1.
Irish language
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Irish, also referred to as Gaelic or Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people. Irish enjoys constitutional status as the national and first official language of the Republic of Ireland and it is also among the official languages of the European Union. The public body Foras na Gaeilge is responsible for the promotion of the language throughout the island of Ireland and it has the oldest vernacular literature in Western Europe. The fate of the language was influenced by the power of the English state in Ireland. Elizabethan officials viewed the use of Irish unfavourably, as being a threat to all things English in Ireland and its decline began under English rule in the 17th century. In the latter part of the 19th century, there was a decrease in the number of speakers. Irish-speaking areas were hit especially hard, by the end of British rule, the language was spoken by less than 15% of the national population. Since then, Irish speakers have been in the minority, efforts have been made by the state, individuals and organisations to preserve, promote and revive the language, but with mixed results. Around the turn of the 21st century, estimates of native speakers ranged from 20,000 to 80,000 people. In the 2011 Census, these numbers had increased to 94,000 and 1.3 million, there are several thousand Irish speakers in Northern Ireland. It has been estimated that the active Irish-language scene probably comprises 5 to 10 per cent of Irelands population, there has been a significant increase in the number of urban Irish speakers, particularly in Dublin. In Gaeltacht areas, however, there has been a decline of the use of Irish. Údarás na Gaeltachta predicted that, by 2025, Irish will no longer be the language in any of the designated Gaeltacht areas. Survey data suggest that most Irish people think highly of Irish as a marker of identity. It has also argued that newer urban groups of Irish speakers are a disruptive force in this respect. In An Caighdeán Oifigiúil the name of the language is Gaeilge, before the spelling reform of 1948, this form was spelled Gaedhilge, originally this was the genitive of Gaedhealg, the form used in Classical Irish. Older spellings of this include Gaoidhealg in Classical Irish and Goídelc in Old Irish, the modern spelling results from the deletion of the silent dh in the middle of Gaedhilge, whereas Goidelic languages, used to refer to the language family including Irish, comes from Old Irish
2.
Phonology
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Phonology is a branch of linguistics concerned with the systematic organization of sounds in languages. Phonology also includes the study of equivalent organizational systems in sign languages, the word phonology can also refer to the phonological system of a given language. This is one of the systems which a language is considered to comprise, like its syntax. Phonology is often distinguished from phonetics, note that this distinction was not always made, particularly before the development of the modern concept of the phoneme in the mid 20th century. The word phonology comes from Ancient Greek φωνή, phōnḗ, voice, sound, according to Clark et al. it means the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use. The history of phonology may be traced back to the Ashtadhyayi, Baudouin de Courtenays work, though often unacknowledged, is considered to be the starting point of modern phonology. He also worked on the theory of alternations, and may have had an influence on the work of Saussure according to E. F. K. Koerner. An influential school of phonology in the period was the Prague school. One of its members was Prince Nikolai Trubetzkoy, whose Grundzüge der Phonologie. Directly influenced by Baudouin de Courtenay, Trubetzkoy is considered the founder of morphophonology, Trubetzkoy also developed the concept of the archiphoneme. Another important figure in the Prague school was Roman Jakobson, who was one of the most prominent linguists of the 20th century, in 1968 Noam Chomsky and Morris Halle published The Sound Pattern of English, the basis for generative phonology. In this view, phonological representations are sequences of segments made up of distinctive features and these features were an expansion of earlier work by Roman Jakobson, Gunnar Fant, and Morris Halle. The features describe aspects of articulation and perception, are from a fixed set. There are at least two levels of representation, underlying representation and surface phonetic representation, ordered phonological rules govern how underlying representation is transformed into the actual pronunciation. An important consequence of the influence SPE had on phonological theory was the downplaying of the syllable, furthermore, the generativists folded morphophonology into phonology, which both solved and created problems. Natural phonology is a based on the publications of its proponent David Stampe in 1969. In this view, phonology is based on a set of phonological processes that interact with one another, which ones are active. Rather than acting on segments, phonological processes act on distinctive features within prosodic groups, prosodic groups can be as small as a part of a syllable or as large as an entire utterance
3.
Old Norse
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Old Norse was a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during about the 9th to 13th centuries. These dates, however, are not absolute, since written Old Norse is found well into the 15th century, Old Norse was divided into three dialects, Old West Norse, Old East Norse and Old Gutnish. Old West and East Norse formed a continuum, with no clear geographical boundary between them. For example, Old East Norse traits were found in eastern Norway, although Old Norwegian is classified as Old West Norse, most speakers spoke Old East Norse in what is present day Denmark and Sweden. Old Gutnish, the more obscure dialectal branch, is included in the Old East Norse dialect due to geographical associations. It developed its own features and shared in changes to both other branches. The 12th century Icelandic Gray Goose Laws state that Swedes, Norwegians, Icelanders and Danes spoke the same language, another term used, used especially commonly with reference to West Norse, was norrœnt mál. In some instances the term Old Norse refers specifically to Old West Norse, the Old East Norse dialect was spoken in Denmark, Sweden, settlements in Kievan Rus, eastern England, and Danish settlements in Normandy. The Old Gutnish dialect was spoken in Gotland and in settlements in the East. In the 11th century, Old Norse was the most widely spoken European language, in Kievan Rus, it survived the longest in Veliky Novgorod, probably lasting into the 13th century there. Norwegian is descended from Old West Norse, but over the centuries it has heavily influenced by East Norse. Old Norse also had an influence on English dialects and Lowland Scots and it also influenced the development of the Norman language, and through it and to a smaller extent, that of modern French. Various other languages, which are not closely related, have heavily influenced by Norse, particularly the Norman dialects, Scottish Gaelic. The current Finnish and Estonian words for Sweden are Ruotsi and Rootsi, of the modern languages, Icelandic is the closest to Old Norse. Written modern Icelandic derives from the Old Norse phonemic writing system, contemporary Icelandic-speakers can read Old Norse, which varies slightly in spelling as well as semantics and word order. However, pronunciation, particularly of the phonemes, has changed at least as much as in the other North Germanic languages. Faroese retains many similarities but is influenced by Danish, Norwegian, although Swedish, Danish and the Norwegian languages have diverged the most, they still retain asymmetric mutual intelligibility. Speakers of modern Swedish, Norwegian and Danish can mostly understand each other without studying their neighboring languages, the languages are also sufficiently similar in writing that they can mostly be understood across borders
4.
Scots language
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Scots is the Germanic language variety spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster. It is sometimes called Lowland Scots to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic, the Celtic language which was restricted to most of the Highlands. The language developed during the Middle English period as a distinct entity, although a number of paradigms for distinguishing between languages and dialects do exist, these often render contradictory results. Broad Scots is at one end of a linguistic continuum. Scots is often regarded as one of the ancient varieties of English, alternatively, Scots is sometimes treated as a distinct Germanic language, in the way Norwegian is closely linked to, yet distinct from, Danish. In the 2011 Scottish census, a question on Scots language ability was featured, native speakers sometimes refer to their vernacular as braid Scots or use a dialect name such as the Doric, or the Buchan Claik. The old-fashioned Scotch, an English loan, occurs occasionally, especially in Northern Ireland, the term Lallans, a variant of the Modern Scots word lawlands, is also used, though this is more often taken to mean the Lallans literary form. Scots in Ireland is known in circles as Ulster-Scots or Ullans. Scots is a contraction of Scottis, the Older Scots and northern version of late Old English Scottisc, before the end of the 15th century, English speech in Scotland was known as English, whereas Scottish referred to Gaelic. From 1495 the term Scottis was increasingly used to refer to the Lowland vernacular and Erse, meaning Irish, the Gaelic of Scotland is now usually called Scottish Gaelic. Northumbrian Old English had been established in what is now southeastern Scotland as far as the River Forth by the seventh century and it remained largely confined to this area until the thirteenth century, continuing in common use while Gaelic was the language of the Scottish court. Scots also includes loan words resulting from contact with Gaelic, Early medieval legal documents include a body of Gaelic legal and administrative loans. Contemporary Gaelic loans are mainly for geographical and cultural features, such as ceilidh, loch, from the thirteenth century Early Scots spread further into Scotland via the burghs, proto-urban institutions which were first established by King David I. The growth in prestige of Early Scots in the century. By the sixteenth century Middle Scots had established orthographic and literary norms largely independent of those developing in England, from 1610 to the 1690s during the Plantation of Ulster large numbers of Scots-speaking Lowlanders, some 200,000, settled there. In the core areas of Scots settlement, Scots outnumbered English settlers by five or six to one, Modern Scots is used to describe the language after 1700 when southern Modern English was generally adopted as the literary language though Scots remained the vernacular. In Scotland, Scots is spoken in the Scottish Lowlands, the Northern Isles, Caithness, Arran, in Ulster it is spoken in the Counties of Down, Antrim, Londonderry and Donegal. Dialects include Insular Scots, Northern Scots, Central Scots, Southern Scots, many speakers are either diglossic and/or able to code-switch along the continuum depending on the situation in which they find themselves
5.
Germanic languages
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It is the third most spoken Indo-European subdivision, behind Italic and Indo-Iranian, and ahead of Balto-Slavic languages. Limburgish varieties have roughly 1.3 million speakers along the Dutch–Belgian–German border, the main North Germanic languages are Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Icelandic, and Faroese, which have a combined total of about 20 million speakers. The East Germanic branch included Gothic, Burgundian, and Vandalic, the last to die off was Crimean Gothic, spoken in the late 18th century in some isolated areas of Crimea. The total number of Germanic languages throughout history is unknown, as some of them—especially East Germanic languages—disappeared during or after the Migration Period. Proto-Germanic, along all of its descendants, is characterized by a number of unique linguistic features. Early varieties of Germanic enter history with the Germanic tribes moving south from Scandinavia in the 2nd century BC, to settle in the area of todays northern Germany, furthermore, it is the de facto language of the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. It is also a language in Nicaragua and Malaysia. German is a language of Austria, Belgium, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Switzerland and has regional status in Italy, Poland, Namibia. German also continues to be spoken as a minority language by immigrant communities in North America, South America, Central America, Mexico, a German dialect, Pennsylvania Dutch, is still present amongst Anabaptist populations in Pennsylvania in the United States. Dutch is a language of Aruba, Belgium, Curaçao. The Netherlands also colonised Indonesia, but Dutch was scrapped as a language after Indonesian independence. Dutch was until 1925 an official language in South Africa, but evolved in and was replaced by Afrikaans, Afrikaans is one of the 11 official languages in South Africa and is a lingua franca of Namibia. It is used in other Southern African nations as well, low German is a collection of sometimes very diverse dialects spoken in the northeast of the Netherlands and northern Germany. Scots is spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster, frisian is spoken among half a million people who live on the southern fringes of the North Sea in the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark. Luxembourgish is mainly spoken in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, though it extends into small parts of Belgium, France. Limburgish varieties are spoken in the Limburg and Rhineland regions, along the Dutch–Belgian–German border, Swedish is also one of the two official languages in Finland, along with Finnish, and the only official language in the Åland Islands. Danish is also spoken natively by the Danish minority in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, Norwegian is the official language of Norway. Icelandic is the language of Iceland, and is spoken by a significant minority in the Faroe Islands
6.
Irish mythology
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The mythology of pre-Christian Ireland did not entirely survive the conversion to Christianity. However, much of it was preserved in medieval Irish literature and this literature represents the most extensive and best preserved of all the branches of Celtic mythology. There are also a number of extant mythological texts that do not fit any of the cycles. Additionally, there are a number of recorded folk tales that, while not strictly mythological. Despite the dates of these sources, most of the material they contain predates their composition, the earliest of the prose can be dated on linguistic grounds to the 8th century, and some of the verse may be as old as the 6th century. The first of these part of the earliest known version of the Táin Bó Cúailnge and is housed in Trinity College. The other three are in the Royal Academy, when using these sources, it is, as always, important to question the impact of the circumstances in which they were produced. There was also a tendency to rework Irish genealogies to fit into the known schema of Greek or Biblical genealogy and it was once unquestioned that medieval Irish literature preserved truly ancient traditions in a form virtually unchanged through centuries of oral tradition back to the ancient Celts of Europe. A consensus has emerged which encourages the critical reading of the material, the Mythological Cycle, comprising stories of the former gods and origins of the Irish, is the least well preserved of the four cycles. The most important sources are the Metrical Dindshenchas or Lore of Places, Other manuscripts preserve such mythological tales as The Dream of Aengus, The Wooing Of Étain and Cath Maige Tuireadh, The Battle of Magh Tuireadh. One of the best known of all Irish stories, Oidheadh Clainne Lir, Lebor Gabála Érenn is a pseudo-history of Ireland, tracing the ancestry of the Irish back to before Noah. They faced opposition from their enemies, the Fomorians, led by Balor of the Evil Eye, Balor was eventually slain by Lug Lámfada at the second battle of Magh Tuireadh. With the arrival of the Gaels, the Tuatha Dé Danann retired underground to become the people of later myth. The Metrical Dindshenchas is the great work of early Ireland. It includes a lot of important information on Mythological Cycle figures and stories, including the Battle of Tailtiu, in which the Tuatha Dé Danann were defeated by the Milesians. It is important to note that by the Middle Ages the Tuatha Dé Danann were not viewed so much as gods as the shape-shifting magician population of an earlier Golden Age Ireland. Texts such as Lebor Gabála Érenn and Cath Maige Tuireadh present them as kings and heroes of the distant past, however, there is considerable evidence, both in the texts and from the wider Celtic world, that they were once considered deities. Even after they are displaced as the rulers of Ireland, characters such as Lug, a poem in the Book of Leinster lists many of the Tuatha Dé, but ends Although enumerates them, he does not worship them
7.
Dublin
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Dublin is the capital and largest city of Ireland. Dublin is in the province of Leinster on Irelands east coast, the city has an urban area population of 1,345,402. The population of the Greater Dublin Area, as of 2016, was 1,904,806 people, founded as a Viking settlement, the Kingdom of Dublin became Irelands principal city following the Norman invasion. The city expanded rapidly from the 17th century and was briefly the second largest city in the British Empire before the Acts of Union in 1800, following the partition of Ireland in 1922, Dublin became the capital of the Irish Free State, later renamed Ireland. Dublin is administered by a City Council, the city is listed by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network as a global city, with a ranking of Alpha-, which places it amongst the top thirty cities in the world. It is a historical and contemporary centre for education, the arts, administration, economy, the name Dublin comes from the Irish word Dubhlinn, early Classical Irish Dubhlind/Duibhlind, dubh /d̪uβ/, alt. /d̪uw/, alt /d̪u, / meaning black, dark, and lind /lʲiɲ pool and this tidal pool was located where the River Poddle entered the Liffey, on the site of the castle gardens at the rear of Dublin Castle. In Modern Irish the name is Duibhlinn, and Irish rhymes from Dublin County show that in Dublin Leinster Irish it was pronounced Duílinn /d̪ˠi, other localities in Ireland also bear the name Duibhlinn, variously anglicized as Devlin, Divlin and Difflin. Historically, scribes using the Gaelic script wrote bh with a dot over the b and those without knowledge of Irish omitted the dot, spelling the name as Dublin. Variations on the name are found in traditionally Irish-speaking areas of Scotland, such as An Linne Dhubh. It is now thought that the Viking settlement was preceded by a Christian ecclesiastical settlement known as Duibhlinn, beginning in the 9th and 10th century, there were two settlements where the modern city stands. Baile Átha Cliath, meaning town of the ford, is the common name for the city in modern Irish. Áth Cliath is a name referring to a fording point of the River Liffey near Father Mathew Bridge. Baile Átha Cliath was an early Christian monastery, believed to have been in the area of Aungier Street, there are other towns of the same name, such as Àth Cliath in East Ayrshire, Scotland, which is Anglicised as Hurlford. Although the area of Dublin Bay has been inhabited by humans since prehistoric times and he called the settlement Eblana polis. It is now thought that the Viking settlement was preceded by a Christian ecclesiastical settlement known as Duibhlinn, beginning in the 9th and 10th century, there were two settlements where the modern city stands. The subsequent Scandinavian settlement centred on the River Poddle, a tributary of the Liffey in an area now known as Wood Quay, the Dubhlinn was a small lake used to moor ships, the Poddle connected the lake with the Liffey. This lake was covered during the early 18th century as the city grew, the Dubhlinn lay where the Castle Garden is now located, opposite the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin Castle
8.
Gaelic Ireland
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Gaelic Ireland was the Gaelic political and social order, and associated culture, that existed in Ireland from the prehistoric era until the early 17th century. Before the Norman invasion of 1169, Gaelic Ireland comprised the whole island, thereafter, it comprised that part of the country not under foreign dominion at a given time. For most of its history, Gaelic Ireland was a hierarchy of territories ruled by a hierarchy of kings or chiefs. Warfare between these territories was common, occasionally, a powerful ruler was acknowledged as High King of Ireland. Society was made up of clans and, like the rest of Europe, was structured according to class. Throughout this period, the economy was mainly pastoral and money not used. A Gaelic Irish style of dress, music, dance, sport, architecture, Gaelic Ireland was initially pagan and had an oral culture. Inscription in the alphabet began in the protohistoric period, perhaps as early as the 1st century. The conversion to Christianity accompanied the introduction of literature, and much of Irelands rich pre-Christian mythology and sophisticated law code were preserved, in the Early Middle Ages, Ireland was an important centre of learning. Irish missionaries and scholars were influential in western Europe, and helped to spread Christianity to much of Britain, in the 9th century, Vikings began raiding and founding settlements along Irelands coasts and waterways, which became its first large towns. Over time, these settlers were assimilated and became the Norse-Gaels, after the Norman invasion of 1169–71, large swathes of Ireland came under the control of Norman lords, leading to centuries of conflict with the native Irish. The King of England claimed sovereignty over this territory – the Lordship of Ireland –, however, the Gaelic system continued in areas outside Anglo-Norman control. The territory under English control gradually shrank to a known as the Pale and, outside this. In 1542, Henry VIII of England declared the Lordship a Kingdom, the English then began to conquer the island. By 1607, Ireland was fully under English control, bringing the old Gaelic political and social order to an end, Gaelic Ireland had a rich oral culture and appreciation of deeper and intellectual pursuits. Filí and draoithe were held in high regard during Pagan times and orally passed down the history, later, many of their spiritual and intellectual tasks were passed on to Christian monks, after said religion prevailed from the 5th century onwards. However, the continued to hold a high position. Poetry, music, storytelling, literature and other art forms were highly prized and cultivated in both pagan and Christian Gaelic Ireland, hospitality, bonds of kinship and the fulfilment of social and ritual responsibilities were highly important
9.
Aghalee
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Aghalee is a village, townland and civil parish in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is three miles from the southeast corner of Lough Neagh on the road between Lurgan and Antrim and about 13 kilometres west of Lisburn. The village lies on the wooded slopes of Friary Glen and is beside the now disused Lagan Navigational Canal. In the 2001 Census, Aghalee had a population of 774 and that is 11 players and 763 subs. Aghalee has several places of worship, a community hall, several shops, a post office, the village is home to a vocational training centre, a nursing home, telephone exchange, day nursery, doctors surgery and chemist. Ulsterbus services link the village with Lisburn, Antrim, Lurgan, much of the early development of Aghalee was due to its strategic location beside the Lagan Navigational Canal which opened at the end of the 18th century. While the canal operated, trade continued on a significant scale, when the canal finally ceased to operate in 1954, the area began to decline in commercial importance. The population of the settlement decreased considerably in the part of the 19th century. The village retains many of the 18th century structures and buildings belonging to the canal, from the 1970s Aghalee developed as a commuter area for Belfast and Craigavon and this was accompanied by significant population growth. In recent times, development has occurred on the lands to the west of the village core, Aghalee is celebrated in the Orange song, The Aghalee Heroes. This is a ballad about an event in the Irish Rebellion of 1798, a garrison stationed in the village of Aghalee was ordered to march to Lurgan to engage with the rebels. They did so and won a decisive victory, Aghalee is classified as a Small Village or Hamlet. On Census day there were 774 people living in Aghalee
10.
Aughagower
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Aughagower or Aghagower is a tiny village in rural County Mayo in western Ireland. It is located about 6 km from Westport, Aughagower has only a few houses and pubs in a pastoral setting. It also forms the centre of a parish of the same name, the village is primarily known today for its ancient and cultural history. Aughagower is said to have been visited by St. Patrick, Aughagower lies mid-way along Tóchar Phádraig, formerly a part of the royal processional route from Cruachan, and later an important pilgrimage route from Ballintubber Abbey to Croagh Patrick. The ruins of a church adjoins the graveyard of the towns modern Catholic church. It has a well-preserved tenth-century round tower, with the exception of its topmost section, the tower was built between 973 and 1013 According to legend, the capstone was struck by lightning, and landed half a mile away on the hill of Tavenish. A local woman is said to have carried the cap stone in her apron to the church. Dabhach Phadraig is a circular bath surrounded by a stone wall, tobair na nDeachan, now dried up, was where pilgrims drank water while performing the pilgrimage. A tree growing over Dabhach Phadraig was said to have curative powers, the soil was applied in a poultice, and when the ailment was cured the soil must be returned. It was founded in 441 by St. Patrick, who placed over it Bishop Senach, the jurisdiction of Aghagower extended over the Owles, the territory around Clew Bay, comprising the modern deanery of Westport. But at an early date these churches were absorbed first into the Diocese of Mayo, a great part of the population of the parish of Aughagower was lost in the Great Famine, and traces of ruins of deserted houses exist in several parts of the parish. List of towns and villages in Ireland
11.
Ardglass
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Ardglass is a coastal fishing village, townland and civil parish in County Down, Northern Ireland, in the historic barony of Lecale Lower. It is still an important fishing harbour. It is situated on the B1 Ardglass to Downpatrick road, about 6 miles to the south east of Downpatrick and it had a population of 1,668 people in the 2001 Census, and is located within the Down District Council area. A Conservation area was designated in Ardglass in 1996, focused on its early 19th century street pattern, the village has eight archaeological sites within the area and another two nearby. There are a number of listed properties located on Castle Place, Kildare Street, St Nicholass Church, Kings Castle, Ardglass Castle, Isabella Tower, the disused railway station, the North Pier and the inner Dock are also listed. Ardglass grew from a place of note in the 13th century to a modestly prosperous port in the 15th century. It was an important town and port in the Middle Ages, then William Ogilvie, who had acquired the Ardglass estate, had a harbour built. Further extensions to the pier and a lighthouse were made, work on the piers was completed by 1885 and they remain in use to this day. Ardglass contains more medieval tower-houses than any town in Ireland. It also has probably the most extensive network of warehouses from the period surviving in Ireland and these were important in the substantial grain export trade of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Nearby are the ruins of 15th century Ardtole Church and its antiquity is very great, as a church was founded here by St. Patrick. It is said to have been a borough, though on its ruin the privilege of returning members to parliament went into disuse, in the reign of Henry the VI. it was a corporation, governed by a Portrieve. Ardglass has been a port for more than two thousand years and developed as such due to its location on the east coast of Lecale. It has one of the few harbours which is accessible at all states of the tide and today has two fishing piers, the North Pier and South Pier, a number of fish processing factories and a marina. While the port is not as now as in its heyday,150 years ago. The port specialises in herrings, prawns, and whitefish, Ardglass Marina, sometimes also known as Phennick Cove, has a capacity for about 80 craft and a deep water basin open 24 hours daily all year. Strangford Lough lies six miles to the north, Ardglass Golf Club is the local course. The Clubhouse was formerly known as Ardglass Castle and the dates from the 15th century
12.
Ford (crossing)
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A ford is a shallow place with good footing where a river or stream may be crossed by wading, or inside a vehicle getting its wheels wet. A ford is mostly a natural phenomenon, in contrast to a low water crossing, a ford is a much cheaper form of river crossing than a bridge, but it may become impassable after heavy rain or during flood conditions. A ford is therefore only suitable for very minor roads. Most modern fords are usually enough to be crossed by cars. In New Zealand, however, fords are a part of major roads, including, until 2010. As most inter-city domestic passengers travel by air and as much cargo goes by sea, long distance road traffic is low, in dry weather, drivers become aware of a ford by crunching across outwash detritus on the roadway. A Bailey bridge may be built off the line of the road to carry emergency traffic during high water. At places where the water is enough, but the material on the riverbed will not support heavy vehicles. In such cases a curb is often placed on the side to prevent vehicles slipping off. Fords may be equipped with a post indicating the water depth. Some have an adjacent footbridge so that pedestrians may cross without getting their feet wet, a road running below the water level of a stream or river is often known as a watersplash. It is a name for a ford or stretch of wet road in some areas. They have become a feature in rallying courses. There are enthusiasts who seek out and drive through these water features, there are many old fords known as watersplashes in the United Kingdom. Examples are at Brockenhurst in Hampshire, Wookey in Somerset, some of these are being replaced by bridges as these are a more reliable form of crossing in adverse weather conditions. The Dean Ford in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, is mentioned in the deeds of this property, the ford has had to be maintained as a property boundary feature, despite several cars a year being washed away. Not just a British phenomenon, some very spectacular versions of the feature can be found in diverse locations. Australia has the Gulf Savannah, and others may be found in Canada, Italy, South Africa and they are also found on some Tennessee backroads, where they are referred to as underwater bridges
13.
Athlone
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Athlone is a town on the River Shannon near the southern shore of Lough Ree in Ireland. It is the largest town in the Midlands Region, the 2011 Census of Ireland recorded the population of the town at 20,153, a 14. 8% increase from 2006. Recent growth has occurred outside the towns boundaries. Athlone is near the centre of Ireland, which is 8.85 kilometres north-northwest of the town. Athlone Castle is the geographical and historical centre of Athlone, in 1001 Brian Bóru sailed his army up river from Kincora and through Lough Derg to attend a gathering in Athlone. A bridge was built across the river in the 12th century, to protect the bridge, a fort was constructed on the rivers west bank, within Athlone, by Turloch Mór Ó Conor. On a number of both the fort and bridge were subject to attacks, and towards the end of the 12th century the Anglo-Normans constructed a motte-and-bailey fortification there. This earthen fort was followed by a structure built in 1210 by Justiciar John de Gray. The 12-sided donjon, or tower, dates from time, however. Throughout the wars that wracked Ireland in the 17th century, Athlone contained the vital, forty years later, during the pan-European War of the Grand Alliance, the town was again of key strategic importance. This time around, Athlone was one of the Jacobite strongholds that defended the river-crossings into the confederate-held Province of Connacht following the Battle of the Brits on 1 July 1690. That same year, Colonel Richard Graces Jacobite forces in Athlone repelled an attack by 10,000 men led by Commander Douglas. The defenders were forced to further west, toward the River Suck. The most recently discovered account of the Siege of Athlone, written after the attack, in the 1970s it was proposed in the Republican Éire Nua programme to make Athlone the capital city of a federal United Ireland. This proposal is still upheld by the Republican Sinn Féin, the part of the town that lies east of the Shannon is in the province of Leinster, the county of Westmeath, the barony of Brawny, and the civil parish of St Marys. Unusually, the barony is coterminous with a civil parish. In terms of boundaries, the eastern past of the town is in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise. However, seven townlands, or sections of the town, lie west of the Shannon, Athlone and Big Meadow, Bellaugh, Bogganfin, Canal and Banks, Doovoge, part of Monksland, and Ranelagh
14.
Ballymena
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Ballymena /ˌbæliˈmiːnə/ is a large town in County Antrim, and the eighth largest in Northern Ireland. It is part of Mid and East Antrim Borough Council and it had a population of 29,467 people in the 2011 Census. The town is built on land given to the Adair family by King Charles I in 1626, as of 2016, the Saturday market still runs. Ballymena is the hometown of notable actor Liam Neeson, who was awarded Freedom of the Borough in 2013, the town used to host Irelands largest one-day agricultural show at the Ballymena Showgrounds. The town centre has many historic buildings, the Town Hall was built in 1924 on the site of the old Market House, and was refurbished in 2007 at a cost of roughly £20 million. The recorded history of the Ballymena area dates to the Early Christian period from the 5th to the 7th centuries, ringforts are found in the townland of Ballykeel and a site known as Camphill Fort in the townland of Ballee may also have been of this type. There are a number of sites within a 1 1⁄4 miles radius of the centre of Ballymena. Two miles north in the townland of Kirkinriola, the ancient parish church and graveyard possess several indicators of Early Christian settlement, also in 1868, a gravedigger found a large stone slab on which was carved a cross with the inscription ord do degen. This refers to Bishop Degen, who lived in Ireland during the 7th century and this stone is now in the porch of St. Patricks Church at the end of Castle Street. At the end of the 5th century, a church was founded in Connor and this was followed by a monastery at Templemoyle, Kells. In 831, however, the Norse invaded the Ballymena area, in the 12th century, the Normans conquered much of County Antrim and County Down after having taken over England the century before. They created the core of the Earldom of Ulster, during this campaign, they built great mounds of earth topped by wooden towers, referred to as mottes, as defensive structures. The Harryville areas motte-and-bailey is one of the best examples of type of fortification in Northern Ireland. In 1315, Edward Bruce invaded Ireland, on 10 September 1315, at the Battle of Tawnybrack, Edward conquered the army of Richard De Burgo, the Norman Earl of Ulster. In 1576, Queen Elizabeth I granted land, including the town of Ballymena, the lands had been forfeited to the crown after Shane ONeills resistance in the 1560s. Smith brought English settlers to the area, among the first pioneers in planting English, by 1581, Smiths settlement failed and the lands reverted to the crown. On 10 May 1607, King James I granted the native Irish chief, the estate passed through several owners, eventually passing into the possession of William Adair, a Scottish laird from Kinhilt in southwestern Scotland. The estate was temporarily renamed Kinhilstown after Adairs lands in Scotland, the original castle of Ballymena was built in the early 17th century, situated to take advantage of an ancient ford at the River Braid
15.
Ballyclare
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Ballyclare is a small town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 18,441, including the surrounding townland, the town itself has a population of 9,919, according to the 2011 census. Under the reorganisation of Northern Ireland local government in 1973, Ballyclare lost its district status. It is now part of Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council It sits on the river Six Mile Water, the broad main street dates from the 17th century. In the centre of the town is the Market Square with the Town Hall. The town grew in the 19th century with the coming of the railway and it became an important industrial town with a paper mill in the South West of the town. These factories gave their names to the leading to them, the Mill Road and the Green Road. It is now a service centre with a significant dormitory role in relation to Belfast. It is the focus within the rural area for shopping. To the north is the remnant of Craig Hill, which provided a wooded backdrop but is now covered with modern housing. Much of the Craig Hill has been quarried for its basalt, people have lived in Ballyclare for five thousand years. The earliest evidence of people in area is a hoard of flint arrow heads found when houses were being built north of the river in November 1968. There were a total of thirty-nine flints discovered – some perfectly finished and others are blank indicating an industry, when the Normans built the castle at Carrickfergus they placed a line of outposts along the river which was then called the Ollar – River of the Rushes. In time the soldiers making the journey from Carrickfergus to Antrim reached the river at this spot when they had travelled six miles so began to call the Ollar the Six Mile Water, one of these mottes is close by the river in the War Memorial Park in Ballyclare. There are two on sides of the river at Doagh and one at Antrim. The village grew after the Plantation of Ulster and was granted permission by King George II in 1756 to hold two fairs each year making it an important market centre, at the same time as the Pilgrim Fathers landed in America, Ballyclare was settled by Scots planters. Jonathan Swift preached here and it was here the families of Mark Twain, Sam Houston. The people of Ballyclare and the surrounding villages played a part in the Irish Rebellion of 1798, at the beginning of the 20th century Ballyclare was a growing industrial town with an urban district council and became the largest paper producer in Ireland
16.
Ballaghmore, County Laois
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Ballaghmore is a small village and townland located on the western side of County Laois, Ireland, southwest of Portlaoise. It is situated in the parish of Stradbally in the historic barony of Stradbally. The main industry in Ballaghmore is farming, the village has a thriving community, with a hurling club, Kyle GAA and a local church. Family names from this area include Keogh, OGrady, England, Gilmartin, Rigney, Phelan, Delaney, the town is mainly known for Ballaghmore Castle which is situated in a truly beautiful landscape, with excellent walking and mountain climbing opportunities. The castle derived its name from the Bealach Mor, the ancient road to Munster on which the castle is located, Ballaghmore Castle was built in 1480 by the Irish chieftain Mac Giolla Phádraig, translated as Son of the Servant of Patrick. Like many other castles Ballaghmore Castle was damaged by Cromwellian forces in 1647 during the Laois-Offaly Plantation, a Mr. Ely restored the castle in 1836 and found a hoard of gold on the land in the process. Ely was killed by a farmer and never lived in the castle. The uninhabited building was used as granary and fell in disrepair until it was bought by its present owner in 1990, of all the castles of Upper Ossory, it is the only one which is still inhabitable. A very interesting feature of the Ballaghmore Castle is the Sheela na Gig which is carved in a stone of the outer front-facing wall. The sheela-na-Gig is depicted as an ugly, half-dead, woman with contorted face, the emphasis on the female reproduction organs in combination with her deathlike appearance is associated with the cycle of birth and death. Sheela-na-Gig is thought to be a Celtic fertility goddess, scholars assume that Sheela-na-Gig is imported from Mesopotamia where the term nu-gug refers to some sort of sacred prostitutes. Sheela-na-Gig figures were common in Ireland and Britain, but just a few of them survived the Victorian nineteenth century, list of towns and villages in Ireland Lists of castles in Ireland Cullahill Castle Ballaghmore Castle site IrishTV story which features Ballaghmore Castle
17.
Strabane
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Strabane, historically spelt Straban, is a town in West Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It was the headquarters of the former Strabane District Council, Strabane has a population of around 18,000, which is mainly Irish nationalist. It is the second-largest town in Tyrone, after Omagh and it lies on the east bank of the River Foyle and is roughly equidistant from Omagh, Derry City and Letterkenny. The River Foyle marks the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, on the other side of the river is the smaller town of Lifford, which is the county town of County Donegal. The Mourne flows through the centre of the town, and meets the Finn to form the Foyle River, in the 1600s the town was settled by Scottish families, an action that preceded the Plantation of Ulster. In 1608 during ODohertys Rebellion most of the fled to the safety of Lifford following Sir Cahir ODohertys Burning of Derry. Strabane once had the distinction of the highest unemployment rate in the Industrial World. It is one of the most economically deprived towns in the United Kingdom, Strabane suffered huge economic damage in 1987 when much of the centre of the town was flooded. Strabane had been moved out of the top 20 in the 2007 edition, Strabane was once the most bombed town in Europe per size and was the most bombed town in Northern Ireland. Many civilians and members of the security forces were killed or injured in the area over the course of the Troubles, many British Army regiments from England, Scotland and Wales served in Strabane at various times during the Troubles in the Barracks at the locally named Camels hump. As a result of the Good Friday Agreement, there is no longer any British Army presence in the town, Strabane became involved in the Ulster Project International, sending Catholic and Protestant teenagers to the United States for prejudice-reduction work. The Irish gauge 5 ft 3 in Londonderry and Enniskillen Railway reached Strabane in 1847, Omagh in 1852, the Great Northern Railway took over the L&ER in 1883. The Finn Valley Railway opened from Strabane to Stranorlar in 1863, the FV was originally Irish gauge but in 1892 it merged with the 3 ft narrow gauge West Donegal Railway to form the Donegal Railway and was reduced to the same narrow gauge for through running. The Donegal Railway opened its own line to Derry in 1900, in 1906 the GNR and Northern Counties Committee jointly took over the Donegal Railway, making it the County Donegal Railways Joint Committee. The 3 ft gauge Strabane and Letterkenny Railway opened in 1909 and was worked by the Joint Committee, the narrow gauge lines made Strabane one of the most important railway connections for County Donegal. The partition of Ireland in 1922 turned the boundary with County Donegal into an international frontier and this changed trade patterns to the railways detriment and placed border posts on the Joint Committees FV and S&L lines and on the GNR line to Derry. Stops for customs inspections greatly delayed trains and disrupted timekeeping, the Joint Committees Strabane-Derry line was closed in 1954, followed by the remainder of the narrow gauge system in 1960. In 1958 the Ulster Transport Authority took over the remaining GNR lines on the Northern Ireland side of the border, in accordance with The Benson Report submitted to the Northern Ireland Government in 1963, the UTA closed the former GNR line through Strabane to Derry in 1965
18.
Whitehead, County Antrim
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Whitehead is a small seaside town on the east coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, lying almost midway between the towns of Carrickfergus and Larne. It lies within the parish of Templecorran, the historic barony of Belfast Lower. Before the Plantation of Ulster its name was recorded as both Whitehead and Kinbaine and it had a population of 3,786 in the 2011 Census. Whitehead is notable in that there are no streets with the suffix Street in their name, one primary school exists within the town - Whitehead Primary School. Another school, Lourdes Primary School, operated until June 2011 when it closed down, Whitehead High School, an all-girls secondary school, was present until its closure in 1986. It is now the site of a nursing home, the town also was home to an aerodrome during the First World War which housed two airships. Whitehead is a Victorian railway village with a well preserved conservation area, Whitehead is about 20 miles from Belfast. On the opposite coast of Belfast Lough, the Copeland Islands, Bangor, Whitehead received a silver at the Britain in Bloom awards in 2005 and 2006, and a bronze in 2007. The towns Brighter Whitehead group planted many of the flowers, in 2012 Northern Irelands only Jubilee Wood was planted at Whitehead to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. Whitehead Eagles F. C. play in the Northern Amateur Football League, bentra Golf Course -- Whiteheads own public golf course. The longest 9-hole course in Ireland, Whitehead Golf Club Whitehead Bowling Club -- Lawn Bowls club. 6-time winners of NIBA Division 1, most recently in 2015, for more information see The Troubles in Whitehead, County Antrim, which includes a list of incidents in Whitehead during the Troubles resulting in two or more fatalities. The UDA South East Antrim Brigade lists Whitehead as a base of operations, neighbours actress Jackie Woodburne lived in Whitehead before her family emigrated to Australia. Sting lived with ex-wife Frances Tomelty in Whitehead during the mid-1970s, the wooden house on the coastal path that they lived in was originally a temperance hotel and has recently been replaced with a new building. Keith Gillespie went to Whitehead Primary School, Whitehead railway station is on the Larne Harbour to Belfast Central and Belfast Great Victoria Street line. Located on the Northern Ireland Railways network being part of the Belfast Suburban Rail as well as the home of the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland. They would like Whitehead to be a town where local businesses would sell more locally produced food, Whitehead is classified as an intermediate settlement by the NI Statistics and Research Agency. On Census day there were 3,702 people living in Whitehead
19.
Carrickbeg
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Carrickbeg is a village on the southern side of the river Suir in southern Ireland. Carrickbeg comprises that part of the town of Carrick-on-Suir on the side of the River Suir. The area is County Tipperary, but a minority of residents have an affinity for County Waterford. The Franciscan order had a presence in Carrickbeg between 1336 and 2006, the land on which the friary was constructed was first granted to the order by the 1st Earl of Ormond. However, the suppression of monasteries by Henry VIII led to the closure of the friary. Just prior to the invasion of Ireland by Oliver Cromwell, the friars had returned for an 11-year period, before being shut down again and it was not until 1820 and the onset of Catholic Emancipation that the friars were able to fully return and a new chapel was built. Saint Francis Roman Catholic Church was built on the grounds of the former fourteenth-century Franciscan Friary, the friars served the local community until a lack of vocations led to the order finally leaving Carrickbeg in 2006. The main features of Carrickbeg are the old St. Mollerans church, the River Suir, the local Gaelic Athletic Association club is St. Mollerans. The club is one of three GAA clubs in the town of Carrick-on-Suir, the others being Carrick Davins and Carrick Swan, the 1998 Tour de France passed through Carrickbeg. Carrickbeg came to attention in 2008 when the winning ticket for a €15 million EuroMillions jackpot was sold in the village. List of towns and villages in Ireland
20.
Belfast
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Belfast is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, the second largest on the island of Ireland, and the heart of the tenth largest Primary Urban Area in the United Kingdom. On the River Lagan, it had a population of 286,000 at the 2011 census and 333,871 after the 2015 council reform, Belfast was granted city status in 1888. Belfast played a key role in the Industrial Revolution, and was an industrial centre until the latter half of the 20th century. It has sustained a major aerospace and missiles industry since the mid 1930s, industrialisation and the inward migration it brought made Belfast Irelands biggest city at the beginning of the 20th century. Today, Belfast remains a centre for industry, as well as the arts, higher education, business, and law, additionally, Belfast city centre has undergone considerable expansion and regeneration in recent years, notably around Victoria Square. Belfast is served by two airports, George Best Belfast City Airport in the city, and Belfast International Airport 15 miles west of the city. Although the county borough of Belfast was created when it was granted city status by Queen Victoria in 1888, the site of Belfast has been occupied since the Bronze Age. The Giants Ring, a 5, 000-year-old henge, is located near the city, Belfast remained a small settlement of little importance during the Middle Ages. The ONeill clan had a presence in the area, in the 14th century, Cloinne Aodha Buidhe, descendants of Aodh Buidhe ONeill built Grey Castle at Castlereagh, now in the east of the city. Conn ONeill of the Clannaboy ONeills owned vast lands in the area and was the last inhabitant of Grey Castle, evidence of this period of Belfasts growth can still be seen in the oldest areas of the city, known as the Entries. Belfast blossomed as a commercial and industrial centre in the 18th and 19th centuries, industries thrived, including linen, rope-making, tobacco, heavy engineering and shipbuilding, and at the end of the 19th century, Belfast briefly overtook Dublin as the largest city in Ireland. The Harland and Wolff shipyards became one of the largest shipbuilders in the world, in 1886 the city suffered intense riots over the issue of home rule, which had divided the city. In 1920–22, Belfast became the capital of the new entity of Northern Ireland as the island of Ireland was partitioned, the accompanying conflict cost up to 500 lives in Belfast, the bloodiest sectarian strife in the city until the Troubles of the late 1960s onwards. Belfast was heavily bombed during World War II, in one raid, in 1941, German bombers killed around one thousand people and left tens of thousands homeless. Apart from London, this was the greatest loss of life in a raid during the Blitz. Belfast has been the capital of Northern Ireland since its establishment in 1921 following the Government of Ireland Act 1920 and it had been the scene of various episodes of sectarian conflict between its Catholic and Protestant populations. These opposing groups in conflict are now often termed republican and loyalist respectively. The most recent example of conflict was known as the Troubles – a civil conflict that raged from around 1969 to 1998
21.
Binevenagh
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Binevenagh or Benevenagh is a mountain in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It marks the extent of the Antrim Plateau formed around 60 million years ago by molten lava. The plateau and steep cliffs extend for over 6 miles across the peninsula of Magilligan and dominate the skyline over the villages of Bellarena, Downhill, Castlerock, the area has been classified as both an Area of Special Scientific Interest and as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The total area of the AONB is 138 km², the Bishops Road, named after the Bishop of Derry, extends across the plateau. Notable features include the Mussenden Temple and a cliff top viewing area on the Bishops Road giving good views over Lough Foyle, Gliding - the Ulster Gliding Club uses the slopes for gliders. Hang gliding and Paragliding - the slopes are used for soaring by the Ulster Hang gliding and Paragliding Club, fishing - an artificial lake at the top of the mountain is used for trout fishing. Motorsport - the Coleraine & District Motor Club run the Eagles Rock hillclimbing event during the month of July, the Belfast-Londonderry railway line trains run by Northern Ireland Railways call at Bellarena railway station between Londonderry railway station and Castlerock railway station. Trains continue from Castlerock to Coleraine railway station and other stations to Belfast Central, binevenagh Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
22.
Mullaghbrack
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Mullaghbrack, Mullabrack or Mullaghbrac is a small village, townland and civil parish in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It is on the road between Markethill and Hamiltonsbawn, just north of Gosford Forest Park and it had a population of 54 people in the 2011 Census. During the Irish Rebellion of 1641, Markethill and its district did not escape the havoc. Irish commander Féilim Ó Néill, on his march from Newry to Armagh in 1641, ordered Mulmory MacDonell. to kill all the English and Scots within the parishes of Mullebrack, Logilly and Kilcluney. Among properties destroyed were the Parish Churches of Mullaghbrack and Kilcluney, Achesons Castle at Markethill, the rectors of Mullaghbrack and Loughgilly both lost their lives. Lord William Beresford, born in Mullabrack, received the Victoria Cross during the Anglo-Zulu War, the local GAA club is ODonovan Rossas, founded in 1903 as the Shamrocks, it disappeared in the 1930s but was reformed under its present name in 1953. The high point in the history was its winning the county Junior championship in 1983. List of civil parishes of County Armagh Lord William Beresford at Find a Grave
23.
Bundoran
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Bundoran is a town in County Donegal, Ireland. The town is located on the N15 road near Ballyshannon, and is the most southerly town in Donegal, the town is a popular seaside resort, and tourism has been at the heart of the local economy since 1777. Bundoran is a surfing area and was listed by National Geographic magazine in 2012 as one of the Worlds Top 20 Surf Towns. Bundoran, or as it is known in Irish Bun Dobhráin, was, up until over a century ago, Bundoran was the village west of the bridge over the River Bradoge. This area is now called the West End, East of the bridge, about 2 kilometres away, was the village of Single Street. In between these two communities was the townland of Drumacrin. The area of Drumcacrin is now part of what is todays town centre, Single Street was where most of the local population lived. The first official record of Bundoran is in a deposition by Hugh Gaskein on 16 May 1653 and he was a witness to events during the 1641 Rebellion when he was an apprentice butcher in Sligo. In 1689 a skirmish was fought near Bundoran between a Jacobite force under Sir Connell Ferrall and the retreating Protestant garrison of Sligo, william Cole, Viscount Enniskillen, built Bundoran Lodge, his summer home, in 1777. This building still stands on Bayview Avenue and is now called Homefield House, the Viscount seems to have started a trend amongst his contemporaries as more of them discovered Bundoran and visited it to enjoy the seaside and what were believed to be its health benefits. Canon Kelaghan also had the present Catholic church built in 1859, the Great Northern Railway operated the E&BR line from 1876 and absorbed the company in 1896. In this period Bundoran emerged as one of Irelands most popular seaside resorts, by the end of the 19th century it had become one of the main seaside resorts in Ulster. Hotels and lodging houses were opened around the town and the GNR built the Great Northern Hotel, during The Emergency of 1939–45 the GNR introduced the Bundoran Express that linked Dublin and Bundoran via Dundalk and Enniskillen. It also carried pilgrims to and from Pettigo, which was the nearest station for Lough Derg in County Donegal, there were also through trains between Bundoran and Belfast. The partition of Ireland in 1922 turned the boundary with County Fermanagh into an international frontier, henceforth Bundorans only railway link with the rest of the Irish Free State was via Northern Ireland, and as such was subject to delays for customs inspections. The Government of Northern Ireland closed much of the GNR network on its side of the border in 1957 and this gave the Republic no practical alternative but to allow the closure of the line between the border and Bundoran. Thereafter the nearest railheads for Bundoran were Sligo in the Republic and Omagh in Northern Ireland, today, the closest railway stations to Bundoran are Sligo Mac Diarmada Station in Sligo Town and Waterside Station in Derry. For almost two centuries people have flocked to Bundoran beach on hot summer days, the tradition of bathing boxes began in Victorian times
24.
Cashel, County Tipperary
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Cashel is a town in County Tipperary in Ireland. Its population was 2,936 at the 2006 census, the town gives its name to the ecclesiastical province of Cashel. Additionally, the cathedra of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel and it is part of the parish of Cashel and Rosegreen in the same archdiocese. One of the six cathedrals of the Anglican Bishop of Cashel and Ossory and it is in the civil parish of St. Patricksrock which is in the historical barony of Middle Third. The town is situated in the Golden Vale, an area of rolling pastureland in the province of Munster and it is located off the M8 Dublin to Cork motorway. Prior to the construction of the motorway by-pass, the town was noted as a bottleneck on the N8 Dublin to Cork route, Bus Éireann operates an expressway service between Dublin and Cork which calls at Cashel. Bus Éireann route 128X provides a link to Portlaoise via Urlingford, the Shamrock Bus Company operates a Thurles to Clonmel route via Cashel. The nearest rail station is Cahir railway station,17 kilometres distant and this station is particularly useful if travelling east to/from Waterford. However the most practical rail station for Cashel is at Thurles railway station as this is on the Dublin-Cork InterCity rail line, the nearest airports are Cork Airport and Shannon Airport, both of which are around 80 km away. The Rock of Cashel, to which the town owes its origin, is an isolated elevation of stratified limestone, rising abruptly from a broad. The top of this eminence is crowned by a group of remarkable ruins, originally known as Fairy Hill, or Sid-Druim, the Rock was, in pagan times, the dun, or castle, of the ancient Eoghnacht Chiefs of Munster. In Gaelic, Caiseal denotes a circular stone fort and is the name of places in Ireland. The Book of Rights suggests the name is derived from Cais-il, i. e. tribute stone, here Corc, grandfather of Aengus Mac Natfraich, erected a fort. Cashel subsequently became the capital of Munster and, like Tara and Armagh, at the time of St. Patrick, when Aengus ruled as king, Cashel claimed supremacy over all the royal duns of the province. In the 5th century, the Eóganachta dynasty founded their capital on, many kings of Munster have reigned here since. Saint Patrick is believed to have baptised Cashels third king, Aengus, in 977 the Dál gCais usurper, Brian Boru, was crowned here as the first non-Eóghanacht king of Cashel and Munster in over five hundred years. In 1101 his great-grandson, King Muirchertach Ua Briain, gave the place to the bishop of Limerick, thus denying it forever to the MacCarthys, the senior branch of the Eóganachta. The bishops had a school in Cashel and sent priests all over the continent, especially to Regensburg in Germany
25.
Cappamore
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Cappamore is a small town in northeast County Limerick in the midwest of Ireland. It is also a parish in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel, Cappamore is situated on the R505 regional road, on the banks of the Mulcair River. The village is overlooked by the Slieve Felim Mountains and is approximately 20 minutes driving time from Limerick City and it has a rich agricultural hinterland in which the dairy industry is prominent. The town has pubs, grocery shops, a hardware store, GP surgery, pharmacy, bookmaker shop. Other services include a library and arts complex, a church, community centre. The village also has a brigade serving the surrounding area. The town hosts an annual Agricultural Show that attracts a number of visitors in August each year. There are three schools in Cappamore, Bilboa National School, Tineteriffe National School, and Scoil Chaitríona. St. Michaels Technical School was a school that existed in the village up to 2013 when it amalgamated with the two second-level schools in Doon to create Scoil na Trionóide Naofa. Limerick Junction train station is located 20 kilometres from Cappamore and has Iarnród Éireann services to Dublin, Cork, Kerry, Limerick train station is 23 kilometres away with services to Dublin and Galway. The nearest airport is Shannon, located 50 kilometres away with services to the UK, Europe, the famine years hit the area particularly badly, with the parish of Cappamore losing half of its population. Cappamore Historical Society produced a publication on the history of the area in 1992 entitled Cappamore. The sport of hurling is probably the most popular in Cappamore, Cappamore have won the Limerick Senior Hurling Championship on five occasions,1904,1954,1956,1958 and 1964. However Gaelic football, athletics and soccer have grown in popularity in recent years, john Hayes also won a County Under 21 Gaelic football medal with Cappamore in 1995. Cappamore is the town of the film maker David Gleeson who wrote and directed the feature films Cowboys & Angels. Cappamore was also at one home to author and playwright Tom OBrien. Tom has published books including Confessions of an Altar Boy. He has also staged many plays around Ireland and England and it is also the home place of professional darts player William OConnor
26.
Cappagh, County Tyrone
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Cappagh is a small village, townland and civil parish in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is between Pomeroy, Ballygawley, Galbally and Carrickmore, with the hamlet of Galbally about one mile to the east, most of the land around Cappagh is farmland although a quarry lies just outside the village. There is also a rural parish in western Limerick with the same name. Cappagh Mountain - The village is located on a hillside and immediately behind it stands Cappagh Mountain, the area around Cappagh has fine mountain scenery where the land is a mixture of rural pastures and bog. These bog and peat lands still provide turf for the generation of the area. Travelling towards Altmore on the hand side of the road is King Jamess Well. Further on was once a house that occupied some of the finest miniature model houses and castles in Northern Ireland. Cappagh Monument - In the middle of the village is a monument to local people who were killed by British security forces and paramilitaries during The Troubles, at least 10 people in and around Cappagh lost their lives during the Troubles, according to CAIN website. Three were members of the Provisional IRA, three were members of the RUC, two Catholic civilians, one member of the UDR, and a Protestant civilian. The three IRA volunteers and one of the Catholic residents were killed by the Ulster Volunteer Force in a shooting outside a bar on 3 March 1991. Another Catholic civilian had been shot and killed in the spot in January 1974 by loyalist assailants. The rest of the victims were killed by members of the Provisional IRA, the village, reputed as being a republican stronghold, was also the scene of another two significant events in the early 1990s. Republican media claimed a SAS ambush was thwarted and at least two soldiers in the car were killed. But Hamilton claimed there were no security or civilian casualties, another major incident, at least for its consequences, took place on 12 May 1992, when a patrol of British paratroopers was ambushed with an anti-personnel device by the IRA in Cappagh. The attack sparked the reaction of the paratroopers, which sealed off the town of Coalisland. The RUC alleged that a machine gun stolen during the incidents was later recovered precisely at Cappagh. This series of incidents led to the suspension of patrols before the end of the battalions deployment
27.
Cairn
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A cairn is a human-made pile of stones. The word cairn comes from the Scottish Gaelic, càrn, cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes, from prehistoric times to the present. In modern times, cairns are often erected as landmarks, a use they have had since ancient times. Cairns are used as markers in many parts of the world, in uplands, on moorland, on mountaintops, near waterways and on sea cliffs, as well as in barren deserts. They vary in size from small stone markers to entire artificial hills, cairns may be painted or otherwise decorated, whether for increased visibility or for religious reasons. An ancient example is the inuksuk, used by the Inuit, Inupiat, Kalaallit, Yupik, inuksuit are found from Alaska to Greenland. This region, above the Arctic Circle, is dominated by the tundra biome and has areas with few natural landmarks, different types of cairns exist from rough piles of stones to interlocking dry stone round cylinders. The most important cairns commonly used around the world are interlocking stone survey cairns constructed around a central survey mark about every 30 km on the tallest peaks across a nation. These physical survey mark cairn systems by surveyors as the basis for national survey grids to interconnect individual land survey measurements for entire nations, on occasion these permanent interlocking stone cairns were taken down then reconstructed for survey mark for measurements to increase the accuracy of the national survey grid. They can also be used in unpopulated country as emergency location points, for example, the extensive trail network maintained by the DNT, the Norwegian Trekking Association, extensively uses cairns in conjunction with T-painted rock faces to mark trails. Other examples of these can be seen in the fields of Volcanoes National Park to mark several hikes. Placed at regular intervals, a series of cairns can be used to indicate a path across stony or barren terrain, such cairns are often placed at junctions or in places where the trail direction is not obvious. They may also be used to indicate an obscured danger such as a sudden drop, most trail cairns are small, usually being a foot or less in height. However, they may be built taller so as to protrude through a layer of snow, hikers passing by often add a stone, as a small bit of maintenance to counteract the erosive effects of severe weather. North American trail marks are sometimes called ducks or duckies, because they sometimes have a beak pointing in the direction of the route. The expression two rocks do not make a duck reminds hikers that just one rock resting upon another could be the result of accident or nature rather than intentional trail marking. The building of cairns for recreational purposes along trails, to ones personal passage through the area. This distracts from cairns used as navigational guides, and also conflicts with the Leave No Trace ethic
28.
Carnmoney
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Carnmoney is the name of a townland, electoral ward and a civil parish in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Carnmoney is within the area called Newtownabbey and the wider Newtownabbey Borough. It lies 7 miles from Belfast city centre in the barony of Belfast Lower. Carnmoney is known throughout Belfast for its large graveyard, Carnmoney Cemetery sits on the slopes of Carnmoney Hill, a major landmark in the area, which also contains a woodland nature reserve. The poet Derek Mahon mentions Carnmoney Cemetery in his poem My Wicked Uncle, Carnmoney, as a settlement, grew up around a holy well, Glas-na-bradan river and Carnmoney Hill. The area became a Norman borough known as Coole or Le Coule, Le Coule was on the site of the present Rathfern/Rathcoole housing estates. Bits of the Old Irish Highway, an old route from Carrick to Antrim passing through the Norman borough, are still running alongside the current ONeill Road. Carnmoney as a name has come to represent Carnmoney Village, Carnmoney Presbyterian Church is one of the oldest Presbyterian churches in Ireland as it dates from 1657. The plot where it stands was home to a meeting house. Mary Butters, also referred to as the Carnmoney Witch, was put on trial for murder in March 1818 and she was called a Wise-woman in the area and had been hired by a local farmer to lift a curse he believed had possessed one of his cows. The day after she had lifted the spell, the farmer, his wife. Butters was accused of murdering them with a herbal potion she had created to use on the cow and her story was that a man appeared before them with a huge bludgeon and killed the three only stunning her. The affair was the topic of much talk in Belfast and its surrounding villages, there are seven schools in Carnmoney, all at primary level, run by the North Eastern Education and Library Board. However the 2008 estimate is much due to major sub-urbanisation in Belfast. 18. 1% were under 16 and 22. 3% was over the age of 60,47. 5% of the population of Carnmoney were male and 52. 5% were female. 13% of people were from a Roman Catholic background and 83. 3% were from a Protestant or other Christian related community. The average age in Carnmoney was 40 years, higher than the Newtownabbey average of 35 years, the population density of Carnmoney was 33.37 persons per hectare. This is proportionality much higher than in Newtownabbey were there are 5.31 persons per hectare, and higher still than 1.19, in 2004 there were 26 births registered in Carnmoney,42. 3% of which were to unmarried mothers
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Carrowdore
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Carrowdore is a small village on the Ards Peninsula in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is situated in the townland of Ballyrawer, the parish of Donaghadee. It lies within the Borough of Ards and it had a population of 960 people in the 2011 Census. Strangford Integrated College in Carrowdore educates approx, there is also a primary school, Carrowdore Primary School, which educates approx. In the grounds of the school is a playgroup nursery. Louis MacNeice, the poet, is buried at the Church of Ireland church and he died on 4 September 1963, in London and is buried beside his mother and his grandfather. Carrowdore was once renowned for, the now extinct, Carrowdore 100 motorcycle Road Race which was started in 1927 and it consisted of a 5½ mile road circuit which started on the Greyabbey to Millisle Road and continued down the coast road. The last race to be held at Carrowdore was in 2000, in the 2011 Census Carrowdore had a population of 960 people. Carrowdore is classified as a Small Village by the NI Statistics, on Census day there were 816 people living in Carrowdore
30.
Carryduff
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Carryduff is a small town and townland in County Down, Northern Ireland, about 10 kilometres south of Belfast city centre. It had a population of 6,947 people in the 2011 Census, most of the settlement lies within the townland of Carryduff, although part of it extends into the neighbouring townlands of Killynure and Mealough. Carryduff has twice awarded the Best Kept Small Town by the Northern Ireland Amenity Council. One of the earliest references to the settlement dates from 1622, the original village formed where six roads and a river crossed, and is the site of the ancient Queens Fort Rath. In addition, the road from the Ards Peninsula, Newtownards, all six roads cross the small Carryduff River here. The good road connections and proximity to Belfast made the town a site for overspill development from the city in the 1960s. The 1980s saw expansion continue with Carryduff becoming a town for Belfast workers. Developments continued into the 1990s and included Carryduff Library, Carryduff Shopping Centre, including such as Wellworths and Ireland-wide stationery. Numerous further housing developments have been erected on former green-field sites and these developments saw the Carryduff River placed inside a culvert for much of its journey through the town. Another big development of was the Brackenvale petrol station on the Saintfield Road, which has an Indian restaurant, a McDonalds, very little green belt land now remains between Carryduff and the southern border of Belfast, the 1980s having seen the former Matthew Stop Line breached. Urban Citybus routes did not extend out to Carryduff, leaving Ulsterbus services from Belfast to Downpatrick and Newcastle as the only public transport. Culturally, as it moved beyond its roots in the latter half of the 20th century, A classic suburban satellite town, there is no cinema. It is also the town in Northern Ireland without a bank. The local Carryduff Gaelic Athletic Club is based at Pairc Aodha Dhuibh, Carryduff also has 3 local mens football teams who all play from Lough Moss pitches in the town, they are Carryduff F. C. Carryduff Colts F. C. and Carryduff Athletic F. C. The population of Carryduff on Census day was 6947 people
31.
Carrigaline
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Carrigaline is a commuter town in County Cork, Ireland. It is about 14 km south of Cork city which can be reached by car in 25 minutes, Carrigaline has grown rapidly in recent years, from a village of a few hundred people into a thriving town, although many locals still refer to it as the village. The town is one of the key gateways to West Cork, Carrigaline is also the name of the parish containing Carrigaline town. The town had the world-famous Carrigaline Pottery, situated in Main Street, which closed in 1979, unusually for an Irish village of its then size, it had a small cinema, owned and run by the Cogan family. Neither the pottery nor the cinema exist today, the Carrigdhoun Weekly newspaper is published in Carrigaline. The town has four banks and a credit union, there is a long-established Supervalu supermarket, as well as a Dunnes Stores and Lidl. The four-star Carrigaline Court Hotel is located across from the Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady, Main Street has a selection of pubs and restaurants, as well as a variety of retail shops. A Dairygold Co-op Superstore is located on Kilmoney Road, the town is twinned with Guidel in Brittany, France and Kirchseeon, Germany. Locals sports clubs in the include, Avondale United Carrigaline GAA Carrigaline United F. C. Carrigaline RFC Carrigaline Tennis Club Carrigaline Basketball Club Fernhill Golf. Brazilian JiuJitsu Carrigaline website of the Parish of Our Lady and St
32.
Carrickfergus
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Carrickfergus, colloquially known as Carrick, is a large town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It sits on the shore of Belfast Lough,11 miles from Belfast. The town had a population of 27,903 at the 2011 Census and it is County Antrims oldest town and one of the oldest towns in Ireland as a whole. It is also a townland of 65 acres, a civil parish, the town is the subject of the classic Irish folk song Carrickfergus, a 19th-century translation of an Irish-language song from Munster, which begins with the words, I wish I was in Carrickfergus. The British peerage title of Baron Carrickfergus, which had become extinct in 1883, was bestowed upon Prince William on his day in 2011. The town is said to take its name from Fergus Mór, according to one tale, his ship ran aground on a rock by the shore, which became known as Carraig Fhearghais – the rock of Fergus. As an urban settlement, Carrickfergus far pre-dates the capital city Belfast and was for a period both larger and more prominent than the nearby city. Belfast Lough itself was known as Carrickfergus Bay well into the 17th century, Carrickfergus and the surrounding area was, for a time, treated as a separate county. Segments of the wall are still visible in various parts of the town. Archaeological excavations close to the foundations have yielded many artefacts that have helped historians piece together a picture of the lives of the 12th and 13th century inhabitants. The castle, which is the most prominent landmark of Carrickfergus, is known as one of the best-preserved Norman castles in Ireland. Sometime between 1203 and 1205, De Courcy was expelled from Ulster by Hugh de Lacy, as authorised by King John, De Lacy oversaw the final construction of the castle, which included the gatehouse, drum towers and outer ward. It was at time that he established the nearby St Nicholas Church. De Lacy was relieved of his command of the town in 1210, the Battle of Carrickfergus, part of the Nine Years War, took place in and around the town in November 1597. It was fought between the forces of Queen Elizabeth I and the Scots clan of MacDonnell, and resulted in a defeat for the English. In 1637 the Surveyor General of Customs issued a report compiled from accounts of customs due from each port, of the Ulster ports on the list, Carrickfergus was first, followed by Bangor, Donaghadee, and Strangford. In the same year the town sold its customs rights - which ran from Groomsport, County Down up to Larne and this in part led to its decline in importance as the province of Ulster grew. Nevertheless, the castle withstood several days of siege by the forces of William of Orange in 1689
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Craigarogan
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Craigarogan is a small village and townland to the west of Newtownabbey in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The settlement has developed at the junction of the Bernice Road, the settlement of Roughfort is also within the townland. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 69 people and it is part of Antrim and Newtownabbey district. Craigarogan chamber tomb or passage grave, locally it is pronounced as Carngraney and as a result sometimes called Granny’s Grave. In the Irish Rebellion of 1798, Henry Joy McCracken raised the standard of rebellion on 6 June 1798 at Craigarogan rath, many Antrim men clearly were cautious because comparatively few United Irishmen assembled at Craigarogan. Singing the Marseillaise, they marched towards Antrim, only to be defeated in the Battle of Antrim the next day, NI Neighbourhood Information System Irish megaliths - Craigarogan Irish megaliths Henry Joy McCracken
34.
Caherdaniel
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Caherdaniel is a village in County Kerry, Ireland, located on the Iveragh peninsula on the Ring of Kerry. It is on the side of the peninsula, facing onto Derrynane Bay. A stone ringfort is nearby, as is Derrynane House, which was home to Daniel OConnell, copper ore was mined in the area, the first mines dating back to about 2000 BC. Caherdaniel Image Gallery List of towns and villages in Ireland *
35.
Cooraclare
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Cooraclare, is a village near Kilrush, in County Clare, Ireland, and a Catholic parish by the same name. The village of Cooraclare is in the parish of Cooraclare in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Killaloe and it is 10 kilometres from Kilrush on the road from Kilrush to Miltown Malbay. The old name for the parish is Kilmacduane, which was joined for a while to the parish of Kilmihil, in 1848 the two were again separated and Cooraclare took its present name. The parish includes the village of Cree, at times spelled Creegh, the parish has two churches, St Senans in Cooraclare and St Marys in Cree. Cooraclare lies on the River Doonbeg, there is a primary school, Montessori school, three public houses O Dohertys, OKeeffes and Tubridys is also a guest house, a post office two shops Dalys and Tom Macs country shop and a flower shop. Old Parochial House, a former Parish Prietss house provides self-catering in restored stables, the community centre in the village was inaugurated in 1993 and also there is a sports complex added to it the following year. The previous community centre was the Marion Hall situated at the back of Tom McNamaras country shop and it also has a GAA Sports Field situated just outside the village in the townland of Carhue. In 2012 St Senans Community Playground was opened on the site of the old Marion Hall and is open 365 days a year, the Playground boasts junior and senior play areas and swings and has a Zip Wire that can be used by all. There are about 140 people living in the village, in March 2010 Tubridy presented his popular RTÉ Radio One programme from Tubridys Bar & Restaurant in Cooraclare. Cooraclare have won the Clare Senior Football Championship in 1915,1917,1918,1925,1944,1956,1964,1965,1986 and 1997, a song associated with Cooraclare is entitled The Chapel Gate Of Cooraclare. List of towns and villages in Ireland
36.
Cloughjordan
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Cloughjordan, officially Cloghjordan, is a town in County Tipperary in Ireland. It is in the barony of Ormond Lower, and it is also a parish in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Killaloe, the town is situated in the north-western part of Tipperary close to the Offaly border. It is almost equidistant from Nenagh, Roscrea and Birr and is close to Irelands largest river, the Shannon, poet and patriot Thomas MacDonagh, a native of Cloughjordan, described it as a place in calm of middle country. Unusually for a town of its size, it has three churches – Roman Catholic, Church of Ireland and Methodist, Cloughjordan is in the Dáil constituency of Offaly which incorporates 24 electoral divisions that were previously in the Tipperary North Dáil constituency. One unit of the De Mariscos moved into this area, took over the territory and built a stone castle and manor house guarded by a moat surrounding the dwelling. There is a story which relates that the first De Marisco, Cloughjordan was then remodelled in the late 18th century to include a square in front of the Church of Ireland on the east-west main street. In 1909 Cloughjordan was one of the first villages in Ireland, after Carlow and Birr, the ESB took over the supplying of electricity to the town in 1948. Cloughjordan railway station opened on 5 October 1863 and it is on the Limerick–Ballybrophy railway line, at Ballybrophy it joins the main Dublin-Cork railway line. The service was reduced from February 2013. Ken Daly Bus Hire operates limited minibus services between Cloughjordan and Birr, Nenagh and Roscrea, each return service operates once a week. Historically, Cloughjordan National School opened in 1876 and its first teachers were Joseph and Mary Louise MacDonagh, parents of Thomas MacDonagh, succeeded by Denis Costello, father of Michael Joe Costello. Nowadays, Cloughjordan children have crèche and primary schooling but as yet no secondary school in the town, First Steps childcare centre opened in 2010 offering crèche and preschool facilities in the former Macra na Feirme hall on Lower Main Street. There are two schools in Cloughjordan, Number One School is located on Templemore Road, east of the town centre and Number Two School is located on Lower Main Street. There is no secondary education provision in the town, local students travel to schools in neighbouring Nenagh, Borrisokane, also with a base in the eco-village is Cultivate, an organisation committed to sustainable living and learning. Kilruane MacDonaghs GAA is the local Gaelic Athletic Association club, Cloughjordan also has a soccer club that competes in the North Tipperary & District League. Ormond Foxhounds are based at kennels in nearby Modreeny, patrick Bergin, actor, resides in Cloughjordan. Michael Joseph Costello, Army General, born 1904 in Cloughjordan, len Gaynor, former hurling player and manager born 1944 in Cloughjordan. Thomas MacDonagh, poet and patriot, born in Cloughjordan, was one of the signatories of the 1916 Proclamation of the Republic and he was executed in 1916 by firing squad
37.
Clonmel
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Clonmel is the county town and largest settlement of County Tipperary in Ireland. The town is noted in Irish history for its resistance to the Cromwellian army which sacked both Drogheda and Wexford and it is in the former barony of Iffa and Offa East. The name Clonmel is derived from the anglicisation of the Irish name Cluain Meala meaning honey meadow or honey vale. It is not clearly known when it got this name, many suppose that it came from the fertility of the soil, Clonmel grew significantly in medieval times, and many remainders of this period can be found in the town. A small section of the walls remain in place near Old St. Marys Church. This building is one of the architectural features of the town. It was originally built in the 14th century or earlier but has been reconstructed or renovated on numerous occasions, the church was fortified early in its history, the town being strategically important, initially for the Earls of Ormonde, and later the Earl of Kildare. There were originally three gates in the town, North, East and West – with the South being protected by the river Suir. The West Gate is now an open arched entrance on to OConnell street, the present sword and two silver maces date only from Cromwellian times. The sword, of Toledo manufacture, was donated by Sir Thomas Stanley in 1656 and displays the Arms, the larger mace is stamped 1663. Oliver Cromwell laid siege to Clonmel in May 1650, the walls were eventually breached, but Hugh Dubh ONeill, the commander of the towns garrison, inflicted heavy losses on the New Model Army when they tried to storm the breach. That night, ONeill, deciding that further resistance was due to a lack of ammunition, led his soldiers. The story is told that Cromwell became suspicious of ONeills desperate situation when a bullet was discharged by the townspeople at his troops outside the walls. The following morning,18 May 1650, mayor John White was able to surrender the town on good terms as Cromwell was still unaware of the garrisons escape just hours before, although feeling deceived, he did not put the inhabitants to the sword as occurred elsewhere. A permanent military presence was established in the town with the completion of Kickham Barracks in 1805, following the failed attempt at rebellion near Ballingarry in 1848, the captured leaders of the Young Irelanders were brought to Clonmel for trial. The event was followed with great interest internationally and for its duration brought journalists from around the country, standing in the dock in the image opposite are Thomas Francis Meagher, Terence MacManus and Patrick ODonoghue. Their co-defendant, William Smith OBrien was also sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered, when delivering the guilty verdict, the foreman of the Grand Jury, R. M. The sentences of OBrien and other members of the Irish Confederation were eventually commuted to transportation for life to Van Diemens Land
38.
Cloondara
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Cloondara is a small village in County Longford, Ireland. It is situated just off the N5 road near Termonbarry, where the Royal Canal terminates at the River Shannon and it lies 7 km west of Longford Town. The Royal Canal is being upgraded so that boats can once again travel along it. The village of Termonbarry lies to the west of the village, many residential properties are being built, due to the tax incentives available in the area. List of towns and villages in Ireland
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