Fermanagh

“ So Barney jogged along on his way towards Derry, through Fermanagh and Donegal, without fear of any ill, and only had to ask for what he wanted in the way of food and shelter in order to get it. The simple-hearted peasantry never grudge 'bit nor sup' to the poor of their own order, and those afflicted as he was they regard as being under the special protection of heaven. ”

“ Nevertheless, a Captain Willis was made sheriff of Fermanagh; he maintained a force of a hundred men, and gathered as many more followers about him. Maguire in 1590 drove Willis and his men into a church and besieged them there. They were only saved from death by the intervention of Tyrone. Consequently the lord deputy invaded Fermanagh, declared Maguire to be a traitor, and took Enniskillen (Cox, Hibernia Anglicana, i. 402; Fynes Morison, Itinerary, ii. 12) . ”

“ The Companies of Skinners, Fishmongers, Haberdashers, Vintners and the like thereupon became Absentee Proprietors, and have guzzled Irish rents in city feasts and holiday excursions to Ireland from that day to this. Six counties in Ulster were confiscated, and not merely the chiefs, but the entire population dispossessed. The fruitful plains of Armagh, the deep pastoral glens that lie between the sheltering hills of Donegal, the undulating meadow lands stretching by the noble lakes and rivers of Fermanagh, passed from the race which had possessed them since before the redemption of mankind. ”

“ W. F. Wakeman offers a suggestion in connection with the name Balhu; he states that Joyce in his Irish Names of Places translates the name of the Fermanagh town of Lisbellaw, Lis-bel-atha, the lis of the ford mouth. Now, there was no river ever there, consequently there could be no “ford mouth.” There is certainly a lis or ford in the neighbourhood, but the little stream which now drives the woollen mill of Lisbellaw flows through a deep cutting communicating with Loch Eyes, and which was made only in recent times. ”

“ Soon after his time the family became chief poets to Maguire of Fermanagh. Eochaidh began to write when very young (in 1593) , and his earliest poem is on the escape of Aedh ruadh O'Donnell from Dublin Castle in 1592. It contains 228 verses. He wrote four poems, of 228 verses in all, on Cuchonacht Maguire, lord of Fermanagh, and seven poems on his son, Hugh Maguire [q. v.] ”

“ Even a tall man standing on the shoulders of another as tall would quite fail to touch the upper edge of the stone. If we give this marvelous monument the same age as the Fermanagh circles, as we well may, this raising of a single boulder of one hundred tons, and balancing it in the air on the crest of massive pillars may give us some insight into the engineering skill of the men of ten thousand years ago. ”

“ The productions were in two tints; the body of each vase being of a deep red, and the figures of a lighter and much yellower clay.
Belleek.
The village of Belleek, county Fermanagh, Ireland, is situated on the banks of the river Erne, near the borders of Donegal and [487] Fermanagh and on the outskirts of the Donegal highlands. It has a station on the Enniskillen and Bundoran line; which line communicates with Dublin, Belfast, and the various other lines of the kingdom. Belleek is within three miles of Ballyshannon; six of Bundoran ”

“ Fermanagh, Ireland, was grandson of Lieutenant James Graham of Clones, and great-grandson of James Graham of Mullinahinch, who was a cornet at the defence of Enniskillen in 1689. The family was transplanted to Ulster from Cumberland in the early part of the seventeenth century. He graduated B.A. in 1798 and M.A. in 1815 at Trinity College, Dublin, was ordained in the established church of Ireland, and obtained the curacy of Lifford, co. ”

“ There are many Orangemen who have become what we call 'rotten,' about Fermanagh, over one hundred have been expelled for joining the Land League."
Party spirit is nourished, and called patriotism; it is fostered and called religion, but it is slowly dying out, Ireland is being regenerated and taught by suffering. In all suffering there is hope. This thought comforted me when I shook hands with my friend and turned my back to Ballyconnell and to Belturbet and took the car for Cavan, passing through the same scenery of field and bog and miserable houses that prevail all over. ”

“ In county Donegal, Crannog-boy, or the yellow lake dwelling, was the head quarters of The O’Boyle, a steady supporter of the O’Donnels. In county Antrim, Lough Crannagh, situated over Fair Head, probably derives its name from a small artificial island which lies in the centre of the lake. [39] In Loughmacnean, county Fermanagh, are several artificial islets, one of which is called “Crannog Island.” In Leinster there is a townland in county Kilkenny called Cronoge. In Munster there is a place in the parish of Ardagh, county Limerick, called Coolcranoge, the angle of the lake dwelling. ”

“ ULSTER, a province of Ireland occupying the northern part of the island. It includes the counties Donegal, Londonderry, Antrim, Fermanagh, Tyrone, Cavan, Monaghan, Armagh and Down. Ulster (Uladh) was one of the early provincial kingdoms of Ireland, formed, according to the legendary chronicles, at the Milesian conquest of the island ten centuries before Christ, and given to the descendants of Ir, one of the sons of Mileadh. ”

“ Give us a kingdom for ourselves and our posterity. It shall be so, said the king. What part of Ireland will you give us? said they. The Ulstermen, said the king, have ever been hostile towards me and towards our fathers. Go and conquer their kingdom, and it shall be yours.
The Collas then went to Connacht, which was still the homeland of the new Tara dynasty, raised an army there, invaded Ulster, were victorious, and captured the Ulster capital. The conquered territory comprised the present counties of Armagh, Monaghan, Tyrone, and the greater part of Fermanagh and Derry. ”

“ Blenerhasset had a grant of 1,500 acres in Fermanagh on the east side of Lough Erne. When Pynnar saw the place after eight years’ work he found the undertaker’s wife and family living in a good stone house with a defensible courtyard. Over 250 acres was leased to tenants for life or years, and there were a few English cottages with the beginnings of a church. It was supposed that twenty-six men were available, ‘but I saw them not, for the undertakers and many of the tenants were absent.’
The settlers outnumbered. ”

“ Armagh, though long considered to be Ogam characters, are now universally pronounced to79 be nothing more than markings made by persons who utilized the monument as a block for the sharpening and pointing of tools or weapons. The same remark applies in full force to certain scorings and scratches which disfigure a fine pillar-stone standing close to the railway station of Kesh, County Fermanagh, on the right-hand side of the line as you face towards Bundoran. They are found abundantly on the coping stones of the walls of Londonderry, and indeed in other localities too numerous to mention. ”

“ Good examples are presented by the flooring of an oblong house at Drumaleague, county Leitrim, and at Cargaghoge, county Monaghan; remains [Pg 37] of a wooden hut at Kilnock, county Antrim; and the following in county Fermanagh—mortised beams at Loughavilly, a house at Gortalough, angle posts at “The Miracles,” and lower framework of a house at Ballydoolough. At Kilnamaddo, in the same county, log huts were found buried under seventeen feet of peat ”

“ TYRONE
Is completely an inland county, presenting nothing very grand or majestic; but the lands being divided into small parcels, an increased population gives much cheerfulness to its general aspect. The northern part towards Strabane is mountainous, other parts are rugged and uneven, but none very high. Bounded by Derry on the N.; E. by Armagh and Lough Neagh; S. by Fermanagh and Monaghan; W. by Donnegal.
Aughnacloy, 20 m. S.E. of Omagh, is a neat village, on the banks of the Blackwater, where the sportsman will find good trout-fishing. Near it are the ruins of Lismore Fort. ”

“ It includes 55% of Roman Catholics and about 35% of Protestant Episcopalians. Enniskillen (the county town, pop. 5412) is the only town of importance, the rest being little more than villages. The principal are Lisnaskea, Irvinestown (formerly Lowtherstown) , Maguiresbridge, Tempo, Newtownbutler, Belleek, Derrygonnelly and Kesh, at which fairs are held. Garrison, a fishing station on the wild Lough Melvin, and Pettigo, near to the lower Lough Erne, are market villages. Fermanagh returns two members to parliament, one each for the north and south divisions. ”

“ Mike told me that the airship was not built for Irish weather, but he afterwards remedied this defect, as we shall see.
When we reached County Fermanagh we began to realize Ireland’s agricultural possibilities. Ulster is a different world from Connaught. The landscape is rolling, covered with cultivated farms. The houses are often two-storied, slated, and neatly kept. There are large barns and every appearance of prosperity. The picture presented to us in Ulster was not so romantic as in Connemara, but it is more like living. ”

“ Down) , invaded North Ireland, built the castle of Clones (co. Monaghan) , and routed the people of Fermanagh. Shortly after he was defeated by Art O'Maelsechlainn, the chief of Brefny, and lost all his treasure (Loch Cé, p. 247; Four Masters, iii. 172-3) . ”

“ Upon the borders of Fermanagh and Cavan, about three miles along the mountain road from the village of Black Lion,37 in the direction of the Shannon Pot, may be seen a very characteristic example of the kind of remains under notice. It consists of an immense block of stone, six feet high, somewhat globular in shape, and weighing several tons. The stone rests upon a rock, and is so poised that a moderate pressure of the fingers will suffice to move it. From the position of the mass it would seem to be artificial. ”

“ Fermanagh, 1865. Son of a Protestant landowner on Lough Erne. Depicts with vigour and truth the country where the Protestant North meets the Catholic and almost Irish-speaking West. There is at times a curious dreariness in his outlook which mars his popularity. But his work is “extraordinarily sincere, and at times touched with a singular pathos and beauty.... He writes always with evident passion for the beauty of his country, and an almost pathetic desire to assimilate, as it were, national ideals, of which one yet perceives him a little incredulous.”— (Stephen Gwynn) . ”

“ His idea was to divide the land among the inhabitants as far as they were able to cultivate it. After that there would be plenty left for colonists, and to reward those who had served the King in Ireland. This was the course he advised; otherwise he saw nothing for it but to transplant all the people of Tyrone, Donegal, and Fermanagh with their cattle into waste districts, ‘leaving only such people behind as will dwell under the protection of the garrisons and forts,’ which were to be strengthened and multiplied. ”

“ The armour found on the site of the crannog in Lough Annagh is not here taken into consideration, it being evidently seventeenth century work.
In the townland of Monea, about five miles from Enniskillen, [Pg 70] county Fermanagh, in a small but deep lake, [97] there is a very fine circular crannog, about seventy-five feet in diameter, composed almost entirely of timber, and surrounded with remains of staking; a complete examination of the site was not possible, owing to the thick mass of roots and fibres thrown out by the trees with which it was studded. ”

“ To NAIL a NAME on a man,
I FAIL not—FAME my weapon."
The men who most distinguished themselves in the extraordinary outburst of classical poetry that characterised the early seventeenth century were Teig Dall O'Hĭginn, a poet of the county Sligo, brother to the Archbishop of Tuam, and Eochaidh [Yohy] O'Hussey, the chief bard of the Maguire of Fermanagh. Teig Dall O'Hĭginn has left behind him at least three thousand lines, all in polished classical metres, and [Pg 520] O'Hussey nearly four thousand. ”

“ He was implicated in a plot of Hugh O'Neill, earl of Tyrone (1540?–1616) [q. v.] , to murder Con MacShane O'Neill, who petitioned the lord deputy for protection. In 1589, on the death of his father, Maguire succeeded to the estates held by his ancestors since 1302. These were situated in co. Fermanagh, and the position of a considerable portion of them on the islands of Lough Erne gave Maguire an almost impregnable retreat; he considered himself able to hold his country against any power in Ireland. ”

“ Colla Uais had four good sons, namely, Eochuidh and Fiachra Tort, and Fearadhach and Maine. All the Clann Domhnuill in Alban and in Erinn are of the race of Eochuidh. The Turtruighe and Fir Luirg are of the race of Fiachraidh Tort. The Fir Li and Fir Lacha are of the race of Fearadhach. The race of Main is not known to us.
A goodly race, descended from Colla Da chrioch, flourished in Erinn, namely Maguire, chief over the country of Fermanagh; Mac Mahon, chief over the country of Monaghan ”

“ Though himself regularly bred to war, he seems to have had a peculiar aptitude for the management of irregular troops. He had scarcely taken on himself the chief command when he received notice that Mountcashel had laid siege to the Castle of Crum. Crum was the frontier garrison of the Protestants of Fermanagh. The ruins of the old fortifications are now among the attractions of a beautiful pleasureground, situated on a woody promontory which overlooks Lough Erne. Wolseley determined to raise the siege. ”