Editing Banagher (section)

== History ==
It is thought that St. Rynagh (also Reynagh, Rinagh), who founded Banagher and after whom the parish is named, was a sister of [[Finnian of Clonard|St. Finnian of Clonard]].<ref>[http://www.offalyhistory.com/categories/Reading-Resources/History-by-Place/?Page=46 Offaly Historical And Archaeological Society (OHAS), ''Banagher Was Founded Fourteen Centuries Ago'', 9 February 2007.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716105515/http://www.offalyhistory.com/categories/Reading-Resources/History-by-Place/?Page=46 |date=16 July 2011 }} Retrieved 3 November 2008.</ref> According to research, they came from a place near [[New Ross]] in [[County Wexford]]. It is known that contact was maintained between Rynagh's Wexford home and her foundation at Banagher, and her mother came to live there. It is recorded that Reynagh's mother, Talech, or Talacia, became [[Abbess]] of the Banagher [[convent]]. The death of St. Finnian is assigned to 563, but there does not seem to be an authoritative statement as to the date of St. Rynagh's death, although according to St. Rynagh's Parish Church in Banagher, St. Rynagh died about 610. The place of her burial is uncertain but it is likely to have been in either Banagher or [[Kilmacduagh]] near [[Gort]], the monastery founded by her son, [[Colman MacDuagh|St. Colman]].<ref>Madden, J., ''St. Rynagh's Church, Banagher'', St. Rynagh's Parish.</ref>

=== Origins ===

The settlement that grew to become Banagher originated at a ford on the east bank of the River Shannon. The river banks and surrounding countryside were flood-free all year round. Travellers intending to cross the Shannon converged on this point along tracks which were the forerunners of the modern roads, and a community grew at this crossing point.<ref name=CivicWeek>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090725195755/http://geocities.com/bbanagher/ ''Banagher – A Brief History'': Civic Week Booklet (1951).] Retrieved 3 November 2008.</ref>

Many of the early travellers were [[pilgrims]]. North-west of Banagher, on the Connacht side of the river, was the monastic establishment of [[Clonfert]], with the more famous [[Clonmacnoise]] a short distance further north. Not far to the south-west on the same side was another monastic foundation, at [[Meelick, County Galway|Meelick]]. At Meelick, the three provinces, Leinster, [[Munster]] and Connacht meet and just south of Banagher in the direction of Birr, the four [[dioceses]] of Clonmacnoise, [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Meath|Meath]], [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Killaloe|Killaloe]] and [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Clonfert|Clonfert]] meet.<ref name=CivicWeek/>

=== Military history ===

At Banagher, there are ridges on both sides of the river and roads were built along these many centuries ago. The first bridge was built over the Shannon at that point as early as 1049.<ref name=Moriarty>Moriarty, Christopher, ''Places to Visit – Banagher'', The Sacred Heart Messenger, March 1997.</ref> It was a place of great strategic importance because the Shannon and its lowlands provided a natural barrier between Connacht and Leinster. An army that wanted to cross the river in the area of the Shannon Callows had few choices; apart from Banagher, the only other suitable places were Athlone, [[Shannonbridge]] and [[Portumna]].<ref name="Conservation Plan 2018 p10">{{cite book |last1=Howley Hayes Architects |title=Historic Banagher, Co. Offaly - Conservation, Interpretation and Management Plan |date=2018 |publisher=The Heritage Council (of Ireland) and Offaly County Council |location=Ireland |page=10}}</ref>
[[File:IMG ClononyCastle5782w.jpg|right|thumb|[[Clonony|Clonony Castle]]]]
The importance of Banagher as a military position on the Shannon and the highway from Leinster and Munster to Connacht was early appreciated by the English, whose forces seized it about the middle of the 16th century, coming up the river to do so. They constructed some fortifications which they called Fort Frankford (later Fort Falkland) and held the place in spite of the fact that the part of Offaly for some miles around Banagher was in the hands of the MacCoghlan clan. The MacCoghlans, aided by boundaries of bog and river, held their territories against all comers for about 500 years, even maintaining a footing by open defiance well into the 17th century. Garry Castle, [[Clonony Castle]], and Moystown Castle are remains of MacCoghlan strongholds.<ref name=MidlandsBorough>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20080724015218/http://www.irishmidlandsancestry.com/content/offaly/community/borough_banagher.htm Irish Midlands Ancestry, ''Banagher – The Midland Boroughs in the 1830s''.]}} Retrieved 3 November 2008.</ref> Sometime after 1554, when [[Mary I of England|Queen Mary]] married [[Philip II of Spain]], Offaly County was named King's County in honour of Philip, but it is doubtful if the royal jurisdiction extended to any of the MacCoghlan areas except Banagher. Ultimately, the MacCoghlans were overthrown and their lands were planted by order of [[James I of England|James I]] issued in 1621.<ref name=CivicWeek/>

The town was incorporated by charter of [[Charles I of England|Charles I]] on 16 September 1628.<ref name=MidlandsBorough/> The corporation was allowed to elect two members to [[English Parliament|Parliament]] and hold two fairs per year, amongst other wide-ranging powers.<ref name=OHAS-BCT>[http://www.offalyhistory.com/articles/136/1/Banagher-as-a-Corporate-Town/Page1.html OHAS, ''Banagher as a Corporate Town''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091010034638/http://www.offalyhistory.com/articles/136/1/Banagher-as-a-Corporate-Town/Page1.html |date=10 October 2009 }} Retrieved 3 November 2008.</ref>

In 1628, a permanent military [[garrison]] was established which continued with slight interruptions until 1863. The defences were further strengthened and it was officially named Fort Falkland, after [[Henry Cary, 1st Viscount Falkland]] who was [[Lord Deputy of Ireland]] from 1622 to 1629. The forces of the [[Confederate Catholics]] took Banagher in 1642, but it was retaken by the [[Cromwellian conquest of Ireland|Cromwellian Army]] in 1650, under the command of [[Henry Ireton]], [[Oliver Cromwell|Cromwell's]] son-in-law. By 1652 the Cromwellian conquest was completed and the transplantation of the [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] landholders to Connacht began in 1654. The lands from which they were expelled were divided among the [[adventurers]] and the [[soldiers]] of Cromwell's army.

During the [[Williamite War in Ireland|Williamite Wars of 1690–1691]], the garrison espoused the cause of [[James II of England|James II]] in contrast with that of Birr, which took the side of [[William III of England|William]]. A stone bridge across the Shannon was erected in 1685, and a Williamite army advancing from Birr in 1690 attempted to break it down but abandoned the attempt as too risky in consequence of the presence of [[Patrick Sarsfield|Sarsfield's]] Army on the Connacht side. A broken arch of this bridge is still to be seen on that side a few yards below the present bridge of seven arches, which was erected by the Commissioners for the Improvement of Navigation of the Shannon in 1841–1843. The square tower on the lower side of the bridge at the Galway end was erected to protect the old bridge, as was the Salt Battery, with emplacements for four cannons facing west and north, a few hundred yards from town along the Crank Road.<ref name=CivicWeek/>

The Irish garrison remained in Banagher without further molestation until the [[Battle of Aughrim]], after which Banagher was evacuated. The English re-occupied the town, where they remained until the middle of the 19th century when Banagher ceased to be a garrison town.<ref name=OHAS-BCT/>

=== Economic growth ===

In the 17th century, Banagher was the centre of a flourishing woollen trade. In 1699, the impost placed on the export of woollen goods to England practically killed the woollen trade. At the outbreak of the [[American Revolutionary War]] in 1775, an embargo placed on the export of foodstuffs to the [[Thirteen Colonies|American Colonies]] dealt another blow to the trade of Banagher. In 1780, the [[British Parliament]] withdrew all these restrictions and Banagher's economy began to improve rapidly.<ref name=OHAS-BCT/>

From 1800 to 1847, Banagher enjoyed a period of prosperity unequalled in its history.<ref name=CivicWeek/> Corn growing had long been one of the chief agricultural activities of the district and the opening of the [[Grand Canal (Ireland)|Grand Canal]] at the end of the 18th century gave easy access to Dublin and Limerick and brought cheap and efficient water transport to the district. Banagher became the outlet for the grain raised in a wide area around the town, and the Banagher corn market on Fridays was one of the largest of such fairs in Ireland.<ref name="Conservation Plan 2018">{{cite book |last1=Howley Hayes Architects |title=Historic Banagher, Co. Offaly - Conservation, Interpretation and Management Plan |date=2018 |publisher=The Heritage Council (of Ireland) and Offaly County Council |location=Ireland |page=9}}</ref>

The canal arrived at Shannon Harbour in 1804, and the water transport facilities stimulated the growth of existing industries and encouraged the establishment of new ones. Neat two and three-storey houses were built on each side of the road in Banagher to provide shops and dwellings for the merchants and other people who came to live there for the canal business.<ref name=Moriarty/> In 1834, there was a [[distillery]], a brewery, two tanyards, a malthouse and corn mills in full operation in the town. Several craftsmen carried on industries in smaller workshops and their homes. With the increase in trade and manufactures went a corresponding increase in population. In 1800, the population was estimated at 1500; in 1841, it was 2836, and in 1846, it was estimated at 3000.<ref name=CivicWeek/>

=== Decline ===

Contrasted with the flourishing state of trade in the first half of the 19th century is the rapid and sustained decline during the second half. In the period of 40 years from 1841 to 1881, the population fell from 2836 to 1192, a loss of over 57%. By the end of the century, all that remained of the major industries of the town was the malthouse of F.A. Waller & Co., while all smaller industries had vanished completely.<ref>[https://theirishaesthete.com/2018/10/22/mill/ The Irish Aesthete - Seeking a Viable Future]. Retrieved 07 February 2023.</ref>

Various causes contributed to this decline. The abolition of the [[Corn Laws]] in 1846 allowed the free importation of grain into these islands. Unable to compete with foreigners, the Irish farmer turned his land to [[pasture]] and grew only sufficient grain for his own use. The Banagher corn trade rapidly declined, and would have completely vanished were it not that barley growing was kept alive by Waller's malthouse. The clearances in East Galway in the years immediately succeeding the [[Great Irish Famine]] adversely affected the trade of the town while the smaller industries were unable to compete against the highly organised industries of Britain.<ref name=OHAS-BCT/>

The opening of Banagher Railway station in 1884, as the terminus of the {{convert|29|km|mi|abbr=on}} [[Clara, County Offaly|Clara]] to Banagher branch of the Great Southern & Western Railway Company, brought some improvement, with several passenger and goods trains every day. However, the fuel crisis of 1947 caused passenger services to be withdrawn from the line and it closed altogether in 1963.<ref name=Railway>[http://www.railscot.co.uk/Ireland/Irish_railways.pdf ''Railscot – Irish Railways: Banagher Station''.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926042407/http://www.railscot.co.uk/Ireland/Irish_railways.pdf |date=26 September 2007 }} Retrieved 3 November 2008.</ref> Although the site of the station is now covered by the marina, the trackway can still be seen, minus the track, at the gateway at the eastern corner of the marina.<ref>Trodd 1985, p.8.</ref>