Swanlinbar
| Swanlinbar | |
|---|---|
| Town | |
 Swanlinbar
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| Coordinates: 54°11′34″N 7°42′22″W / 54.192738°N 7.706180°WCoordinates: 54°11′34″N 7°42′22″W / 54.192738°N 7.706180°W | |
| Country | Ireland |
| Province | Ulster |
| County | Cavan |
| Time zone | WET (UTC+0) |
| • Summer (DST) | IST (WEST) (UTC-1) |
| Irish Grid Reference | H190270 |
Swanlinbar (Irish: An Muileann Iarainn, meaning "The Iron Foundry") is a small village on the N87 national secondary road in north-west County Cavan, Ireland, close to the Cladagh river and near the Fermanagh border.
The village is in the barony of Tullyhaw.
In the 1860s, Swanlinbar had the most celebrated of Cavan's numerous mineral springs.
The earliest name recorded for the village was Sra-na-muck which means "The River-field of the pigs". The current official Irish name An Muileann Iarainn meaning 'Iron Mill' reflects the foundation of an ironworks in the town in 1700, as does the name 'Swanlinbar' which derives from the four entrepreneurs who built the iron foundry. Jonathan Swift in his 1728 essay On Barbarous Denominations In Ireland wrote:
"There is likewise a famous town, where the worst iron in the kingdom is made, and it is called Swandlingbar: the original of which name I shall explain, lest the antiquaries of future ages might be at a loss to derive it. It was a most witty conceit of four gentlemen, who ruined themselves with this iron project. 'Sw' stands for Swift (Swift's uncle, Godwin Swift, for whose memory he had no special regard, was the instigator of the ironworks and the person named. He lost his fortune due to the mismanagement of the business), 'And' stands for Sanders, 'Ling' for Darling, and 'Bar' for Barry. Methinks I see the four loggerheads sitting in consult, like Smectimnius, each gravely contributing a part of his own name, to make up one for their place in the iron-work; and could wish they had been hanged, as well as undone, for their wit."
In his 1732 book "A natural history of the parish of Killesher", the local rector Rev.Wiliam Henry wrote that at the spa in Swanlinbar the local peasantry joined in the festivities with the visiting gentry. He described an idyllic picture of
"the fine beau and the country girl with her hair plaited behind, the nice lady and the ploughman tilting most merrily together in a country dance by five o'clock in a morning, with the bagpiper playing tunes such as 'The Black Joke' or "Westmeath Election'".
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Wikipedia