at Straid and Templemoile, and the parish had a vitrified fort, on which by tradition fires were lit at

Midsummer Midsummer is a celebration of the season of summer, taking place on or near the date of the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere; the longest Daytime, day of the year. The name "midsummer" mainly refers to summer solstice festivals of Eu ...

. Near the parish church is a large man-made cave. At the time of the

Plantation of Ulster The Plantation of Ulster (; Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster Scots: ) was the organised Settler colonialism, colonisation (''Plantation (settlement or colony), plantation'') of Ulstera Provinces of Ireland, province of Irelandby people from Great ...

in the seventeenth century, some

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

s of Banagher, including Ballyhanedin, were granted by the

Crown A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, parti ...

to the

Worshipful Company of Fishmongers The Worshipful Company of Fishmongers (or Fishmongers' Company) is one of the 111 livery companies of the City of London, being an incorporated guild of sellers of fish and seafood in the City. The Company ranks fourth in the order of precede ...

of the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

, and others to the

Worshipful Company of Skinners The Worshipful Company of Skinners (also known as the Skinners' Company) is one of the Livery company, Great Twelve Livery Companies of the City of London. Originally formed as an association of those engaged in the Skinner (profession), trade ...

. Banagher became a distinct Presbyterian congregation about 1753, and its first minister was John Law who was ordained in 1756. The 18th century

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...

church at Banagher, with a tower and octagonal spire, is on a rise in the ground and was built in 1782. The spire was paid for by

Frederick Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol Frederick Augustus Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol, (1 August 1730 – 8 July 1803), was an 18th-century Church of England, Anglican prelate. Elected Bishop of Cloyne in 1767 and Translation (ecclesiastical), translated to the see of Derry in 1 ...

, then

Bishop of Derry The Bishop of Derry is an episcopal title which takes its name after the monastic settlement originally founded at Daire Calgach and later known as Daire Colm Cille, Anglicised as Derry. In the Catholic Church it remains a separate title, but in ...

, who was responsible for the construction of the famous Mussenden Temple. A Presbyterian meeting house at Ballyhanedin, in the Classical Greek style, was built by the Fishmongers' Company. As early as 1837 there were parish schools for boys and girls at Ballagh, at Tyrglassen (supported by the Fishmongers Company) and at Fincarn.

records exist for the parish of Banagher from 1821 for baptisms, 1827 for marriages, and 1837 for burials.

Griffith's valuation Griffith's Valuation was a boundary and land valuation survey of Ireland completed in 1868. Griffith's background Richard John Griffith started to value land in Scotland, where he spent two years in 1806–1807 valuing terrain through the examin ...

of Ireland, completed in 1864, shows tenements in Aughlish, Ballyhanedin, Carnanbane, Coolnamonan, Derrychrier, Drumcovit, Feeny, Fincarn, Finglen, Gallany, Killunaght, Knockan, Magheramore, Rallagh, Tamnyagan, Teeavan, Templemoyle, Tirglassan, and Umrycam. Ten other townlands or streets of Banagher are listed at Ireland.com: Ballydonegan, Dreen, Eden, Glenedra, Kilcreen, Loughtilube, Moneyhoghan, Straid, Tamnagh and Terrydreen.

Industry

The main industries are drylining,

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

and sand quarrying, and local pastimes include fishing and hill walking. In the 19th century, there was a large bleach-green at Knockan, where eight thousand pieces of linen were bleached and finished every year for the English markets. Some linen cloth was also woven by local farmers in their own houses.

Places of worship

There are

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

and

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

churches in the parish. The Presbyterian Church at Banagher supports the work of the Church at home and overseas and also has a

Boys' Brigade The Boys' Brigade (BB) is an international interdenominational Christianity, Christian youth organisation, conceived by the Scottish businessman William Alexander Smith (Boys' Brigade), Sir William Alexander Smith to combine drill and fun acti ...

. There are Catholic churches at Fincairn, Altinure, and Ballymonie, where

Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

is celebrated every morning on week days and in the evenings on Sundays.People and Parish
online at banagherparish.com (accessed 4 March 2008)

Sport

The Banagher GAC (in full, the St Mary's Banagher GAC, and in Irish CLG Naomh Mhuire Beannchar) is a

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sports, amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional Irish sports o ...

club. Notable members include

Seán Marty Lockhart Seán Marty Lockhart (born Seán Martin Lockhart; 22 August 1976) is an Irish people, Irish dual player of Gaelic games who plays Gaelic football for the Derry county football team, Derry county team. He has won an Ulster Senior Football Champi ...

, an All Star

footballer.

Census 2001

Banagher is classified by th
NI Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA)
as being within Derry Urban Area (DUA). On Census day (29 April 2001) there were 2932 people living in Banagher. Of these: *27.3% were aged under 16 years and 15.9% were aged 60 and over *51.7% of the population were male and 48.3% were female *3.5% were from a

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

background and 94.8% were from a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

background *4.4% of people aged 16–74 were unemployed. For more details see
NI Neighbourhood Information Service

Index of Deprivation

According to the Northern Ireland Multiple Deprivation Measure (NIMDM) of 2005, of 582 wards in Northern Ireland, Banagher was ranked as the 205th most deprived. For more details see
NI Neighbourhood Information Service

References

External links

Banagher Parish
at banagherparish.com
Banagher, Derry
at Ireland.com {{County Londonderry Townlands of County Londonderry Civil parishes of County Londonderry