Ballybay
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| Ballybay Béal Átha Beithe |
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| Bheith i Lar Baire | ||
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| Location | ||
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WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates:
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| Irish grid reference H743188 |
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| Statistics | ||
| Province: | Ulster | |
| County: | County Monaghan | |
| Elevation: | 61 m (203 ft) | |
| Population () | ||
Ballybay (Irish: Béal Átha Beithe) is a town in County Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland. The name in English means "The Mouth of the Ford of the Birches".
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[edit] Town layout
The town is the meeting point for roads going to Monaghan, Castleblayney, Carrickmacross and Clones. The town grew up from the congerence of the roads. The town is built beside a large lake, Lough Major (In Irish "Lough Mór") and the smaller Lough Minor. The Dromore River also runs through the south of the town, past Pearse Brother's Football Grounds, and past the Riverdale Hotel.
[edit] History
The town grew up in the 18th century, gaining its prosperity from the linen industry founded by the Jackson family. The Town council (Ballybay Development Committee) was established around 1870. Later, on 1 January 1921, an Irish Republican Army ambush led by Eoin O'Duffy killed one Royal Irish Constabulary man, one civilian and three Auxiliaries were wounded during the Irish War of Independence
[edit] Ballybay Coat of Arms
(The following is a copy of the actual text inscribed on the Ballybay Coat of Arms document. This text also appears in Irish on the document.)
To all to whom these Presents shall come, I, Fergus Gillespie, Deputy Chief Herald of Ireland, send Greeting....Whereas petition hath been made unto me by Martin McAviney on behalf of Ballybay Town Council, of which he is Chairman, setting forth that the said Council is desirous that certain Armorial Ensigns should be assigned by lawful authority unto it and that the Armorial Ensigns so granted and assigned may be ratified and recorded in the Office of the Chief Herald of Ireland.
Now I, the said Deputy Chief Herald of Ireland, having taken this matter into consideration, am pleased to comply with the said petition and acting on behalf of and by the authority of the Government of Ireland do by these Presents grant and assign unto the said Ballybay Town Council and its successors in law the Arms following, that is to say:—Or, semée of birch leaves and flax flowers proper a fess wavy azure with the Motto:—BHEITH I LÁR BÁIRE, the whole more clearly depicted in the margin hereof. To have and to hold the said Arms unto the said Ballybay Town Council forever and the same to bear, use, shew, set forth and advance on shield or banner or otherwise according to the Law of Arms and in practice of this Office and without the let, hindrance, molestation, interruption, controlment or challenge of any person or persons whatsoever, excepting always the Authority of this Office. In witness whereof I hereunto subscribed my Name and Title, and affixed the Seal of Office of the Chief Herald of Ireland this first day of September, 2003. Fergus Gillespie Deputy Chief Herald
(The following is the front-page intro on Coat of Arms, NS May 20 2004)
Ballybay gets its Coat of Arms
The new Ballybay Coat of Arms was officially presented last Friday to Town Mayor Bríd Rutledge by Deputy Chief Herald of Ireland Fergus Gillespie, in a ceremony that called to mind a hint of the pageantry and fanfare of medieval times.
The Coat of Arms invests in the Town Council the official, corporate mark of its authority. The motto, “‘Bheith i Lár Báire”— to be at the centre of things — reflects an aspiration which Mr Gillespie hoped does justice to the role of the town and its people in the life of County Monaghan and the nation itself..
(The following is the main article on Coat of Arms presentation, NS May 20 2004, p41)
“TO BE AT THE CENTRE”..... Ballybay adopts new motto as town’s Coat of Arms is granted
BALLYBAY treated itself to a rare occasion of pomp and ceremony on Friday evening last (May 14th) when the Deputy Chief Herald of Ireland Fergus Gillespie officially granted the town its very own Coat of Arms.
The event marked the culmination of a three-year quest embarked on by the Town Council when the then chairperson, Martin McAviney made an official petition to the Office of the Chief Herald. The Coat of Arms was sought to mark the Ballybay authorities transition from Town Commission to Town Council. The evening’s event began with a raising of flags outside the Ballybay Courthouse. Members of the local Girl Guides and Scouts were out in all their finery to raise the EU flag, the Irish flag, the Ulster (Red Hand) flag and Bavarian flag of twin town Gergweis-Osterhofen.
By MICHAEL McDONNELL
The large gathering then repaired to the Courthouse to witness an occasion of the type that few, if any would have previously experienced. Among those in attendance were Ballybay Town Mayor Bríd Rutledge, Ballybay Town Manager Adge King, visitors from the prospective twinning area of Fivemiletown, Ceann Comhairle Dr Rory O’Hanlon TD, Paudge Connolly TD, Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin TD, Senator Francie O’Brien, and members Ballybay Town Council and Monaghan County Council. All present were welcomed by Teresa McGuirk, Town Clerk, who acted as MC for the occasion, in which the town’s Peace II Arts Project was also launched. Describing it as a “momentous occasion”, Town Manager Adge King noted that the Coat of Arms motto was “Bheith i Lár Báire”, which meant to be in the middle. He went on to outline the wide range of local activities (see separate article on launch of Ballybay Arts Project) that demonstrated how the people in the area wanted to be pivotal and central to the county, as the motto confirmed. The main speaker on the night was Deputy Chief Herald Mr Fergus Gillespie, whose sober pace of delivery and solemn demeanour lent to the occasion a touch of “gravitas” — essential to ceremonies like this! Mr Gillespie said he was delighted to be in Ballybay, a town he had in the past associated with signposts on the road as he made his way from Dublin to Donegal via Carrickmacross, Castleblayney and Monaghan town. But to his regret he had never taken the turn to the left on the journey northward. He would never have expected then that his first visit to Ballybay would be to present its council with its own Coat of Arms, which would forever be the official symbol of its corporate identity. It had been some time since he had presented a Coat of Arms in public, and he was proud to say that the last one he had granted was to the County Monaghan Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association, shortly after Christmas 1999. The people of Monaghan were therefore in the “vanguard” as far as the use of coats of arms was concerned, he stated, and the Monaghan County GAA Board was actually the only one in Ireland to have its own Coat of Arms. Heraldry related to the functions and duties of officers of arms, Mr Gillespie explained. Those officers were the Chief Herald of Ireland, his deputy, and their fellow heralds. Among the duties of an officer of arms was the devising and designing of emblems centred on a shield, according to centuries old customs and practice.
MARK OF AUTHORITY Those emblems, when duly granted and registered, represented a corporate mark of a council’s authority, as was the case in Ballybay.
The public presentation of this official, corporate symbol of authority was of great importance, as was reflected by the presence of important dignitaries, and indeed of the press, who would perform a function similar to that of medieval heralds in proclaiming public acts such as the one now being witnessed. This project had also been deemed of great importance by the staff of the Office of the Chief Herald, and he was delighted to have with him the Herald at Arms Mr Micheál Ó Comáin and chief herald painter Ms Katy Lumsden. Another herald painter, Philip Mackey of Letterkenny who could not be present, painted the actual document or letters patent but Ms Lumsden also had an important input. The motto, of which he was extremely proud, was his own, Mr Gillespie revealed. He believed it to be one of his best ever. Mr Gillespie went on to give a brief history of the Office of the Chief Herald of Ireland, or Office of Arms, which could claim to be the oldest office of state in Ireland, having been constituted in 1552 by order of the boy king Edward VI, son of Henry VIII. The first King of Arms or Principal Herald was Bartholomew Butler, appointed on June 1st 1552 with the title Ulster King of Arms. His heraldic province, however, was for the whole of Ireland, and he was responsible for inspecting and correcting arms and ensigns for illustrious persons as well as for arranging public ceremonies connected with the government. The Chief Herald today remained the official overseer of heraldic matters in Ireland, occasionally advising the Government on matters relating to insignia and protocol, and to the Defence Forces and Naval Service. Arms could now be granted to citizens of Ireland and their descendants overseas. They could also be granted to corporate bodies and other organisations. Mr Gillespie cited presidents of Ireland, bishops, mayors of Dublin and numerous private persons as among those granted arms b the Office in recent decades. Recent corporate grants had been to bodies like the Dublin Docks Authority, the University of Limerick and the Monaghan GAA Board, while Galway County Council, Muine Bheag and Lismore Town Commissioners had each received recent civic grants of arms. In the absence of an honours system, the Office, on application by the Government had also granted coats of arms to distinguished foreign dignitaries such as President John F Kennedy, President Bill Clinton and Sir William Patrick Deane, Governor General of Australia. But this was an unsatisfactory situation, as visitors with no Irish ancestry, like the President of France by example, could not be honoured in this way.
SIMPLE AND EFFECTIVE The design of the new Ballybay Coat of Arms was simple and effective, according to Mr Gillespie, in the tradition of best heraldic custom and practice. The shield had a background of gold, called “or” in heraldic language. This field was strewn with birch leaves and flax flowers “proper” (ie, in their natural colours). The birch leaves alluded to the name of the town, Béal Átha Beithe, which meant the “Approach to the Ford of the Birches”. One could imagine the medieval inhabitants of Ulster passing through the béal, or approach, as they made their way to the ford, which would take them safely across the stream. In later centuries they would pass by fields of flax.
Continuing, he noted that flax flowers, also to be found in other Ulster coats of arms, reflected Ballybay’s importance as a major centre of the Irish linen industry in the 18th and 19th centuries. The birch, the “duilleogaí beithe”, referred to the birches which grew on approaches to the stream, while the stream itself was symbolised by a broad blue wavy band or “fess”, dividing the shield from left to right, or, in heraldry “dexter to sinister” (right to left from the viewpoint of the shield’s holder). The design of the shield was a triumph, and Mr Ó Comáin was to be congratulated on it. The motto, as he had stated before, was Mr Gillespie’s own. Mottos could be great fun to work with, but could also be very frustrating. One had to encapsulate a phrase reflecting the personality, ethos or aspirations of the grantee. He had borne in mind Martin McAviney’s glowing accounts of Ballybay, its progress, and its growing importance as a centre of excellence, but had for some time been somewhat “stumped” for those important words. One could go for months trying to find them, but then they would come — in Irish, English, Latin, even Greek — while sitting in traffic or at any time of the day or night, perhaps from some chance remark.
THE CENTRE OF THINGS
“The motto, ‘Bheith i Lár Báire’ means to be in the centre of things, or in sporting terms ‘in the centre of play, in the all important part of the playing field’, which I hope does justice to the role that Ballybay plays in the life of the County and the Nation, and justice to the hopes and aspirations held by the Council itself for the town of which they are the guardians,” the Deputy Chief Herald stated. The word “Bheith” was the verbal noun of Tá, “to be”, or “being”, but was also the aspirated form of bheith, a birch tree — so there was heraldic punning here, something that was common enough in mottoes. Mr Gillespie concluded by reading the text of the grant from the letters patent, the official document, signed by himself as Deputy Chief Herald, and sealed with the Office of the Chief Herald, which officially granted the arms to Ballybay Town Council and its successors in law. He then presented the document to Town Mayor Bríd Rutledge. The Town Mayor thanked Mr Gillespie for granting the Coat of Arms. It was a historic occasion for the people of Ballybay, whose Town Commissioners, as they were known then, were first elected in 1871. Ballybay had seen many changes over the years, and the elected body of the town had been involved in many of these changes. The Town Commission had become the Town Council in 2001, and it was at that stage that the chairperson, Martin McAviney made a petition for a Coat of Arms. She was sure all would agree that the Office had given Ballybay a Coat of Arms that future generations would be proud of. The motto, Bheith i Lár Báire, “To be at the Centre of” was surely apt for a town that was at the centre of the county, both geographically and in terms of community, social and commercial life, from as far back as records showed. Another change seen by the Town Council was her own election as the first lady Mayor last year. This event would be one of her last functions as Mayor. As she was not seeking re-election, she wanted to say that she had enjoyed her ten years as a councillor and had at all times worked for the betterment of the town and community, having been involved with many groups. Ms Rutledge was proud and privileged to accept this Coat of Arms on behalf of the Town Council. She finished with an appropriate variant of a famous quote: “Ask not what your town can do for you, ask what you can do for your town.” Ceann Comhairle Dr Rory O’Hanlon said the granting of arms was very significant. Heraldry came from the time of the Normans in 1169, while the “Red Hand” motif of Ulster used by the O’Neills dated from the mid-14th century. Ballybay was always an important town at the centre of the county, and was to this day the best location for meetings involving groups from around the county. The Coat of Arms was also important in that it gave another identity to the town, something that could be associated with by the town’s people in any part of the world. Dr O’Hanlon was delighted to see Peadar Murnane present, as he and his brother James were owed a debt of gratitude for the marvellous history of Ballybay they had written. But for their work, it was possible that a lot of very important information about the past would have been lost. The Deputy Chief Herald and his staff were to be complimented on the Coat of Arms. Indeed, Mr Gillespie had insisted on walking to the end of the town to see for himself the river and “Ford of the Birches” — the sign of a true professional. Dr O’Hanlon said he was happy that the Coat of Arms had been granted before the end of the present Town Council. Having listened to the speakers, it was obvious that they had been a very active council, and thanks were due to each and every one of the councillors for doing a very good job for the town over the last five years. He concluded with the hope that the Coat of Arms would be enjoyed and appreciated by people of Ballybay for the next thousand years and more. The Town Mayor then presented pins depicting the new Coat of Arms to Mr Gillespie and Dr O’Hanlon. Former Town Council Chairperson Martin McAviney began by complimenting the troop of young scouts who had patiently sat through all the speeches after taking part in the raising of flags. Cllr McAviney reminded the gathering that the new Coat of Arms document would be on public display for a period in the Ballybay Credit Union offices. On behalf of the Town Council’s Coat of Arms sub-committee, which also included Philip Smith, Eugene Duffy and Bríd Rutledge, he hoped that the arms and motto would meet with approval. He gave thanks to Mr Gillespie, Mr Ó Comáin, Ms Lumsden and Mr Mackey, who had made it a labour of love; to Dr O’Hanlon, Town Manager Mr King, Town Clerk Ms McGuirk; to Lee Brothers jewellers who provided the replica pins and medallion for the Mayor’s chain of office; to the mid-Monaghan area engineering and outdoor staff; to Monaghan County Council and council staff member Christy McQuillan for their help in preparing for this event; to Monaghan ICA Guild for preparing refreshments, to the Ballybay Scouts and Girl Guides and their leaders; to the media and to the churches for helping publicise the launch, and finally, to everyone in attendance for making it a great event. The evening ended with the Girl Guides distributing Coat of Arms pins as souvenirs of the occasion to all in attendance.
[edit] Buildings of note
- Ballybay Market House is a four-bay two-storey building built in 1848.
[edit] Transport
Ballybay railway station opened on 17 July 1854, was closed to passenger traffic on 14 October 1957 and finally closed altogether on 1 January 1960.[1]
[edit] Today
Today the town is a prosperous and growing one. The re-opening of the Riverdale hotel in 2006 has brought tourists back into the town, after the "drought", and after heavy pollution Lough Major is now clear and fishing has returned.
[edit] Miscellaneous
The Irish singer / songwriter Tommy Makem wrote a lighthearted song about the town, "In the Town of Ballybay."
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ Ballybay station. Railscot - Irish Railways. Retrieved on 2007-09-10.
