Maghera (pronounced /ˌmɑːhəˈrɑː/ MAH-hə-RAH, from Irish: Machaire Rátha, meaning 'plain of the ringfort') is a small town at the foot of the Glenshane Pass in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Its population was 4,220 in the 2011 Census,[2] increasing from 3,711 in the 2001 Census.[3] It is situated within Mid-Ulster District, as well as the civil parish of Maghera, which it was named after, and the former barony of Loughinsholin.

Maghera Scots: Machera[1] Irish: Machaire Rátha
Maghera Town Centre
Maghera Location within Northern Ireland
Population	4,220 (2011 Census)
District	Mid-Ulster
County	County Londonderry
Country	Northern Ireland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	MAGHERA
Postcode district	BT46
Dialling code	028
Police	Northern Ireland
Fire	Northern Ireland
Ambulance	Northern Ireland
UK Parliament	Mid-Ulster
NI Assembly	Mid-Ulster
List of places UK Northern Ireland County Londonderry 54.844°N 6.673°W / 54.844; -6.673

History

The town dates back at least to the 6th century to the monastery founded by Saint Lurach whose family were possibly evangelised by Saint Patrick. The Annals of Ulster say that the seat of the Cenél nEoghain was at Ráth Luraig in Maghera. Standing upon the site of the monastery, the present day ruins of St. Lurach's Church date back to the 10th century. They include, over a doorway, a relief of the crucifixion, possibly the oldest in Ireland.[4] The crucification lintel is reproduced in the contemporary Catholic church, St Mary's.

The old church and town were burned in the 12th century. Afterwards, Maghera became the seat of the Bishopric of Cenel Eogain with a cathedral church.[5] In 1246 its bishop, Germanus O'Carolan, pleading the remoteness of Maghera, obtained sanction from Pope Innocent IV to have the see transferred to Derry.[6]

As a result of the Plantation of Ulster and of the Rebellion of 1641 which drove out many of the first English families, Maghera and district attracted Scottish settlers. They came into conflict not only with the dispossessed Irish, but as tenants and as Presbyterians also with the land-owning, Church of Ireland, Ascendancy. A result was large-scale emigration to the American colonies (Charles Thomson, recording himself as from Maghera, signed the Declaration of Independence)[7] and, in the 1790s, the organising of the United Irishmen.

Despairing of reform, and determined to make common cause with their Catholic neighbours, on 7 June 1798 the United Irishmen mustered upwards of 5,000 men in Maghera. But the poorly armed host broke up the following morning on news of the rebel defeat at Antrim and the approach of government troops. A Presbyterian church elder, Watty Graham, was executed for his part, and his head was paraded through the town. His minister, John Glendy, was forced into American exile.[8][9]

On 12 July 1830, Orange Order and Ribbonmen clashed over demonstrations the Orange Order held in Maghera and Castledawson. Several Catholic homes were burnt by Protestants in the aftermath.[10] Some repair of sectarian relations was achieved by an active tenant right movement, but with tenant purchase of land facilitated by the Land Acts by the end of the century the national question prevailed. Politically the town has remained split between nationalists, now in the majority, and unionists.

The Great Famine of the 1840s and the years that followed, resulted in a since unrecovered loss of population in the surrounding rural districts. In 2003 the Ancient Order of Hibernians erected a headstone to make the "Famine Plot" were local victims were buried.[11]

In the early 20th century, the town itself was relatively prosperous. With its own railway station, an embroidery factory, a busy weekly market and close proximity to Clark's linen mill in Upperlands, it was one of two major towns within Magherafelt Rural District. The town also benefited from post-war advances in education, housing and transport. Separate primary and secondary schools were built for Catholics and Protestants in the 1960s; new housing estates were constructed and motor cars forced a widening of many of the town's narrow streets[12]

Maghera suffered violence during the Troubles. Over the three decade from the end of the 1960s a total of 14 people were killed in or near the village Maghera, half of them members of the security forces and a further two as a result of family membership of the Ulster Defence Regiment. The Provisional Irish Republican Army were responsible for ten of the deaths. Two, including a Sinn Féin councillor, were killed by loyalist paramilitaries.[13]

From what was possibly a low of 879 in 1910[14] Maghera population has risen in the course of a century to a census figure in 2011 of 4,220. Reflecting European Union employment in local food processing, 213 residents in 2011 did not have English as a first language.[15]

Governance

The town is part of the Mid-Ulster District Council. It is located within the Carntogher district electoral area (DLE) which contains the areas Lower Glenshane, Swatragh, Tamlaght O'Crilly, Valley and Maghera.[16] In the 2015 district elections, Carntogher DLE elected three Sinn Féin, one SDLP and one DUP representatives to the council.

Churches

• Old St Lurach's Church, a church dating to the 10th century which has one of the oldest depictions of the crucifixion in Ireland.[17]
• St Lurach's Church, which is the site of the local Church of Ireland congregation.
• St Mary's Catholic Church one of two catholic churches in the town.
• Maghera Presbyterian Church, which is a reformed church. The current building dates from at least 1843
• St Patrick's Church, Glen. The older Catholic Church on the outskirts of the town.
• Maghera Elim Church

Demographics

2011 Census

On Census Day (27 March 2011) the usually resident population of Maghera (Magherafelt Lgd) Settlement was 4,220 accounting for 0.23% of the NI total.[18]

• 99.55% were from the white (including Irish Traveller) ethnic group
• 74.86% belong to or were brought up in the Catholic religion and 22.61% belong to or were brought up in a 'Protestant and Other Christian (including Christian related)' religion
• 22.56% indicated that they had a British national identity, 48.82% had an Irish national identity and 27.44% had a Northern Irish national identity*.

• 21.23% had some knowledge of Irish
• 6.46% had some knowledge of Ulster-Scots
• 5.06% did not have English as their first language.

Transport

Maghera railway station opened on 18 December 1880, shut for passenger traffic on 28 August 1950 and shut altogether on 1 October 1959.[19]

Rivers

This section does not cite any sources. (July 2022)

The Biggest Major Rivers Near Maghera are the Moyola River , Clady River , Grillagh River and Knockoneil River.

Milltown Burn

In the town itself there is the Milltown Burn sometimes known as the Fallagloon or Sheskin Burn on up is a small river or burn that starts on the top of Glenshane Mountain and flows eastwards merging with the Altavaddyvacky Burn in Fallylea its second largest tributary flowing onwards into Glen and Maghera passing Glen Chapel the old Milltown Mill and through Cunningham's Industrial Estate before merging with the Black Burn the largest tributary. Onwards The small river is well locally known as the Mullagh River because of the townland in which it flows. The Milltown now approaches the Mullagh Bridge and then under the Original Mullagh Bridge now retained as a picnic area and park onwards for a few miles through open floodplain dipping under the A6 Culvert and then under the old Widow Steeles Bridge before joining the Moyola River.. The burn being urban in Maghera flowing through quite a few housing estates and an industrial estate is quite polluted and dirty with sewer, storm runoff flowing straight into the burn and fly tipping. The Main Bridges which span the burn overall are

Sheskin Bridge, A6 Ranaghan Culvert, Ranaghan Bridge , Fallagloon Bridge , Upper Fallylea Bridge , Fallylea Bridge, Galwilly Bridge , Milltown Bridge , New Bridge , Mullagh Bridge , Old Mullagh Bridge , A6 Ballynahone Culvert And Widow Steeles Bridge.

Black Burn is a small stream which starts in Lisnmamuck a townlands a few miles southwest of Maghera. The lower stretches of this burn are very prone to flooding around Black Bridge on the Craigadick Road it joins the Milltown after emerging from a large culvert which the A6 passes over.

Largantogher Burn

The Largantogher named after the townland it mainly flows through is a minor burn a very small stream which mostly flows under Maghera in storm drains it emerges briefly in places but is mostly flows and mainly seen in the Largantogher Plantin (Largantogher Walkway) it winds its way through the wooded area a small tributary stream flowing from an old storm drain which can be seen from the path below Meeting House before opening up into fields flowing for about half a mile before flowing into its last culvert then into the Milltown Burn via a Penstock Gate.

Notable people

1700s

• Charles Thomson (1729–1824), signatory to the U.S. Declaration of Independence, secretary of the Continental Congress.
• John Glendy (1755–1832), republican Presbyterian minister, in American exile twice elected to chaplaincies in the U.S. Congress
• Adam Clarke (1762–1832), Methodist theologian and bible scholar.
• Watty Graham (1768–1798), United Irishman, Colonel of the Maghera National Guard, executed in 1798.
• Henry Cooke (1788–1868), Presbyterian theologian and Moderator.

1800s

• James Johnston Clark (1809–1891), Unionist MP for County Londonderry, born at Largantogher House.
• Robert Hawthorne (1822–1879), Victoria Cross, assault on Delhi, Indian Rebellion of 1857
• William Shiels (1848–1904), Australian colonial politician and 16th Premier of Victoria.
• James Lenox-Conyngham Chichester-Clark (1884–1933), Unionist MP for South Londonderry in the House of Commons of Northern Ireland.
• Helena Concannon (1878–1952) Irish historian, writer, language scholar and Senator.
• Louis Joseph Walsh (1880–1942) solicitor, playwright, Sinn Féin politician.

1900s

• Eve Bunting (1928– ), American-based children's author and novelist.
• Erwin Gabathuler OBE FRS (1933–2016) particle physicist.
• John Kelly (1936–2007), founder member and a leader of the Provisional Irish Republican Army.
• Mickey Moran (1951– ) Gaelic footballer and manager-coach,
• Kenny Shiels (1956– ), footballer, Northern Ireland team manager.

Schools

There are three primary schools and one secondary school in Maghera.

Primary schools

• St Mary's Primary School, Glenview
• Maghera Controlled Primary School
• St Patrick's Primary School, Glen

Secondary school

• St. Patrick's College, a co-educational college.

Sport

• The local Gaelic football club is Watty Graham's Gaelic Athletic Club.
• The local football team is Maghera Strollers F.C.
• The nearest golf driving range is at Tobermore.
• The local leisure centre is Maghera Leisure Centre, on the Coleraine Road.
• The local Cycling Club is Carn Wheelers
• The local Cricket Club is Maghera Cricket Club.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Maghera.

• Culture Northern Ireland