| Maghera | |
|---|---|
 Maghera Town Centre | |
  Maghera Location withinNorthern Ireland | |
| Population | 4,235 (2021 census) |
| District | |
| Country | Northern Ireland |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | MAGHERA |
| Postcode district | BT46 |
| Dialling code | 028 |
| Police | Northern Ireland |
| Fire | Northern Ireland |
| Ambulance | Northern Ireland |
| UK Parliament | |
| NI Assembly | |
| |
Maghera (/ˌmæhəˈrɑː,ˌmækəˈrɑː/MA-hə-RAH,MAK-ə-RAH; fromIrishMachaire Rátha, meaning 'plain oftheringfort') is a small town at the foot of theGlenshane Pass inNorthern Ireland. Its population was 4,235 in the2021 census.[2] Formerly in thebarony ofLoughinsholin within the historicCounty Londonderry, it is today in the local-government district ofMid-Ulster.
One mile north of the town is a single-chambermegalithic tomb known as Tirnony dolmen. The portals surrounding the tomb are five feet tall.[3] The town dates back at least to the 6th century to the church founded by Saint Lurach. Standing upon the site of the church, the present day ruins of St. Lurach's Church date back to the 10th century (seeMaghera Old Church). They include, over a doorway, a relief of the crucifixion, possibly the oldest in Ireland.[4] The crucifixion lintel is reproduced in the contemporary Catholic church, St Mary's.
The old church and town were burned in the 12th century. Afterwards, Maghera became the seat of theBishop of Derry with a cathedral church.[5] In 1246 its bishop, Germanus O'Carolan (Gilla in Choimded Ó Cerbailláin), pleading the remoteness of Maghera, obtained sanction fromPope Innocent IV to have the see transferred toDerry.[6]
As a result of thePlantation of Ulster and of theRebellion of 1641 which drove out many of the first English families, Maghera and district attracted Scottish settlers. They came into conflict not only with the dispossessed Irish, but as tenants and asPresbyterians also with the land-owning,Church of Ireland,Ascendancy. A result was large-scale emigration to the American colonies (Charles Thomson, recording himself as from Maghera, signed theDeclaration of Independence)[7] and, in the 1790s, the organising of theUnited Irishmen.
Despairing of reform, and determined to make common cause with their Catholic neighbours, on 7 June 1798 the United Irishmen mustered upwards of 5,000 men in Maghera. But the poorly armed host broke up the following morning on news of the rebeldefeat at Antrim and the approach of government troops. A Presbyterian church elder,Watty Graham, was executed for his part, and his head was paraded through the town. His minister,John Glendy, was forced into American exile.[8][9]
On 12 July 1830,Orange Order andRibbonmen clashed over demonstrations the Orange Order held in Maghera andCastledawson. Several Catholic homes were burnt by Protestants in the aftermath.[10] Some repair of sectarian relations was achieved by an activetenant right movement, but with tenant purchase of land facilitated by theLand Acts by the end of the century the national question prevailed. Politically the town has remained split betweennationalists, now in the majority, andunionists.
TheGreat Famine of the 1840s and the years that followed, resulted in a since unrecovered loss of population in the surrounding rural districts. In 2003 theAncient Order of Hibernians erected a headstone to make the "Famine Plot" were local victims were buried.[11]
In the early 20th century, the town itself was relatively prosperous. With its ownrailway station, an embroidery factory, a busy weekly market and close proximity to Clark's linen mill inUpperlands, it was one of two major towns withinMagherafelt Rural District. The town also benefited from post-war advances in education, housing and transport. Separate primary and secondary schools were built for Catholics and Protestants in the 1960s; new housing estates were constructed and motor cars forced a widening of many of the town's narrow streets[12]
Maghera suffered violence duringthe Troubles. Over the three decades from the end of the 1960s a total of 14 people were killed in or near the village Maghera, half of them members of the security forces and a further two as a result of family membership of theUlster Defence Regiment. TheProvisional Irish Republican Army were responsible for ten of the deaths. Two, including aSinn Féin councillor, were killed byloyalist paramilitaries.[13]
From what was possibly a low of 879 in 1910[14] Maghera population has risen in the course of a century to a census figure in 2011 of 4,220. ReflectingEuropean Union employment in local food processing, 213 residents in 2011 did not have English as a first language.[15]
The village was administered byLondonderry County Council from 1899 until the abolition of county councils in Northern Ireland in 1973.[16] Since 2011, the town is part of theMid-Ulster District Council. It is located within the Carntogher district electoral area (DLE) which contains the areas Lower Glenshane,Swatragh, Tamlaght O'Crilly, Valley and Maghera.[17] In the 2015 district elections, Carntogher DLE elected threeSinn Féin, oneSDLP and oneDUP representatives to the council.
On Census Day (21 March 2021) the usually resident population of Maghera (Mid Ulster Lgd) Settlement was 4,235.[2] Of these:
On Census Day (27 March 2011) the usually resident population of Maghera (Magherafelt Lgd) Settlement was 4,220 accounting for 0.23% of the NI total.[27][28] increasing from 3,711 in the 2001 Census.[29]
TheNorthern Counties Committee'sDerry Central Railway had a station in Maghera.Maghera railway station opened on 18 December 1880, shut for passenger traffic on 28 August 1950 and shut altogether on 1 October 1959 when theUlster Transport Authority closed the Derry Central.[30] The station building is now part of the Mid Ulster Garden Centre.
Ulsterbus runs routes through Maghera, which includes the 116/a/b/d toKilrea,Coleraine andMagherafelt, 212 fromBelfast toDerry, 246 toLimavady andEglinton and 278 fromMonaghan toPortrush.
There are three primary schools and one secondary school in Maghera.
