Everything about Cloughjordan totally explained
Cloughjordan (
Cloch Shiurdáin in
Irish, meaning "Jordan's Stone"), in North
County Tipperary, Ireland is situated in the north-west part of North Tipperary close to the
Offaly border. It is almost equidistant from
Nenagh,
Roscrea and
Birr and is close to Ireland's largest river, the
Shannon, and
Lough Derg. The alternate spelling 'Cloghjordan' is recognised.
Poet and
patriot Thomas McDonagh, a
native of Cloughjordan, described it as a place “in calm of middle country”.
Unusually for a town of its size (the
2002 Census Records places the population at 431), it has three
churches –
Roman Catholic (St. Michael and John’s, built in
1898),
Church of Ireland (St. Kiernan’s,
1830) and
Methodist (
1875).
History
Developed at the intersection of travel routes between Nenagh, Birr and Moneygall, the village of Cloughjordan began as an inhabited settlement during the
Norman lordship of Ireland of the
13th and
14th centuries when the De Marisco family were allotted land in
Ormond under the overlordship of the
Butlers by
King Henry II. One unit of the De Mariscos (
Morris or Morrissey in modern terms) moved into this area, took over the territory and built a stone
castle and
manor house guarded by a moat surrounding the dwelling.
There is a story which relates that the first De Marisco, who resided here, was a
Norman knight who had travelled to the
Holy Land to take part in a
Crusade against the
Saracen invaders. He is said to have brought back a stone from the
River Jordan which he built in over the doorway of this castle and it was from that stone that the village got its name – the Stone of
Jordan – Clogh Shiúrdáin – Cloughjordan.
Cloughjordan was further developed in the late 17th century by
Cromwellian grantees when Colonel
John Harrison, an officer in
Cromwell's army, was granted an estate of 1484 acres of land around Cloughjordan in payment for his military services. Harrison built a house, now known as Cloughjordan House, at the site of the original
Norman Castle of De Marisco and incorporated the old castle into the new building, in which one wall of the castle, about seven and a half feet thick, is still in existence to this day.
Cloughjordan was then remodelled in the late
18th century to include a square in front of the
Church of Ireland on the east-west main street.
In
1909 Cloughjordan was one of the first villages in Ireland, after
Carlow and
Birr, to provide its own rural electrification scheme. The
ESB took over the supplying of electricity to the town in
1948.
Transport
Cloughjordan railway station opened on
5 October 1863. It is connected to the
Irish railway network on a branch from
Limerick to
Ballybrophy (where it joins the main
Cork–
Dublin line) and has a twice-daily service in each direction.
Sport
People
The actor Patrick Bergin resides in Cloughjordan.
Fergus Costello
is an internationally acclaimed liturgical artist and church designer. He is a leading authority on Church art in Ireland and is based out of Cloughjordan.
Cloughjordan is the birthplace of Thomas MacDonagh, poet and patriot who was one of the signatories of the 1916 Proclamation of the Republic. He was executed in 1916 by firing squad. The local library and Gaelic Athletic Association park bear his name.
Charlie Swan, multiple National Hunt Champion jockey.
Recent developments
The Village is an exciting project with the aim of creating an "eco-village" community with commitments to ecological, social and economic sustainability. This new community, being developed on 67 acres of farmland, will merge with the existing village of Cloughjordan through a new street opposite the Church of Ireland. Irish Times, June 7th, 2006: "Green Town Breaks Ground"
The Cloughjordan CineClub was officially launched on August 25 2005 - some forty-four years since a film had last been screened in Cloughjordan .Further Information
Get more info on 'Cloughjordan'.
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