Bellanagare () or Ballinagare is a village in

County Roscommon County Roscommon () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is part of the province of Connacht and the Northern and Western Region. It is the List of Irish counties by area, 11th largest Irish county by area and Li ...

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 ...

. It is between

Tulsk Tulsk () is a village in County Roscommon, Ireland, on the N5 road (Ireland), N5 roads in Ireland, national primary road between Strokestown and Bellanagare. It sits at around 19 km north of Roscommon, Roscommon town. Heritage Near Tulsk ...

and

Frenchpark Frenchpark, historically known as Dungar (), is a village in County Roscommon, Republic of Ireland, Ireland on the N5 road (Ireland), N5 national primary road. It was the home of Douglas Hyde, the first President of Ireland. The nearby French ...

on the N5 road, which goes from

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

Castlebar Castlebar () is the county town of County Mayo, Ireland. Developing around a 13th-century castle of the de Barry family, from which the town got its name, the town now acts as a social and economic focal point for the surrounding hinterland. Wi ...

/ Westport.

History

Built heritage

Evidence of ancient settlement in the area includes several

ringfort Ringforts or ring forts are small circular fortification, fortified settlements built during the Bronze Age, Iron Age and early Middle Ages up to about the year 1000 AD. They are found in Northern Europe, especially in Ireland. There are ...

enclosure Enclosure or inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or "common land", enclosing it, and by doing so depriving commoners of their traditional rights of access and usage. Agreements to enc ...

standing stone A menhir (; from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large upright rock (geology), stone, emplaced in the ground by humans, typically dating from the Eur ...

and Ogham stone sites in the

townland A townland (; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a traditional small land division used in Ireland and in the Western Isles of Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of medieval Gaelic origin, predating the Norman invasion, and mo ...

s of Bellanagare, Drummin and Kilcorkey. Bellanagare Castle, located in Bellanagare townland and historically associated with the O'Conor family, was surrounded by a

bawn A bawn is the defensive wall surrounding an Irish tower house. It is the anglicised version of the Irish word ''bábhún'' (sometimes spelt ''badhún''), possibly meaning "cattle-stronghold" or "cattle-enclosure".See alternative traditional s ...

wall and was the site of a later house.

O'Conor Don

The O'Conor Don ancestral lands were in County Roscommon centred on Clonalis House near

Castlerea Castlerea ( ; ) is a town in County Roscommon, Ireland. It is located in the west of the county and had a population of 2,348 at the 2022 census. Roughly translated from Irish, Castlerea is generally thought to mean 'brindled castle' (''Caisl ...

in County Roscommon. When Alexander O'Conor Don died in 1820 without a male heir, the title was inherited by the O'Conors of Bellanagare. In 1828, O'Conor Don of Belanagar was a member of the Grand Panel of County Roscommon. At the time of Griffith's Valuation (1860s), Charles Owen O'Conor was one of the principal lessors in the parishes of Kilcorkey and Kilkeevin, barony of Castlereagh.

Charles O'Connor

Charles O'Conor, of Belanagare, was a scholar and antiquary who was born in 1710. In 1754 he published a work on Irish mining, and in 1766 he published the work for which he is best known, ''Dissertations on the History of Ireland''. O'Conor died at Belanagare on 1 July 1791, and his collection of manuscripts (containing the only then known original of the first part of the

Annals of the Four Masters The ''Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland'' () or the ''Annals of the Four Masters'' () are chronicles of Middle Ages, medieval Irish history. The entries span from the Genesis flood narrative, Deluge, dated as 2,242 Anno Mundi, years after crea ...

), passed into the hands of the Marquis of Buckingham.

Hermitage House

Hermitage House was built by Charles O'Conor circa 1760, and the former O'Conor family residence at Bellanagare Castle subsequently fell into ruin. Hermitage House, built some distance away, was a smaller Georgian house which O'Conor referred to as his " hermitage". At Hermitage House, he devoted his time to the collection and study of Irish manuscripts, the publication of dissertations, and the cause of Irish and Catholic emancipation. His great-great-grandson, also Charles O'Conor, was leasing the property at Ballaghcullia, valued at £10, to Honoria O'Conor at the time of Griffith's Valuation in 1868. As of the 21st century, Hermitage House is still extant though not occupied and a modern bungalow has been constructed in front of it.

Sport and community

Ballinagare Community Centre, a community-run centre for the village and surrounding area, runs leisure activities and has a gym, and astro turf pitch. Ballinagare Football Club, an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

club which was established in 2004, plays its home games at Ballinagare Community Pitch beside the community centre. The club colours are orange with a black trim Other sports clubs in the area include the Western Gaels GAA Club. This

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 was formed in Fairymount Hall in 1962. The club's catchment area consists of the parishes of

and Fairymount in West Roscommon, close to the towns of Castlerea and Ballaghaderreen. The club's crest includes images of several landmarks from the area, including Mount Druid House near Ballinagare. Ballinagare Horse and Pony Racing club was established in 2012.

People

* Pádraig Ó Caoimh (1897–1964), soldier and secretary of the Gaelic Athletic Association * Charles O'Conor (1710–1791), antiquarian and activist for Catholic Emancipation *

Douglas Hyde Douglas Ross Hyde (; 17 January 1860 – 12 July 1949), known as (), was an Irish academic, linguist, scholar of the Irish language, politician, and diplomat who served as the first president of Ireland from June 1938 to June 1945. He was a l ...

(1860–1949), the first President of Ireland, was from the area and attended fairs in Bellanagare *

Andrew McDermot Andrew McDermot (1790 – 12 October 1881) was a Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) employee who became an independent fur trade merchant and member of the Council of Assiniboia. McDermot's background and family relations McDermot was born in Belangare ...

(1790–1881), fur trader with the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

References

External links

Historic map showing Hermitage House and estate near Bellanagare

Hermitage 1812 Bog Commission Survey - Photo
{{County Roscommon Towns and villages in County Roscommon