Lusmagh
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Lusmagh Lusmagh
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| Townland | |
 Lusmagh
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| Coordinates: 53°10′25″N 8°01′09″W / 53.173611°N 8.019167°WCoordinates: 53°10′25″N 8°01′09″W / 53.173611°N 8.019167°W | |
| Country | Ireland |
| Province | Leinster |
| County | Offaly |
| Time zone | WET (UTC+0) |
| • Summer (DST) | IST (WEST) (UTC-1) |
| Website | www |
Lusmagh is an area and townland in County Offaly, Ireland, situated approximately three miles south-west of Banagher. It is bounded on three sides by rivers, the River Shannon, the River Lusmagh and the Little Brosna River. It is also a Roman Catholic parish, in the Diocese of Clonfert, the only parish in the Diocese east of the River Shannon. Prior to 1373, Lusmagh was in the province of Connacht. According to the history of the O'Kellys of Hy-Many, the name means the plain of the healing herbs. In Christian times, the parish was named Cill Mochonna (the Church of Mochonna), after Saint Mochonna. Saint Crónán founded a monastery in the parish that survived for many centuries. The name Lusmagh was restored to the Parish around 1810. The present Roman Catholic parish church is named after St. Crónán.
Cloghan Castle was originally built as a monastery by St. Crónán in 600. The Normans fortified the remains of the monastery in 1203 by building a defensive wall around it, a part of which still exists. The Gaelic Chieftain Eoghan O’Madden constructed the castle keep in 1336. His kingdom stretched to the west as far as Loughrea in County Galway. The castle was attacked and razed in 1595 by Sir William Russell, the Lord Deputy, and confiscated for the Crown. It was granted, together with 6,000 acres, to Sir John Moore in 1601 and he was responsible for the existing oak beamed roof. Sir John was sacked from his Government post when it was discovered that he was a Catholic. The castle remained in the Moore family until it was taken by Cromwellian soldiers in 1654. They remained in residence until 1683 when King Charles II granted it to Garret Moore. It was garrisoned by the Jacobites in 1689 and 1690 and remains of their gun emplacements can still be seen in the grounds. The Moores were good landlords and tried their best to alleviate the suffering of their tenants in the Great Famine of 1845 to 1847. As a result of the Famine, the Moores became bankrupt and had to sell the lands. It was purchased by Dr. Robert Graves, the Dublin Doctor who discovered Graves Disease of the thyroid, at the insistence of his wife. He died a year after purchasing the castle. After his death, his widow evicted up to 100 tenants from the property. His grandson sold it in 1908 before emigrating to Australia, where his descendants still live.
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Wikipedia