Tempo, historically called ''Tempodeshel'' (),Place Names NI
/ref> 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 ...

at the foot of Brougher Mountain in

County Fermanagh County Fermanagh ( ; ) is one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of six counties of Northern Ireland. The county covers an area of and had a population of 63,585 as of 2021. Enniskillen is the ...

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 Census of 2011 recorded a population of 489 people. It lies within the

Fermanagh and Omagh District Council Fermanagh and Omagh District Council (; Ulster-Scots: ''Districk Cooncil o Fermanagh an Omey'') is a local authority in Northern Ireland and was established on 1 April 2015. It replaced Fermanagh District Council and Omagh District Council an ...

area.

History

The name ''An tIompú Deiseal'' ("the right-hand turn") may refer to a bend in the Tempo River near the village. There is a local legend that

Saint Patrick Saint Patrick (; or ; ) was a fifth-century Romano-British culture, Romano-British Christian missionary and Archbishop of Armagh, bishop in Gaelic Ireland, Ireland. Known as the "Apostle of Ireland", he is the primary patron saint of Irelan ...

left a manuscript here on his way to

Enniskillen Enniskillen ( , from , ' Ceithlenn's island') is the largest town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is in the middle of the county, between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of 14,086 at the 2011 censu ...

and that he told his servant to "turn right" to go back and retrieve it. On 25 October 1920, during the

Irish War of Independence The Irish War of Independence (), also known as the Anglo-Irish War, was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (1919–1922), Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and Unite ...

, the

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various Resistance movement, resistance organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dominantly Catholic and dedicated to anti-imperiali ...

(IRA) raided the

Royal Irish Constabulary The Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC, ; simply called the Irish Constabulary 1836–67) was the police force in Ireland from 1822 until 1922, when all of the island was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom. A sep ...

barracks in Tempo for weapons. RIC sergeant Samuel Lucas was shot and fatally wounded, but a group of armed

Ulster Volunteers The Ulster Volunteers was an Irish unionist, loyalist paramilitary organisation founded in 1912 to block domestic self-government ("Home Rule") for Ireland, which was then part of the United Kingdom. The Ulster Volunteers were based in the ...

arrived and drove off the IRA unit. Shortly after, a Catholic civilian with republican sympathies, Philip Breen, was shot in the doorway of his family's pub in the village and later died of his wounds. Tempo is the birthplace of Young Irelander Terence MacManus, one of the leaders of the 1848 Rebellion.Terence MacManus profile

Education

Schools and pre-schools serving the area include Tempo Controlled Primary School, St. Mary's Primary School and the Tempo Community Playgroup.

Places of interest

Tempo Manor is a Victorian Manor House, built in 1863 and standing in of grounds and woodlands. Campbell's Bar is the oldest public house in the town and is known for its reported supernatural sightings. The ''Fermanagh News'' reported the bar as the most haunted place in Fermanagh in 1994.

2001 Census

Tempo is classified as a small village or hamlet by the NI Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) (i.e. with population between 500 and 1,000 people). On Census day (29 April 2001) there were 533 people living in Tempo. Of these: *23.2% were aged under 16 years and 21.5% were aged 60 and over *48.2% of the population were male and 51.8% were female *69.0% 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 and 30.4% 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 *5.7% of people aged 16–74 were unemployed For more details see
NI Neighbourhood Information Service

References

Sources