Loughglinn

Loughglinn or Loughglynn (/lɒxˈɡlɪn/ lokh-GLIN; Irish: Loch Glinne) is a village in County Roscommon, Ireland. It is named after the lake to the north of the village.

Features

Loughglinn is located on the R325 road midway between Castlerea and Ballaghaderreen. The local national school, with a Green Schools flag, is Scoil Mhuire Lourdes and was opened as a three-teacher school in the early 1960s. It is now a four-teacher school and has won the 3-4 teacher schools GAA county final a number of times. The village no longer boasts a Garda station as the Station was renovated in December 2011 and its closure was announced while renovations were been carried out. It closed in April 2012. There are also two public houses, two shops, one Colemans which incorporate the post office, a funeral home, a community centre with a play school, a Catholic Church (Our Lady of Good Counsel) and the soccer pitch home to Loughglinn United just beside the lake. The lake is also the source of the name of the village.

Sport

Loughglinn is blessed with many sporting clubs. The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) club Éire Óg was formed in 1984 and play their home games at James Timothy Memorial Park. The soccer team Loughglinn United play in the wood behind the church. Loughglinn Boxing Club train in the Community Centre. Loughglinn Badminton Club play in the community centre.

The church

In 1798 a barn church was built in Loughglinn near the priest's graveyard, by an early monastery It served the needs until the present Church of Our Lady of Good Counsel was built in 1905 and dedicated in 1906. It was built in a Gothic style featuring a striking octagonal bell turret with a spire, polished granite interior pillars, and richly molded arches. It was designed by William Byrne and was built using local stone and labour.

Our Lady of Good Counsel is set back from the road, in its own grounds and it was built in 1905 The church comprises side aisles, sacristy to rear, projecting entrance porches to side aisles and octagonal bell tower to front elevation. Pitched slate roof with terracotta ridge cresting, ashlar chimneystack to sacristy, stone crosses over gable ends and cast-iron rainwater goods supported by limestone eaves corbels. Paired lancet window openings with limestone surrounds and stained glass windows to side aisles. Sexafoil window opening above paired two-light lancet windows, all with hoodmouldings to front elevation. Paired quatrefoil windows to clerestorey. Three-light geometric traceried window flanked on each side by sexafoil opening at rear elevation. Pointed-arched door opening to front elevation with tooled limestone surround, hoodmoulding and timber double doors flanked by lancet openings. Pointed-arched door openings to gabled entrance porches to side aisles and a square-headed door opening to sacristy. Stepped buttresses to front façade and rear elevations.

History

Loughglinn House was the main residence of the Dillon family, built circa 1715, extended in the 1820s and altered again in the early 20th century. It is recorded in 1814, 1837 and in Griffith's Valuation as the seat of Viscount Dillon. The Dillons were absentee landlords for much of the nineteenth century and their agent, Charles Strickland (town planner),lived in the house.

In 1806 Lord Dillon, Charles Dillon, 12th Viscount Dillon, raised the 101st Regiment of Foot, recruited from the inhabitants in and around Loughglinn.

Ned Duffy of Loughglinn (born 22 August 1840) was a Fenian organiser of the 19th century. He died in Millbank Prison 17 January 1868. Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa was in Millbank when he died and penned a famous lament some of the lines include "In the dead house you are lying, and I'd "wake" you if I could, but they'll wake you in Loughglin, 'Ned, in that cottage by the wood" There is a monument to Ned Duffy near the old school which was unveiled by Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan TD in the 1960s.

On 19 April 1921 four Irish Republican Army men were staying in a house near Loughglinn wood. When they learned that the Black and Tans were combing the wood, under a Captain McKay of the Leicestershire Regiment. The four men attempted to escape. Two were wounded Joe Satchwell and Thomas (Toby) Scally. Following a drumhead court-martial the others, John Bergin and Stephen McDermott were shot on the spot. There is a monument to all from the locality who gave their lives during the War of Independence across from the church known as Mother Éireann.

On July 7, 1980 two Gardaí, John Morley and Henry Byrne, were murdered at Shannon's Cross Loughglinn following an armed robbery on the Bank of Ireland Ballaghaderreen. Two other Gardaí Sgt Mick O Malley and Garda Derek O Kelly survived the shoot out.

The convent

In 1903, Loughglinn house was sold to the Bishop of Elphin Dr Clancy who invited the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary to establish a convent, and there started a school where teenage girls would learn Home Economics. The sisters established a dairy and Loughglinn butter and cheese was famous all over the world until they ceased this activity in the 1960s. They then opened a nursing home for their own retired sisters and also had residents who were not nuns and known locally as the patients.

In 2003, developer Gerry Gannon bought the convent for under €2m, intending to turn it into a hotel. In 2009, after the Irish property bubble burst, it was transferred to his wife's name.

Local song

The local anthem is the "Woodlands of Loughglinn" dedicated to the memory of those that died in the Woodlands in April 1921. It was written by a Ms. Mary-Anne Regan from Kilgariff, Castlerea. She also wrote some plays before she died, a young nurse in England. The song has been recorded by Brendan Shine, among others.

The summer sun was sinking low,
Behind the western sea,
The lark's loud song was pealing sweet,
But it brought no joy to me.
For the one I loved is far away,
He's left his tyrants den
He fought till death, and then he left,
The woodlands of Loughglynn.

2. A noble Irishman was he,
John Berigan was his name.
He belonged to Tipperary,
And from Nenagh town he came.
But now, thank God, that he is gone,
Away from harm and sin,
He fought till death, and then he left,
The woodlands of Loughglynn.

3. McDermott too, was brave and true,
From the plains round Ballinagare,
He's missed at many's a fireside,
In the homes both near and far.
He's missed at home in Brackloon
By his own dear kith and kin,
His comrade true, they'll miss him too,
In the woodlands of Loughglynn.

4. When our heroes they were dying there,
They sent for the clergyman,
Let no one think, they feared to face,
The English Black-and-Tans.
The clergy came and were in time,
But as they said "Amen",
McDermott's soul was departing to,
The woodlands of Loughglynn.

People

Michael Barrett former TD.

Thomas O Doherty former Bishop of Galway

Thomas Henry Wyatt (9 May 1807 - 5 August 1880) famous architect.

Charles Dillon, 12th Viscount Dillon

Sr Maura O Connor Superior General Franciscan Missionaries of Mary 1984 until 1996.

See also

• List of towns and villages in Ireland

External links

• The Woodlands of Loughglinn