Editing Maghera (section)

==History==
One mile north of the town is a single-chamber [[Megalith|megalithic]] tomb known as Tirnony dolmen. The portals surrounding the tomb are five feet tall.<ref>{{cite book |last=Meehan |first=Cary |date=2004 |title=Sacred Ireland |url= |location=Somerset |publisher=Gothic Image Publications |page=171 |isbn=0 906362 43 1 |access-date=}}</ref> The town dates back at least to the 6th century to the monastery founded by Saint Lurach whose family were possibly evangelised by [[Saint Patrick]]. The ''[[Annals of Ulster]]'' say that the seat of the [[Cenél nEógain|Cenél nEoghain]] was at Ráth Luraig in Maghera. Standing upon the site of the monastery, the present day ruins of St. Lurach's Church date back to the 10th century (see [[Maghera Old Church]]). They include, over a doorway, a relief of the crucifixion, possibly the oldest in Ireland.<ref>{{Cite web|title=St. Lurach's Church – Mid Ulster District Council|url=https://www.midulstercouncil.org/visitor/places-to-visit/ancient-ulster/st-lurach's-church|access-date=2021-10-20|publisher=Mid Ulster Council|language=en-GB}}</ref> 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 the [[Bishop of Derry|Bishopric of Cinél nEógain]] with a cathedral church.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Home – Maghera Historical Society|url=https://magherahistoricalsociety.org/|access-date=2021-10-20|language=en-GB}}</ref> In 1246 its bishop, Germanus O'Carolan (Gilla in Choimded Ó Cerbailláin), pleading the remoteness of Maghera, obtained sanction from [[Pope Innocent IV]] to have the see transferred to [[Derry]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Diocese of Derry, Northern Ireland|url=http://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/diocese/derr0.htm|access-date=2021-10-20|website=GCatholic}}</ref>

As a result of the [[Plantation of Ulster]] and of the [[Irish Rebellion of 1641|Rebellion 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 as [[Presbyterian Church in Ireland|Presbyterians]] also with the land-owning, [[Church of Ireland]], [[Protestant Ascendancy|Ascendancy.]] A result was large-scale emigration to the American colonies ([[Charles Thomson]], recording himself as from Maghera, signed the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]])<ref>{{Cite web|last=Macafee|first=William|date=2009|title=Researching Derry and Londonderry Ancestors: Historical Background|url=http://www.billmacafee.com/homepage/historicalbackground.pdf}}</ref> and, in the 1790s, the organising of the [[Society of United Irishmen|United 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 rebel [[Battle of Antrim|defeat 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.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Morrison|first=A. K.|date=1907|title=John Glendy, of Maghera, Co. Derry, Presbyterian Minister and Patriot, 1798|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20608633|journal=Ulster Journal of Archaeology|volume=13|issue=3|pages=(101–105) 103|jstor=20608633 |issn=0082-7355}}</ref><ref name="Courtney2">{{cite book|last1=Courtney|first1=Roger|title=Dissenting Voices: Rediscovering the Irish Progressive Presbyterian Tradition|date=2013|publisher=Ulster Historical Foundation|isbn=9781909556065|location=Belfast|pages=90, 108–109}}</ref>

On 12 July 1830, [[Orange Order]] and [[Ribbonism|Ribbonmen]] clashed over demonstrations the Orange Order held in Maghera and [[Castledawson]]. Several Catholic homes were burnt by Protestants in the aftermath.<ref>{{cite web|title=Parades and Marches – Chronology 2: Historical Dates and Events|work=Conflict Archive on the Internet|url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/issues/parade/chpa2.htm|access-date=28 January 2010}}</ref> Some repair of sectarian relations was achieved by an active [[Tenant Right League|tenant right movement]], but with tenant purchase of land facilitated by the [[Land Acts (Ireland)|Land Acts]] by the end of the century the national question prevailed. Politically the town has remained split between [[Irish nationalism|nationalists]], now in the majority, and [[Unionism in Ireland|unionists]].

The [[Great Famine (Ireland)|Great Famine]] of the 1840s and the years that followed, resulted in a since unrecovered loss of population in the surrounding rural districts. In 2003 the [[Ancient Order of Hibernians]] erected a headstone to make the "Famine Plot" were local victims were buried.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Maghera Parish {{!}} Parish History|url=http://www.magheraparishderry.com/parishhistory.php|access-date=2021-10-20|website=magheraparishderry.com}}</ref>

In the early 20th century, the town itself was relatively prosperous. With its own [[Maghera railway station|railway station]], an embroidery factory, a busy weekly market and close proximity to Clark's linen mill in [[Upperlands]], it was one of two major towns within [[Magherafelt]] 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<ref>Bryson, A. (2007). 'Whatever You Say, Say Nothing': Researching Memory & Identity in Mid-Ulster 1945–1969'. ''Oral History'', 35(2), (45–56), 46.</ref>

{{main|The Troubles in Maghera}}
Maghera suffered violence during [[the 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 the [[Ulster Defence Regiment]]. The [[Provisional Irish Republican Army]] were responsible for ten of the deaths. Two, including a [[Sinn Féin]] councillor, were killed by [[Ulster loyalism|loyalist paramilitaries]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths|url=https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/sutton/chron/|access-date=2021-10-20|publisher=Ulster University}}</ref>

From what was possibly a low of 879 in 1910<ref>{{Cite web|title=Ulster Towns Directory, 1910: Maghera, County Derry|url=https://www.libraryireland.com/UlsterDirectory1910/Maghera.php|access-date=2021-10-20|website=libraryireland.com}}</ref> Maghera population has risen in the course of a century to a census figure in 2011 of 4,220. Reflecting [[European Union]] employment in local food processing, 213 residents in 2011 did not have English as a first language.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Agency|first=Northern Ireland Statistics and Research|title=statistics|url=https://www.ninis2.nisra.gov.uk/public/AreaProfileReportViewer.aspx?FromAPAddressMulipleRecords=Maghera%20(Magherafelt%20Lgd)@Exact%20match%20of%20location%20name:%20@Exact%20Match%20Of%20Location%20Name:%20Maghera%20(Magherafelt%20Lgd)@23?|access-date=2021-10-20|website=ninis2.nisra.gov.uk}}</ref>