Loughgall ( ; )[ Placenames NI ][ Placenames Database of Ireland] is a small village, townland (of 131 acres) and civil parish in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It is in the historic baronies of Armagh and Oneilland West.
History
In the
Middle Ages the chiefs of the
Oneilland, a
Gaelic Ireland clan, resided at Loughgall
crannog, a fortified lake dwelling.
[ Ireland's History in Maps - Uí Nialláin] By the 16th century the O'Neills of Tír Eoghain had taken over the area, and the crannog became the residence of the O'Neill chief's brother or eldest son.
In the early 1600s, the area was settled by English and Scottish Protestants as part of the Ulster Plantation. During the 1641 Irish Rebellion, settlers were held at a prison camp at Loughgall by Catholic rebels led by Manus O'Cane.[Mac Cuarta, Brian. Ulster 1641: Aspects of the Rising. Institute of Irish Studies, Queen's University of Belfast, 1993. p.126]
In 1795, rival sectarian gangs, the Catholic Defenders and Protestant Peep-o'-Day Boys fought a bloody skirmish near the village, called the Battle of the Diamond, that left around 30 people dead. Following this, the Protestant Orange Order was founded in Dan Winter's House nearby.
The Troubles
The Loughgall area experienced a number of fatal incidents during
The Troubles, the best known of which is arguably the 1987
Loughgall ambush.
Sport
It is home to Loughgall Football Club, which plays in the NIFL Championship, the second tier of football in Northern Ireland.
Education
The Cope Primary School serves the area. A
Roman Catholic primary school was also previously located on the Eagralougher Road, just outside Loughgall, but this closed in 1996.
People
-
Poet W. R. Rodgers (1909 – 1969). He later gave up the ministry and became a BBC radio producer and scriptwriter. He died in California in 1969 and was buried in Loughgall.
-
Cope family; MPs Robert Cope and Robert Camden Cope; and Anthony Cope (Dean of Armagh)
-
Lieutenant-Colonel Sir William Young, 1st Baronet (1771-1848). A soldier with the British East India Company's army, he later became a director of the East India Company. Born on the outskirts of Loughgall, he purchased Bailieborough Castle and its surrounding estate in the south-east of County Cavan in 1814, establishing his chief residence at the castle. Upon his death, Sir William was buried in the graveyard attached to St. Patrick's Church of Ireland Church in Benburb.
-
Robert Garland (1862-1949): Born in Charlemont, Loughgall, County Armagh, and later lived in Pennsylvania, United States. This individual was known for his role in convincing the U.S. government to institute daylight saving time.
Civil parish of Loughgall
The civil parish of Loughgall, which spans the villages of Annaghmore, Charlemont and Loughgall, also contains the following townlands:
[
]
See also
-
Market houses in Northern Ireland
-
List of civil parishes of County Armagh
-
List of townlands in County Armagh
External links
