Blacklion
Encyclopedia
Blacklion is a border
Republic of Ireland-United Kingdom border
The Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border is the boundary between the sovereign states of the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland...

 village
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

 in west County Cavan
County Cavan
County Cavan is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Border Region and is also located in the province of Ulster. It is named after the town of Cavan. Cavan County Council is the local authority for the county...

, Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

. It is situated on the N16 national primary road
National primary road
A national primary road is a road classification in the Republic of Ireland. National primary roads form the major routes between the major urban centres. There are over 2,700km of national primary roads. This category of road has the prefix "N" followed by one or two digits...

, just across the border from the County Fermanagh
County Fermanagh
Fermanagh District Council is the only one of the 26 district councils in Northern Ireland that contains all of the county it is named after. The district council also contains a small section of County Tyrone in the Dromore and Kilskeery road areas....

 village of Belcoo
Belcoo
Belcoo is a small village and townland in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, 10 miles from Enniskillen. It is on the County Fermanagh/County Cavan border beside the village of Blacklion in the Republic of Ireland...

.

History

The village is within the townland
Townland
A townland or bally is a small geographical division of land used in Ireland. The townland system is of Gaelic origin—most townlands are believed to pre-date the Norman invasion and most have names derived from the Irish language...

 of Tuam . A stone cairn
Cairn
Cairn is a term used mainly in the English-speaking world for a man-made pile of stones. It comes from the or . Cairns are found all over the world in uplands, on moorland, on mountaintops, near waterways and on sea cliffs, and also in barren desert and tundra areas...

, a burial cist
Cist
A cist from ) is a small stone-built coffin-like box or ossuary used to hold the bodies of the dead. Examples can be found across Europe and in the Middle East....

 and two stone cashel
Ringfort
Ringforts are circular fortified settlements that were mostly built during the Iron Age , although some were built as late as the Early Middle Ages . They are found in Northern Europe, especially in Ireland...

s are all within the townland, giving evidence of early habitation.

The original name of the village was Largay (also Largy, Largain, Largin and Largan), which was a túath
Tuath
Túath is an Old Irish word, often translated as "people" or "nation". It is cognate with the Welsh and Breton tud , and with the Germanic þeudō ....

 belonging to the Coffey McGoverns, a sub-sept of the McGovern clan, from the 8th century until the Plantation of Ulster
Plantation of Ulster
The Plantation of Ulster was the organised colonisation of Ulster—a province of Ireland—by people from Great Britain. Private plantation by wealthy landowners began in 1606, while official plantation controlled by King James I of England and VI of Scotland began in 1609...

 in the 17th century. King James I
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...

 then granted it to Nicholas Pynner in the following grant:

"Patent 13 James I. XL-8. 14th December. Grant from the king to Nich Pynner, Gent. Cavan Co. In Largy, or Largin Ter. The Precinct of Toom, containing 4 polls, called Gortnesillagh, Mullaghgarrowe, Rossan and Ture or Toore. Total rent £1-12-0 English. To hold for ever, as of the Castle of Dublin, in common socage
Socage
Socage was one of the feudal duties and hence land tenure forms in the feudal system. A farmer, for example, held the land in exchange for a clearly defined, fixed payment to be made at specified intervals to his feudal lord, who in turn had his own feudal obligations, to the farmer and to the Crown...

."


The Annals of The Four Masters under the year 1594 state:

"M1594.7: O'Donnell, as we have stated, was encamped, laying siege to Enniskillen, from the middle of June to the month of August, until the warders of the castle had consumed almost all their provisions. Messengers came to O'Donnell from the Scots, whom he had before invited over, to inform him that they had arrived at Derry. And those who had come thither were Donnell Gorm Mac Donnell, and Mac Leod of Ara. O'Donnell then set out with a small number of his forces to hire them; and he left another large party of them with Maguire to assist him, and he ordered them to remain blockading the castle. When the Lord Justice, Sir William Fitzwilliam, had received intelligence that the warders of Enniskillen were in want of stores and provisions, he ordered a great number of the men of Meath
Kingdom of Mide
Mide , spelt Midhe in modern Irish and anglicised as Meath, was a medieval kingdom in Ireland for over 1,000 years. Its name means "middle", denoting the fact that lay in the middle of Ireland....

, and of the gentlemen of the Reillys and the Binghams of Connaught, under the conduct of George Oge Bingham, to convey provisions to Enniskillen
Enniskillen
Enniskillen is a town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is located almost exactly in the centre of the county between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of 13,599 in the 2001 Census...

. These chieftains, having afterwards met together, went to Cavan, O'Reilly's town, for provisions; and they proceeded through Fermanagh, keeping Lough Erne
Lough Erne
Lough Erne, sometimes Loch Erne , is the name of two connected lakes in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. The lakes are widened sections of the River Erne. The river begins by flowing north, and then curves west into the Atlantic. The southern lake is further up the river and so is named Upper...

 on the right, until they arrived within about four miles of the town. When Maguire (Hugh) received intelligence that these forces were marching towards the town with the aforesaid provisions, he set out with his own forces and the forces left him by O'Donnell, together with Cormac, the son of the Baron, i.e. the brother of the Earl O'Neill; and they halted at a certain narrow pass, to which they thought they the enemy would come to them. The ambuscade was successful, for they came on, without noticing any thing, until they fell in with Maguire's people at the mouth of a certain ford. A fierce and vehement conflict, and a spirited and hard-contested battle, was fought between both parties, till at length Maguire and his forces routed the others by dint of fighting, and a strages of heads was left to him; and the rout was followed up a great way from that place. A countless number of nobles and plebeians fell in this conflict. Many steeds, weapons, and other spoils, were left behind in that place by the defeated, besides the steeds and horses that were loaded with provisions, on their way to Enniskillen. A few fugitives of Meath and of the Reillys escaped from this conflict, and never stopped until they arrived in Breifny O'Reilly. The route taken by George Oge Bingham and the few who escaped with him from the field was through the Largan, the territory of the Clann-Coffey Magauran, through Breifny O'Rourke, and from thence to Sligo. The name of the ford at which this great victory was gained was changed to Bel-atha-na-mBriosgadh, from the number of biscuit
Biscuit
A biscuit is a baked, edible, and commonly flour-based product. The term is used to apply to two distinctly different products in North America and the Commonwealth Nations....

s and small cakes left there to the victors on that day. When the warders of the castle heard of the defeat of the army, they surrendered the castle to Maguire; and he gave them pardon and protection."


The name was changed to Blacklion in honour of a famous coaching inn in the village.William Seward in his 1795 "Topographia Hibernica" states "Black-Lion-Inn situated in County Cavan, is otherwise called Largay". Taylor and Skinner's Maps of Ireland 1777 states "Largay or Black Lion Inn". Matthew Sleater's Directory of 1806 states "Largay or Black Lion Inn". Wilson's "Post-Chaise Companion" of 1786 states:

"Within 2 miles and a half of the Black Lion, on the L. are the ruins of a church; and within a mile of the Black Lion, on the L. is Marle Bank, the seat of Mr. Irwine. On the R. is a large and beautiful lake, called Lough Machnean, with three finely cultivated islands in it. About a quarter of a mile to the R. of Largay, or the Black Lion inn, is Belcoo Bridge, which leads to Garison
Garrison, County Fermanagh
Garrison is a small village near Lough Melvin in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. The Roogagh River runs through the village. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 357 people...

 road."


In the 1950s the village name plate read . This was the name by which local older generation people would have called the place – colloquially called Leargy. is the plural of an Irish word meaning rising ground, slopes, or mountain side. This description would connect with the topographical location of the village, which sits below steeply rising ground and hills. Today, no longer appears on the village signs, which now show . The village is generally referred to by local residents as 'The Black'.

During The Troubles
The Troubles
The Troubles was a period of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland which spilled over at various times into England, the Republic of Ireland, and mainland Europe. The duration of the Troubles is conventionally dated from the late 1960s and considered by many to have ended with the Belfast...

 Blacklion, as a main border crossing was home to a joint Irish Army
Irish Army
The Irish Army, officially named simply the Army is the main branch of the Defence Forces of Ireland. Approximately 8,500 men and women serve in the Irish Army, divided into three infantry Brigades...

/Garda Síochána
Garda Síochána
, more commonly referred to as the Gardaí , is the police force of Ireland. The service is headed by the Commissioner who is appointed by the Irish Government. Its headquarters are located in the Phoenix Park in Dublin.- Terminology :...

 checkpoint. It was the scene of a bomb attack in 1974 by the UVF
UVF
UVF can refer to*The Ulster Volunteers started in 1912 and organised as the Ulster Volunteer Force in 1913*The Ulster Volunteer Force - a paramilitary organisation established in 1966, not linked to the 1913 UVF...

.

Geography

Blacklion is situated between the lakes of Upper Lough MacNean and Lower Lough MacNean
Lower Lough MacNean
Lower Lough MacNean is a large freshwater lake in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. The lake is fed by a small river which flows from Upper Lough MacNean into the lake at a bridging point between the villages of Belcoo and Blacklion, County Cavan. This river forms the border between County...

. The river which connects the two lakes forms the border between County Cavan and County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. A bridge over this river connects Blacklion to the village of Belcoo in County Fermanagh. Blacklion sits at the foot of the hills below Cuilcagh Mountain, across which the border extends.

Blacklion is on the N16 road that goes from Sligo
Sligo
Sligo is the county town of County Sligo in Ireland. The town is a borough and has a charter and a town mayor. It is sometimes referred to as a city, and sometimes as a town, and is the second largest urban area in Connacht...

 to Enniskillen
Enniskillen
Enniskillen is a town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is located almost exactly in the centre of the county between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of 13,599 in the 2001 Census...

 and on to Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...

 (becomes the A4 road
A4 road (Northern Ireland)
The A4 is a major road in Northern Ireland. It travels through County Armagh, County Tyrone and County Fermanagh and continues to Sligo in the Republic of Ireland as the N16....

 in Northern Ireland). In addition to being on the border of County Fermanangh, Blacklion is also just 5 kilometres (3 mi) from the border of County Leitrim
County Leitrim
County Leitrim is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the village of Leitrim. Leitrim County Council is the local authority for the county...

. The point where the three counties of Cavan, Leitrim and Fermanagh join is in the centre of Upper Lough McNean.

Transport

In 1879 the Sligo, Leitrim and Northern Counties Railway
Sligo, Leitrim and Northern Counties Railway
The Sligo, Leitrim and Northern Counties Railway was an Irish gauge railway in counties Cavan, Fermanagh, Leitrim and Sligo in north-west Ireland.-History:...

 line opened with Belcoo station serving both Belcoo and Blacklion. The last trains ran through the station on 20 September 1957. The railway bridge crossing the river between Blacklion and Belcoo was blown up by the British army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

 in the late 1970s, ostensibly to prevent its potential use by the Irish Republican Army
Irish Republican Army
The Irish Republican Army was an Irish republican revolutionary military organisation. It was descended from the Irish Volunteers, an organisation established on 25 November 1913 that staged the Easter Rising in April 1916...

 (IRA) for moving arms across the Irish border.

Local attractions

There are many attractions nearby Blacklion, including the lakes of Upper and Lower MacNean, the Marble Arch Caves
Marble Arch Caves
The Marble Arch Caves are a series of natural limestone caves located near the village of Florencecourt in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. They are formed by water draining off the northern slopes of Cuilcagh mountain.- History of exploration :...

, the Cladagh Glen Nature Reserve, Florence Court
Florence Court
Florence Court is a large 18th century house and estate located 8 miles south-west of Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is set in the foothills of Cuilcagh Mountain. The nearby village is distinguished by the one-word name Florencecourt. It is owned and managed by the National...

 house and grounds, Glenfarne
Glenfarne
Glenfarne is a small village located in the north of County Leitrim, Ireland. It is the site of the original "Ballroom of Romance", which inspired a short story by William Trevor and was subsequently turned into a movie by the BBC...

 forest with its lakeside walks, Shannon Pot
Shannon Pot
Shannon Pot is a small lake in the Karst topography found on the slopes of Cuilcagh Mountain in County Cavan, Ireland. An aquifer-fed naturally fluctuating pool, it is the traditional source of the River Shannon.The pool itself is approximately in diameter. It was first explored by divers in 1971...

 (the source of the River Shannon
River Shannon
The River Shannon is the longest river in Ireland at . It divides the west of Ireland from the east and south . County Clare, being west of the Shannon but part of the province of Munster, is the major exception...

, Ireland's longest river) and Cuilcagh Mountain Park. 3 kilometres (2 mi) south of Blacklion lies the Cavan Burren, a limestone landscape containing a wealth of Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...

 remains, which was planted with forestry in the 1950s and has since been partially reclaimed and signposted to provide access to the many notable structures and geological features. The Cavan Way
Cavan Way
The Cavan Way is a long-distance trail in County Cavan, Ireland. It is long and begins in Blacklion and ends in Dowra. It is typically completed in one day. It is designated as a National Waymarked Trail by the National Trails Office of the Irish Sports Council and is managed by Cavan County...

, a 25 km (16 mi) marked walking trail runs from the village of Dowra
Dowra
Dowra is a small village in northwest County Cavan, Ireland. It is the first village on, and marks the most uppermost navigable point of, the River Shannon. On one side of its bridge is County Cavan; on the other is County Leitrim...

, County Cavan to Blacklion. It links up with the Ulster Way
Ulster Way
The Ulster Way is a series of walking routes which encircle the Irish province of Ulster. It was founded in the 1970s by Wilfred Capper , who was inspired by Tom Stephenson's Pennine Way...

 at Blacklion and the Leitrim Way in Dowra.

Blacklion also has a nine hole golf course
Golf course
A golf course comprises a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, fairway, rough and other hazards, and a green with a flagstick and cup, all designed for the game of golf. A standard round of golf consists of playing 18 holes, thus most golf courses have this number of holes...

 and an award-winning restaurant, the MacNean Bistro, run by chef Neven Maguire
Neven Maguire
Neven Maguire is an Irish celebrity chef and television personality from Blacklion, County Cavan, Ireland. He is also the head chef and proprietor of the MacNean House and Restaurant....

. Upper Lough Macnean is known as an excellent coarse fishing
Coarse fishing
Coarse fishing is a term used in the United Kingdom and Ireland for angling for coarse fish, which are those types of freshwater fish other than game fish . The sport and the techniques used are particularly popular in the United Kingdom and mainland Europe.-History:The term "coarse fishing"...

 lake and contains bream, roach
Rutilus
Rutilus is a genus of fishes in the family Cyprinidae, commonly called roaches. Locally, the name "roach" without any further qualifiers is also used for particular species, particularly the Common Roach Rutilus (Latin for "shining, red, golden, auburn") is a genus of fishes in the family...

, hybrids, pike, perch
Perch
Perch is a common name for fish of the genus Perca, freshwater gamefish belonging to the family Percidae. The perch, of which there are three species in different geographical areas, lend their name to a large order of vertebrates: the Perciformes, from the Greek perke meaning spotted, and the...

, eel
Eel
Eels are an order of fish, which consists of four suborders, 20 families, 111 genera and approximately 800 species. Most eels are predators...

 and brown trout
Brown trout
The brown trout and the sea trout are fish of the same species....

. The Lough MacNean Sculpture Trail circles the lakes.

Notable people

  • Séamus Dolan
    Séamus Dolan
    Séamus Dolan was a Fianna Fáil politician from County Cavan in Ireland. He was a Teachta Dála from 1961 to 1965, and a senator from 1965 to 1969 and from 1973 to 1982...

     (1914–2010), Fianna Fáil
    Fianna Fáil
    Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party , more commonly known as Fianna Fáil is a centrist political party in the Republic of Ireland, founded on 23 March 1926. Fianna Fáil's name is traditionally translated into English as Soldiers of Destiny, although a more accurate rendition would be Warriors of Fál...

     politician, Cathaoirleach
    Cathaoirleach
    Cathaoirleach is the title of the chairman of Seanad Éireann, the sixty-member upper house of the Oireachtas, the legislature of Ireland. The current Cathaoirleach is Senator Paddy Burke...

     (chairman) of Seanad Éireann
    Seanad Éireann
    Seanad Éireann is the upper house of the Oireachtas , which also comprises the President of Ireland and Dáil Éireann . It is commonly called the Seanad or Senate and its members Senators or Seanadóirí . Unlike Dáil Éireann, it is not directly elected but consists of a mixture of members chosen by...

     from 1977 to 1981.
  • Neven Maguire
    Neven Maguire
    Neven Maguire is an Irish celebrity chef and television personality from Blacklion, County Cavan, Ireland. He is also the head chef and proprietor of the MacNean House and Restaurant....

     (born 1974), chef and television personality, was born in Blacklion and is head chef and proprietor of his family's restaurant in the village.
  • Anthony Booth
    Anthony Booth
    Antony George Booth is an English actor, best known for his role as Mike Rawlins in the BBC series Till Death Us Do Part. His daughter, Cherie, a prominent Queen's Counsel, is married to former Prime Minister Tony Blair...

     (born 1931) lived in Blacklion from 2003 to 2009. Tony, an actor who appeared in films and TV shows such as Coronation Street and Til Death Us Do Part, is sometimes better known as the father in law of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair
    Tony Blair
    Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...

    .

Yellow Cathal

The townland of Barran, three miles from the village, is the birthplace of the gaelic poet ("Yellow Cathal McElgunn"), whose life and work is celebrated annually in a festival/summer school started in 1998 by Belcoo man, Aidan McGourty. Cathal Buí's name is also visible on local tourist signposts bearing the legend "Cathal Bui Country" with an image of a dead bird alongside.

According to legend the poet, who was famously a drinking man, was walking homewards along the lakeside on a frosty winter morning when he came upon a dead bittern
Bittern
Bitterns are a classification of birds in the heron family, Ardeidae, a family of wading birds. Species named bitterns tend to be the shorter-necked, often more secretive members of this family...

, which he assumed had died of thirst because it was unable to get water from the frozen lake. He wrote the famous poem, ("The Yellow Bittern"), which laments the fate of the bird and notes wryly that the bird had died for want of a drink while he himself was dying because of too much of it. There is a monument to his memory on the shore of Upper Lough MacNean, 2 kilometres (1 mi) from Blacklion on the Sligo road.

Cathal Buí moved away from the Blacklion area and lived out most of his adult life as a travelling poet and seller of trinkets and tin cans in the South Monaghan
County Monaghan
County Monaghan is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Border Region and is also located in the province of Ulster. It is named after the town of Monaghan. Monaghan County Council is the local authority for the county...

/South Armagh
County Armagh
-History:Ancient Armagh was the territory of the Ulaid before the fourth century AD. It was ruled by the Red Branch, whose capital was Emain Macha near Armagh. The site, and subsequently the city, were named after the goddess Macha...

/North Louth
County Louth
County Louth is a county of Ireland. It is part of the Border Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Louth. Louth County Council is the local authority for the county...

 area; he is buried in a graveyard of Dunamoyne in this region.

See also

  • List of towns and villages in Ireland
  • Market Houses in Ireland
    Market Houses in the Republic of Ireland
    Market houses are a notable feature of many Irish towns with varying styles of architecture, size and ornamentation making for a most interesting feature of the streetscape. Originally there were three, four or even five bays on the ground floor which were an open arcade. An upper floor was...


External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK