Charlemont (
Irish: ''Achadh an Dá Chora'', "field of the two weirs") is a small
village
A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...
in
County Armagh
County Armagh ( ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It is located in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and adjoins the southern shore of Lough Neagh. It borders t ...
,
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 ...
. It sits on the right bank of the
River Blackwater, five miles northwest of
Armagh, and is linked to the neighbouring village of
Moy by
Charlemont Bridge. It had a population of 109 people (52 households) at the 2011 census.
History
Charlemont takes its name from
Charles Blount, 8th Baron Mountjoy, who built a bridge and fort here in 1602 in order to secure the Blackwater valley against the rebel
Earl of Tyrone.
Sir Toby Caulfeild became the fort's governor the following year.
By 1611, a "towne" had grown up around the fort, "replenished with many inhabitants of English and Irish, who have built them good houses of coples." It was incorporated as a borough in 1613.
Charlemont Fort retained its military significance after
Tyrone's Rebellion came to an end. Caulfeild rebuilt the defences in 1622, adding a three-storied governor's house. At the outbreak of the
1641 Rebellion, the fort was taken by
Sir Phelim O'Neill in a surprise attack. A number of attempts were made to recapture it, but despite the efforts of both
Royalists and
Covenanters it remained in O'Neill's hands until 1650, when a
Cromwellian force ousted him after a bloody
siege
A siege () . is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or by well-prepared assault. Siege warfare (also called siegecrafts or poliorcetics) is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict charact ...
.
[
In 1664, William Caulfeild sold Charlemont Fort to ]the Crown
The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...
for the sum of £3,500. James II installed Teig O'Regan as the fort's governor in 1689, and spent a night here on his way to the Siege of Derry. It again came under siege in 1690 when Marshal Schomberg arrived, eventually forcing O'Regan to surrender.[
Charlemont Fort continued to be garrisoned throughout the 18th century, but its usefulness waned thereafter and the government withdrew the last garrison in 1856. In 1859 it was sold to the Earl of Charlemont for £12,884 5s.][ It was burned down by the IRA in 1920, leaving only the gatehouse there today.][
]
The Troubles
On 15 May 1976, the Ulster Volunteer Force launched two attacks on pubs in Charlemont. A bomb attack on Clancy's Bar left three 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 ...
civilians dead: 54-year-old Felix Clancy, 22-year-old Sean O'Hagan, and 41-year-old Robert McCullough. Shortly after, a gun attack on the nearby Eagle Bar led to the death of another Catholic civilian: 49-year-old Frederick McLoughlin two weeks later. A UDR soldier was later convicted for taking part in the attacks, which have been linked to the " Glenanne gang".Cassell Report
(2006), pp. 53-54
Education
* St. Peter's Primary School
See also
*List of towns and villages in Northern Ireland
This is an alphabetical list of towns and villages in Northern Ireland. For a list sorted by population, see the list of settlements in Northern Ireland by population. The towns of Armagh, Lisburn and Newry are also classed as cities (see city ...
* Charlemont (Parliament of Ireland constituency)
* Ulster Canal
References
{{authority control
Villages in County Armagh
Former boroughs in Northern Ireland