Newtownforbes

Newtownforbes (Irish: an Lios Breac, meaning "the speckled ringfort") is a village in County Longford, Ireland. It was historically called Lisbrack, an anglicisation of the Irish name.^[2]

The N4 National primary route passes through the Main Street of the village, which is situated 4 km northwest of Longford Town. Newtownforbes is a thriving village with its population listed at 668 in 2006.^[1] The national school is Scoil Mhuire. The village has a Catholic church, St. Mary's which has been recently restored. One feature of the renovation is the new west windows, by Joe Sheridan of Kilkenny which shows Virgin Mary with Jesus and St. John and a playfriend. It also shows St. Elither, a local saint, building the first Christian church of the village. The village also has public houses, shops and other amenities to cater for the expanding village. The sports complex has a superb floodlit pitch and indoor basketball court.

Newtownforbes is in the parish of Clonguish; its Irish name is Cluain geis which means The Meadow of the Swans. Clonguish is bordered by four other parishes, Killashee, Templemicheal, Killoe and Drumlish. The parish also shares a common boundary with the province of Connacht in that it adjoins the parishes of Bornacoola and Gortletteragh in County Leitrim and is separated by the Shannon from Kilbarry in County Roscommon. The River Camlin flows through the south-western end of the parish. On the approach to Newtownforbes from Longford, there is an old house called Minard House on the left. It was built in the 1760s and was the base to a local radio station.

There are three pubs - one of which is Casey's Public House. This pub was the last pub in the Midlands to stop the practise of bottling Guinness for the brewery and labeling it. Michael Collins, 1916 rebel and Irish Free State Commander drank in this pub from time to time. According to local rumors, Collins was once so intoxicated on tonic wine after visiting the local nursing home he had to be brought to the midlands hospital for medical treatment. This episode is said to have led to his pro-Anglo Irish treaty stance after witnessing the favorable treatment he received.

History

Newtownforbes takes its name from the Forbes family, also known as the Earl of Granard, who originated in Aberdeen and were granted lands in the area around 1621, and have been resident in Castleforbes since 1691. The family was in service to the Crown and successive generations were promoted to Viscount, Baronet and eventually Earldom. The family changed the name of the village from Lisbrack to Newtownforbes around 1750. Many of the houses in the original part of the village date from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Castleforbes is situated about 5 km from Longford town and stands between Newtownforbes and the River Shannon. Built to the design of John Hargrave from Cork, Castleforbes is a 19th century structure of cut limestone. The entrance gateway of the castle is French style which is about one mile (1.6 km) from the castle itself. There are some narrow windows in the shape of an arch as well as the remains of some English style windows.

In 1909 following the marriage of the 8th Earl of Granard to Beatrice, daughter of the wealthy Ogden Mills of Staatsburg, New York, the decoration of the castle was completed. Shortly after this the castle was in action. Lady Jane structured the original building of Castleforbes in 1624. Over the years, the Castle has been added to. In 1825 the castle was partly burned. It was saved by a dog called 'Pilot' whose barking woke everyone in the castle.

1,286 acres (5.20 km²) of land was given to them in 1619. In 1854 together the castle covered 1,346 acres (5.45 km²) of land within its demesne. It was the largest demesne in Longford. In 1876 the total estate, including parts of land from around the parish, Clonguish, Drumlish, Killashee and near Mullingar, covered 14.978 acres (60,610 m²) of land. Today Lady Georgina, the present owner, owns only the land within the demesne, 1,346 acres (5.45 km²). Behind the castle is the legendary graveyard. In early times the deceased of the parish were buried there, but however the 4th Earl of Granard passed a rule saying only his family could be buried there. This law made a lot of people angry and some even buried their relatives there under the cover of darkness. Usually Lord Granard found out about this and had the corpse thrown off the castles property and onto the road-side. One notorious man of the parish felt sick at this time and when dying he asked his sons to bury him in the graveyard where his father rested before him and to put a blackthorn stick in his right hand so if anyone disturbed him people would hear about it. The man died and his directions were faithfully carried out. Lord Granard found the corpse and ordered it to be removed. The next day the people heard that the Earl of Granard was dead. The wife of the 5th Earl of Granard was much different in nature in comparison to those who had gone before her as she was a charitable and compassionate lady. Another story from 1780 tells of a man who was falsely charged with stealing sheep and was ordered to be executed (which at that time was very common) in Longford jail.The poor man pleaded innocent to this crime but was not believed and convicted. Luckily the executor did his job carelessly and the man came away with none more than a few serious spinal injuries. He lived out the rest of his days in secrecy in Casleforbes.

References

See also

• List of towns and villages in Ireland