Clontibret
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Clontibret is a village and a parish in County Monaghan, Republic of Ireland.
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[edit] Village
The village is situated close to the border with Northern Ireland, between the towns of Monaghan and Castleblayney, along the N2 National Primary Road, which links Dublin and Derry. Its village population in 2006 was approximately 300, and this is expected to continue growing.
[edit] Parish
Clontibret is a parish in the Diocese of Clogher. The Catholic parish has three churches - St. Mary's, north of Clontibret village, St. Michael's, in the nearby village of Annyalla and All Saints, in the village of Doohamlet, which is between the towns of Castleblayney and Ballybay. The Anglican Church of Ireland church is located on the ancient Christian site in Clontibret village. The wider parish area has a population of approximately 3,000 persons.
The Gaelic Athletic Association club in Clontibret is called Clontibret O'Neills (in honour of John O'Neill (Fenian), who was a native of Clontibret.
[edit] History
In 1595 the adjacent countryside was the site of the Battle of Clontibret. The territory of Monaghan had been wrested from the control of the MacMahon clan in 1591, when the clan leader was executed by English authority. Subsequent encroachments by the English in to the province of Ulster led to the Nine Years War (1595-1603). The battle was the earliest clash between the two sides, with the Irish led by Hugh O'Neill and the English by Sir Henry Bagenal. Although O'Neill won the battle, the war ended with the completion of the English conquest of Ireland. In 1610 the Plantation of Ulster was established, an event that still defines certain political allegiances in the north of Ireland.
On 7 August 1986, in protest at the Anglo-Irish Agreement, Northern unionist politician Peter Robinson led an "invasion party" of 500 unionist militants into Clontibret. Some of the militants entered the Garda station in the village and physically assaulted two Garda officers, and then held a quasi-military drill in the square, before retreating back across the border. Robinson and others were later arrested, tried, and fined for the incident.
[edit] Famous Clontibretans
Clontibret was the birthplace of the famous historian and academic J.B. Bury (1861-1927). He was Professor of Roman History at Trinity College Dublin and later at Cambridge.
Another son of Clontibret was General John O'Neill, who led the ill fated Fenian invasions of Canada in 1866, 1870 and 1871. He was born at Drumgallon in Clontibret in 1839. After a promising Army career in the American Civil War he joined forces with the Fenians and later established an Irish colony in Nebraska where today the city of O'Neill, Nebraska stands as a memorial to his endeavours on behalf of the Irish communities in the United States of America.
Roman Catholic Bishop Brendan Comiskey, former Bishop of Ferns, Co Wexford, was born in Tassan, Clontibret on 13 August 1935. He was auxiliary Bishop of Dublin from 1980 until his appointment to Ferns in 1984. He resigned as Bishop of Ferns in 2002 following allegations that he failed to deal adequately with complaints of child sexual abuse.
