Granard

2024-12-23T04:51:21Z

178.167.142.89: /* Notable people */

{{short description|Town in County Longford, Ireland}}
{{for|the settlement on the island of Saint Croix|Granard, U.S. Virgin Islands}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{Use Hiberno-English|date=March 2021}}
{{Infobox settlement
|name = Granard
|native_name = {{Irish place name|Gránard}}
|native_name_lang = ga
|settlement_type = Town
|motto = Féile, Flúirse, Fáilte
|image_skyline = Market Street, Granard - geograph.org.uk - 1796843.jpg
|image_caption = Market Street
|pushpin_map = Ireland
|pushpin_label_position = right
|pushpin_map_caption = Location in Ireland
|subdivision_type = Country
|subdivision_name = [[Republic of Ireland|Ireland]]
|subdivision_type1 = [[Provinces of Ireland|Province]]
|subdivision_name1 = [[Leinster]]
|subdivision_type3 = [[Counties of Ireland|County]]
|subdivision_name3 = [[County Longford]]
|established_title =
|established_date =
|unit_pref = Metric
|area_footnotes =
|area_total_km2 =
|population_as_of = [[2016 census of Ireland|2016]]
|population = 816
|population_footnotes = <ref name="census2016">{{cite web|url = http://census.cso.ie/sapmap2016/Results.aspx?Geog_Type=ST2016&Geog_Code=DC0A4B85-4EAD-4869-B5DB-A12DFA7D3E48 | publisher = Central Statistics Office | work = Census 2016 | title = Sapmap Area - Settlements - Granard | date = April 2016 | access-date = 2 February 2020 }}</ref>
|population_density_km2 = auto
| area_code_type = [[Telephone numbers in the Republic of Ireland|Telephone area code]]
| area_code = +353(0)4366
| postal_code_type =[[Eircode]] routing key
| postal_code =N39
|timezone = [[Western European Time|WET]]
|utc_offset = ±0
|timezone_DST = [[Irish Standard Time|IST]]
|utc_offset_DST = +1
|coordinates = {{coord|53.78|-7.5|dim:100000_region:IE|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
|elevation_footnotes =
|elevation_m = 82
|blank_name = [[Irish grid reference system|Irish Grid Reference]]
|blank_info = {{iem4ibx|N324814}}
|website = {{URL|www.longfordcoco.ie}}
|footnotes =
}}
'''Granard''' ({{Irish place name|Gránard}})<ref name=logainm>{{cite web | url = https://www.logainm.ie/en/32937 | title = Gránard/Granard | website = [[Placenames Database of Ireland]] (logainm.ie) | access-date = 8 October 2021}}</ref> is a town in the north of [[County Longford]], [[Republic of Ireland|Ireland]], and has a traceable history going back to 236 CE. It is situated just south of the boundary between the [[Drainage basin|watersheds]] of the [[River Shannon|Shannon]] and the [[River Erne|Erne]], at the point where the [[N55 road|N55]] [[national secondary road]] and the [[R194 road|R194]] [[Regional road (Ireland)|regional road]] meet. It is 20 km north-east of [[Longford]] town. The barony of [[Granard (barony)|Granard]] is named for the town. The town is also in the [[Civil parishes in Ireland|civil parish]] of Granard.<ref name=logainm/>

==History==
The town has been a centre of population since [[Celt]]ic 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 village 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 (annotation)|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 [[Sheridan (disambiguation)|Sheridan]] was first recorded in Granard in the 8th century.<ref name="SheridanClan">{{cite web|url=http://www.sheridanclan.ie/ClanHistory.aspx |title=Clan History |access-date=2010-06-01 |publisher=WSI Ballsbridge |author=Sheridan Clan |year=2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100605070407/http://www.sheridanclan.ie/ClanHistory.aspx |archive-date=2010-06-05 }}</ref>
[[File:Granard_Motte.png|thumb|right|Granard Motte]]
Granard is known for the [[Motte-and-bailey|motte]] built by [[Risteárd de Tiúit]]. It stands 166 m (543 ft) above [[sea level]], located at the head of the village. 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.<ref>Lehane, Brendan (2001) ''The Companion Guide to Ireland''; rev. ed. Woodbridge: Companion Guides {{ISBN|1 900639 34 3}}; pp. 101-02</ref> 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<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.sloinne.ie/surname/en/gaynor/| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160818085754/http://www.sloinne.ie/surname/en/gaynor/| archive-date = 2016-08-18| title = Sloinne}}</ref>) were once the [[Gaels|Gaelic]] lords of Granard.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

Between 1780-87, a large new market house was constructed in the town enhancing Granard's position as a market town for the local area.<ref>{{cite web |title=Granard Market House, Market Street, Main Street, GRANARD, Granard, LONGFORD |url=https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/13305027/granard-market-house-main-street-market-street-granard-granard-co-longford |website=Buildings of Ireland |access-date=15 August 2024}}</ref> It was built under the patronage of the local McCartney family.

Granard was the location of an annual ''Harp festival'' from 1781 to 1785. This had been due to the financial support of James Dungan, an Irish merchant then residing in [[Copenhagen]], and a native of Granard, who had heard of similar events being organised in Scotland. Many of the harpists who won prizes at these festivals, including [[Charles Fanning (harper)|Charles Fanning]], [[Arthur O'Neill (harpist)|Arthur O'Neill]], and Rose Mooney went on to perform at the [[Belfast Harp Festival]] in July 1792. There has been a revival of the festival since 1981.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

During the [[Irish War of Independence]], on 31 October 1920 a [[Royal Irish Constabulary|police officer]], District-Inspector Philip Kelleher was shot dead by two masked men in the bar of the Greville Arms Hotel, Granard. As a reprisal, a motor convoy of Crown forces entered the village four days later and systematically destroyed some of the main business premises of the town.<ref>Anglo-Celt, Saturday, 13 November 1920</ref>

{{Historical populations|state=collapsed
|1813|2425
|1821|2534
|1831|2069
|1841|2408
|1851|1805
|1861|1671
|1871|1811
|1881|1828
|1891|1834
|1901|1622
|1911|1531
|1926|1269
|1936|1236
|1946|1197
|1951|1150
|1956|1086
|1961|1044
|1966|1045
|1971|1054
|1981|1285
|1986|1338
|1991|1221
|1996|1173
|2002|1013
|2006|933
|2011|1021
|2016|816
| footnote=<ref>[http://www.cso.ie/census Census for post 1821 figures.]</ref><ref>[http://www.nisranew.nisra.gov.uk/census Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency – Census Home Page] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120217095720/http://www.nisranew.nisra.gov.uk/census |date=2012-02-17 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book
| last=Lee|first=J. J.| author-link =J. J. Lee (historian)|editor-last=Goldstrom|editor-first=J. M.|editor2-last=Clarkson
| editor2-first=L. A.|title=Irish Population, Economy, and Society: Essays in Honour of the Late K. H. Connell
| year=1981|publisher=Clarendon Press|location=Oxford, England
| chapter=On the accuracy of the [[Great Famine (Ireland)|Pre-famine]] Irish censuses}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Mokyr | first1 = Joel
| author-link = Joel Mokyr | last2 = Ó Gráda | first2 = Cormac
| author2-link = Cormac Ó Gráda | title = New Developments in Irish Population History, 1700–1850 | journal = The Economic History Review | volume = 37 | issue = 4
| pages = 473–488 |date=November 1984
| url = http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/120035880/abstract | archive-url = https://archive.today/20121204160709/http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/120035880/abstract | url-status = dead | archive-date = 2012-12-04 | doi = 10.1111/j.1468-0289.1984.tb00344.x | hdl = 10197/1406 | hdl-access = free }}</ref><ref name="census2016"/><ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.citypopulation.de/en/ireland/towns/longford/0481__granard/ | website = City Population | title = Granard (Ireland) Town | access-date = 2 February 2020 }}</ref>
}}

==Administration==
In 1899, Granard became an [[urban and rural districts (Ireland)|urban district]] under the [[Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Clancy |first=John Joseph|author-link=J. J. Clancy (North Dublin MP)|title=A handbook of local government in Ireland: containing an explanatory introduction to the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898: together with the text of the act, the orders in Council, and the rules made thereunder relating to county council, rural district council, and guardian's elections: with an index|url=https://archive.org/details/handbookoflocalg00clan/page/428/mode/2up |page=429 |year=1899|publisher=Sealy, Bryers and Walker|location=Dublin }}</ref> The urban district council was downgraded to a [[town commissioners]] in the early years of the [[Irish Free State]].<ref>{{cite web |title=1926 Census: Table 9: Population, Area and Valuation of urban and rural districts and of all towns with a population of 1,500 inhabitants or over, showing particulars of town and village population and of the number of persons per 100 acres |url=https://www.cso.ie/en/media/csoie/census/census1926results/volume1/C_1926_V1_T9.pdf |publisher=[[Central Statistics Office (Ireland)|Central Statistics Office]] |page=21 |access-date=4 April 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=1936 Census: Table 7: Population, etc, of Boroughs, Urban Districts and Other Towns possessing Local Government |url=https://www.cso.ie/en/media/csoie/census/census1936results/volume1/C_1936_Vol_1_t7.pdf |publisher=Central Statistics Office |page=14 |access-date=4 April 2023}}</ref> In 2002, it became Granard Town Council.<ref>{{cite ISB|title=[[Local Government Act 2001]]|year=2001|number=37|schedno=6|stitle=Local Government Areas (Towns)|date=21 July 2001}}</ref>

In 2014, this local government body was abolished.<ref>{{cite ISB|name=[[Local Government Reform Act 2014]]|year=2014|section=24|stitle=Dissolution of town councils and transfer date|number=1|date=27 January 2014|access-date=21 May 2022}}</ref> Since then, the town has fallen within the responsibility of [[Longford County Council]]. Granard Municipal District is represented by five elected councillors.<ref>{{cite ISB|year=2018|type=si|num=625|title=County of Longford Local Electoral Areas and Municipal Districts Order 2018|date=19 December 2018|access-date=6 September 2020|archive-date=3 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190203084950/http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2018/si/625/made/en/print}}</ref>

==Transport==
Granard is within the catchment area for [[Edgeworthstown railway station]]. The station is about a fifteen-minute drive; there is no bus link.

[[Bus Éireann]] Expressway route 65 provides one service a day to [[Monaghan]] (with onward connections to [[Belfast]]) and one service a day to [[Athlone]] (with onward connections to [[Galway]]). On Fridays there is a second service each way.<ref>{{cite web |title=Route 65: Galway - Athlone - Cavan - Monaghan |url=https://buseireann.ie/timetable/2479.pdf |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=2022-05-04 |website=Bus Éireann}}</ref> [[Bus Éireann]] local route 111A between [[Cavan]] and [[Athboy]] (with onward connections to [[Trim, County Meath|Trim]] and [[Dublin]]) serves Granard and operates four times a day each way, thrice each way on Saturdays and once each way on Sundays.<ref>{{cite web |title=Route 111A: Cavan - Granard - Delvin |url=https://buseireann.ie/timetable/2369.pdf |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=2022-05-04 |website=Bus Éireann}}</ref>

Donnelly's Pioneer Bus Service, a local bus company based in Granard,{{citation needed|date=October 2022}} operate a [[TFI Local Link|Local Link]] route from Granard to [[Longford]] via [[Ballinalee]]. There are several journeys each way, with no Sunday service.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.transportforireland.ie/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/locallink-timetable-r865-longford_online.pdf| website = transportforireland.ie | title = Local Link timetable route 865 Longford | accessdate = 9 October 2022 }}</ref>

==Notable people==
{{See also|Category:People from Granard}}
*[[Tommy Bond (baseball)|Thomas Henry "Tommy" Bond]] (1856–1941), a pitcher and right fielder in Major League Baseball, was a native of Granard and the first Irish-born person to play Major League Baseball.
* [[Larry Cunningham]] (1938–2012), from nearby Clooneen, [[Mullinalaghta]], was an Irish country music singer and the first Irish showband artist to break into the British charts with "Tribute to Jim Reeves" in 1964.
* [[Kitty Kiernan]] (1892–1945), who was born in Granard, was engaged to Irish revolutionary [[Michael Collins (Irish leader)|Michael Collins]].
* [[Ann Lovett]] (1968–1984), a fifteen-year-old schoolgirl who died giving birth beside a [[grotto]] in 1984.
* [[Eddie Macken]] (b.1949), international [[Show jumping|show jumper]], was born and lived in Granard.
* [[James O'Brien (1806–1882)|James O'Brien]] (1806–1882), High Court judge, was born in Granard.
* [[Brendan O'Reilly]] (1929–2001), Irish broadcaster and athlete.
* [[James Bronterre O'Brien]], leader of the [[Chartism|Chartist Movement]].

==See also==
{{Commons category}}
*[[List of towns and villages in the Republic of Ireland|List of towns and villages in Ireland]]
*[[Market Houses in the Republic of Ireland|Market Houses in Ireland]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{County Longford}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Towns and villages in County Longford]]
[[Category:Civil parishes of County Longford]]
[[Category:Former urban districts in the Republic of Ireland]]
[[Category:Former boroughs in the Republic of Ireland]]

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Granard