Clogher
| Clogher | |
| Tyrone | |
|---|---|
 St Macartan's Cathedral, Clogher | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | H538517 |
| Location: | 54°25’0"N, 7°12’0"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 717 (2011) |
| Post town: | Clogher |
| Postcode: | BT76 |
| Dialling code: | 028 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Mid-Ulster |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Fermanagh and South Tyrone |
Clogher is a village crowned with an ancient cathedral, in the border area in the south of Tyrone. It stands beside the River Blackwater, six miles from the border crossing to County Monaghan.
The name of the village is from the Gaelic Clochar, meaning 'Stony place'[1] It stands in the townlands of Clogher Demesne and Clogher Tenements. The 2011 Census recorded a population of 717.
The village gives its name to the Diocese of Clogher in the Church of Ireland, and the main site of the village is the Cathedral Church of Saint Macartan: this is now one of two cathedrals of the Diocese; the other is in Enniskillen.
History
The name Clochar refers to something made of stone, and many remnants of ancient ages are found here. There is a ringfort near the village, and there was a mediæval monastery here too. Archaeological remains from before the 5th century have been found in the vicinity.
Legend claims that Clogher was the location of a gold-covered pagan oracle stone named Cermand Cestach. The story goes that "Cloch-Ór" (Golden Stone), may have been a ceremonial or oracle stone originally covered in gold sacred to the druids...given to Mac Cairthinn by an old pagan noble (Cairpre, the father of St Tigernach of Clones), who had harassed him in every possible way until the saint's patient love won the local ruler to the faith." The stone is recorded as being "a curiosity in the porch of the Cathedral of Clogher" in the time of Annalist Cathal Maguire of Fermanagh in the late 15th century. Tighernach of Clones, later succeeded St Mac Cairthinn as Bishop of Clogher.[2][3]
Other legends insist that Clogher was a religious centre from St Patrick's time and likely before.[4] St Aedh Mac Cairthinn of Clogher (c. 430–505 AD) an early disciple and companion of Patrick's[5] founded a monastery at the site, which later the Synod of Rathbreasail recognised as an episcopal see, which was the origin of St Macartan's Cathedral in the village. (There is also a Roman Catholic Diocese of Clogher, but it has its cathedral in Monaghan.
The meetinghouse of Clogher Presbyterian church] is outside the village in the townland of Carntall. The "City of Clogher" was a rotten borough in the Parliament of Ireland in the gift of the Protestant bishop. The village also gives its name to the Barony of Clogher, one of the original four baronies of County Tyrone.
Clogher railway station (on the narrow gauge Clogher Valley Railway) opened on 2 May 1887, but finally closed on 1 January 1942.[6]
Sport
- Cricket: Clogher Cricket Club
- Gaelic Athletics: An Clochar Éire Óg
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Clogher) |
References
- ↑ Clogher - Placenames NI
- ↑ "Celtic and Old English Saints - 4 April". Celticsaints.org. 31 December 2010. http://celticsaints.org/2011/0404b.html.
- ↑ Cornwall, Royal Institution of (1906). "Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall - Royal Institution of Cornwall". p. 405. https://books.google.com/books?id=3W1IAAAAYAAJ&q=Tighernach+clogher&pg=PA405.
- ↑ "Clogher". Infoplease.com. http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/world/clogher.html.
- ↑ "Celtic and Old English Saints - 26 March". Celticsaints.org. 17 March 2009. http://celticsaints.org/2007/0326a.html.
- ↑ "Clogher station". Railscot – Irish Railways. http://www.railscot.co.uk/Ireland/Irish_railways.pdf.