Granard
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Granard Gránard
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| Town | |
Market Street
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| Motto: Féile, Flúirse, Fáilte | |
 Granard
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| Coordinates: 53°47′N 7°30′W / 53.78°N 7.5°WCoordinates: 53°47′N 7°30′W / 53.78°N 7.5°W | |
| Country | Ireland |
| Province | Leinster |
| County | County Longford |
| Elevation | 82 m (269 ft) |
| Population (2016) | |
| • Total | 1,371 |
| Time zone | WET (UTC+0) |
| • Summer (DST) | IST (WEST) (UTC-1) |
| Irish Grid Reference | N324814 |
| Website | www |
Granard (Irish: Gránard) is a town in the north of County Longford, Ireland, and has a traceable history going back to AD 236. It is situated just south of the boundary between the watersheds of the Shannon and the Erne, at the point where the N55 national secondary road and the R194 regional road meet.
The town has been a centre of population since Celtic times, probably because of its elevated position offering a view over the surrounding countryside. It is mentioned in the ancient Irish epic, the Táin Bó Cuailgne, as being one of the places where Queen Medb and her army stopped on their journey to take the Donn Cuailnge (the Brown Bull of Cooley). The name of the town is itself so ancient as to be unclear even in Irish; the 11th-century writers of the Lebor na hUidre (containing the oldest written version of the Táin) refer to it by means of a gloss as "Gránairud Tethba tuaiscirt .i. Gránard indiu" ("Gránairud of northern Teathbha, i.e. Gránard of today"). According to the Tripartite Life of Saint Patrick, Patrick appointed Guasacht, a son of his former master Milchú, as first bishop of Granard, but the diocese did not survive as a separate entity. The surname was first recorded in Granard in the 8th century.
Granard is known for the motte built by Risteárd de Tiúit. It stands 166 m (543 ft) above sea level, located at the head of the town. A statue of St Patrick was erected on the motte in 1932 to commemorate the 1500th anniversary of the coming of the saint to Ireland for the second time. Due to the location between the three rivers and near Lough Sheelin, it is also a centre for trout and coarse fishing. The Gaynors (Mag Fhionbharra, from Fionnbharr Ó Géaradháin) were once the Gaelic lords of Granard.
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