Ballymore, County Westmeath
|
Ballymore An Baile Mór
|
|
|---|---|
| Town | |
 Ballymore
|
|
| Coordinates: 53°29′28″N 7°40′48″W / 53.491°N 7.68°WCoordinates: 53°29′28″N 7°40′48″W / 53.491°N 7.68°W | |
| Country | Ireland |
| Province | Leinster |
| County | County Westmeath |
| Elevation | 128 m (420 ft) |
| Population (2006) | |
| • Urban | 485 |
| • Rural | 2,165 |
| Time zone | WET (UTC+0) |
| • Summer (DST) | IST (WEST) (UTC-1) |
| Irish Grid Reference | N209490 |
Ballymore (Irish: An Baile Mór, meaning "big town") is a village in County Westmeath, Ireland, on the R390 road between Athlone and Mullingar. The historic Hill of Uisneach is nearby. The village was known in medieval times as the medieval borough of Ballymore Lough Sewdy, or Loughsewdy, after the nearby lake, the site of an ancient bruighean or hostel.
Evidence of the area’s bloody history can be deduced by translation of some of its placenames - although it’s not clear when some of these names came into being. One notable townland is Lugnacaha (often pronounced locally as “Lugahaca”), which translates as “the hollow of the battle”. There’s a field in Shinglis referred to as “Lug na Fola”, which translates as “the hollow of the blood”, and locally, it is claimed that when, once, an attempt was made to plough that field, blood seeped up through the soil.
Plary Abbey was founded before the year 700, and a monastery, in honour of the Virgin Mary, for Gilbertin canons, which order consisted of canons of the Premonstre order, and Benedictine nuns, was erected here by the de Lacey family. The church of this monastery was for a short time the cathedral church of the diocese of Meath.
Brewer states that the Gilbertine Abbey was founded in 1218, on the site of a monastery that had stood there from before the year 700. He describes the location as being "at the foot of the Hill of Clare, or Mullaghcloe", and says that on the summit are the ruins of Clare Castle.
In the year 1338, Theobald de Verdun, 2nd Lord Verdun, Justiciar of Ireland (born 8 September 1278), lord of the manor of Ballymore, obtained a grant of a weekly market, and a 15-day fair for in Ballymore.
As far back as 1315, Edward the Bruce, younger brother of Robert the Bruce of Scotland, came to the village. He arrived in Ireland in May 1315, and was proclaimed king within a month. He stormed through the country attempting to subdue it, and spent Christmas of 1315 in Ballymore, at the manor of Theobald de Verdun, reportedly using up all the stocks of food there and extending his thanks by burning the manor to the ground as he left.
Towards the latter end of the wars of 1641, Ballymore was home to a strong garrison of the English forces. Their garrison was located beside Lough Seudy, and divided from the mainland by "a deep and large graff, with ramparts of earth and bulwarks: the ditch was carried so low as to receive three or four feet of the stagnant water of the lake, over which was by a draw-bridge the entry into the fort; this was the chief fortress of this county".
...
Wikipedia