Blacklion An Blaic
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Town | |
Main Street, Blacklion, in July 2007
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Location in Ireland | |
Coordinates: 54°17′28″N 7°52′33″W / 54.2912°N 7.8759°WCoordinates: 54°17′28″N 7°52′33″W / 54.2912°N 7.8759°W | |
Country | Ireland |
Province | Ulster |
County | County Cavan |
Time zone | WET (UTC+0) |
• Summer (DST) | IST (WEST) (UTC-1) |
Blacklion (Irish: An Blaic; formerly An Leargaidh) is a border village in west County Cavan, Ireland. It is situated on the N16 national primary road, just across the border from the County Fermanagh village of Belcoo.
The village is within the town-land of Tu-am (Irish: Tuaim, meaning "tumulus"). A stone cairn, a burial cist and two stone cashels are all within the townland, giving evidence of early habitation.
The ruins of the mediaeval Killesher Church lie about 2.6 miles south-east of Blacklion. The ruins sit on a hillside in the south-west of County Fermanagh, between Blacklion and Cladagh Bridge, very close to the Hanging Rock and overlooking both the Gortatole Outdoor Education Centre and Lower Lough Macnean. The current ruins sit on an Early Christian ecclesiastical site associated with St. Lasser or St. Lasair. The modern Parish of Killesher in both the Diocese of Kilmore and the Diocese of Kilmore, Elphin and Ardagh is named after this ancient site.
The original name of the village was Largay (also Largy, Largain, Largin and Largan, from the Gaelic Leargaidh meaning a hillside), which was a túath belonging to the Coffey McGoverns, a sub-sept of the McGovern clan, from the 8th century until the Plantation of Ulster in the 17th century. King James I then granted it to Nicholas Pynner in the following grant: