Virginia, County Cavan
Encyclopedia
Virginia is a small town of 3,939 inhabitants (according to census 2011) in County Cavan
, Ireland
. It was founded at Aghanure during the Plantation of Ulster
and was named Virginia after Queen Elizabeth I of England
.
Situated close to Lough Ramor
, Virginia is on the N3 route approximately 85 km northwest of Dublin, where once it was a strategic staging and rest point for the coaches plying between Enniskillen
and Dublin. In more recent times, Virginia is connected to the capital by an hourly bus service from Cavan town Bus Éireann
. Regarded these days as a commuter town
with its proximity to larger trading towns east and west, the local industry consists mainly of farming and milk processing at the local Glanbia
factory, (formerly Virginia Milk Products) which produces skim milk powder and cream for the world renowned brand Baileys Irish Cream
liqueur. Other local manufacturers include the Fleetwood brand of paint products. Virginia won the Irish Tidy Towns Competition
in 1964 and 1965. It is also home to the popular annual Virginia Agricultural Show for over sixty years and Ireland's only Pumpkin
Festival.
who also held extensive lands around County Meath. Plunkett was a Catholic Anglo-Irish lord probably from twelfth century Norman descent undertook to complete the patented project.
Complaints from the Virginia inhabitants about the lack of development progress reached the Commission by 1638 whereupon the second Earl of Fingall, Christopher Plunkett was ordered to submit a substantial bond with the Commission court and to build the church in Virginia or face forfeiture of his county Cavan lands. The Anglican Bishop of Kilmore then William Bedell
undertook to lay out the town in accordance with the Commission requirement. However events which led to the Irish Rebellion of 1641
and Irish Confederate Wars
enveloped Virginia causing widespread destruction and de-population. The summer of 1642 saw the outright destruction by government forces of the castle along with the burning of stocks of hay, corn and turf in a bid to punish the outlawed Earl of Fingall for supporting an insurgent siege on the garrison located at Drogheda. What remained of Virginia after the wars can be assessed through hearth tax records from the 1660s, indicating a small resident community. During the following century estate surveys were undertaken for the absentee landlord (exiled since the Williamite wars of 1688-91) which tell of a wayside Inn that existed since the earliest times (exact location unknown), operated then in 1727 by a Cornelius Donnellan and was frequented around that time by Jonathan Swift
during his several excursions to Co. Cavan. The Virginia estate was eventually sold around the year 1750 on behalf of the Plunkett's to pay off mounting debts, setting the way for a new landlord Thomas Taylor, Lord Headfort to continue in building the town where others had failed. It is recorded that Taylor's grandfather, also a Thomas Taylor, was a cartographer who assisted Sir William Petty with the Down Survey
during the previous century.
The Taylors (later Taylour) had built a substantial mansion (now the Headfort school) beside Kells in County Meath and turned their attention to making the unproductive lands around Virginia into profitable farms through land drainage and afforestation of low lying areas. The results of which brought employment and quickly led to the setting up of markets and fairs in Virginia where local produce including flax yarn and linen was traded on the streets. Virginia's population grew to double from 467 inhabitants between the census years of 1821 to 1841, as did the rapid construction of the town with the Main street as we know it today. Successive Lords Headfort, later became Earl of Bective and Marquess of Headfort
, created their own private demesne and a hunting lodge (now Park Hotel) overlooking Lough Ramor.
The famine of 1845-49 (see ref. below) caused by successive failures in the potato crop brought with it extreme hardship for the poorer classes, death was widespread caused by diseases like typhus
and cholera
, pandemic throughout Europe at that time and the result of poor sanitation, contaminated drinking water and deplorable living conditions. Starvation which ravished many parts of the country was averted in Virginia due to the efforts of the local Famine Relief Committee, who made extra rations of Indian meal available in return for hard labour, this included women and children breaking stones for making roads and the building of the local Catholic church which took place during 1845 on lands donated by the landlord.
In subsequent years Virginia prospered with the introduction of a Butter market in 1856, followed by the opening of the Great Northern (GNR) railway line between Kells and Oldcastle in March 1863. Cattle and livestock could then be moved for export, however this also meant that produce such as coal and beer could be transported from the larger towns into rural areas which led to the closure of the local malt brewery and several bakeries in the town.
Until relatively recently emigration was a feature of rural Irish life down through the centuries and Virginia was no exception to this. Perhaps the most famous Virginia emigrant was Philip H. Sheridan, whose parents came from nearby Killinkere, left Ireland around 1830 and settled in America. Sheridan achieved success through a military career, particularly during the American Civil War. President Lincoln stated, "this Sheridan is a little Irishman, but a big fighter", eventually became commanding General of the US Army and had many honours bestowed upon him. Other famous people who have associations to Virginia are Dean Jonathan Swift
who penned his well known novel Gullivers Travels while staying nearby at Quilca, the home of his cleric friend Thomas Sheridan who also kept a classics school and later became headmaster of Cavan's Royal School. Playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan
was also descended from this family, while othor reputable Virginian's from the nineteenth century were Thomas Fitzpatrick a noted London physician, and entrepreneur Joseph Rathborne the son of local mill owner Henry Talbot Rathborne, Joseph went to America and created the world's biggest lumber mill with the Rathborne Cypress Lumber Company in Louisiana. Admiral Sir Josias Rowley
had links here through his brother Rev. John Rowley who was an Anglican clergyman and incumbent at Virginia during the period that the First Fruits
church was built. Admiral Rowley also helped to finance the rebuilding of the church after a major fire destroyed the roof on Christmas night 1830.
Nowadays, Virginia continues to modernise as a growing urban community with a foothold still clinging on to its rural origins. The closure of the Virginia Roads railway station and GNR line in 1958 came about as Ireland's population fell to its lowest levels, the 1951 census lists Virginia with a population then of just 297 persons. However road transport links to Virginia have since made significant improvement down through the years, and leading to the opening during 2010 of the M3 motorway linking Virginia to Dublin. This has led to a continued rise in local prosperity, with many new houses and commercial business being built. The last census, taken in April 2011, put the population of Virginia electoral area at 3,939 inhabitants, having risen by 23.2% from the previous 2006 census.
County Cavan
County Cavan is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Border Region and is also located in the province of Ulster. It is named after the town of Cavan. Cavan County Council is the local authority for the county...
, Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
. It was founded at Aghanure during the Plantation of Ulster
Plantation of Ulster
The Plantation of Ulster was the organised colonisation of Ulster—a province of Ireland—by people from Great Britain. Private plantation by wealthy landowners began in 1606, while official plantation controlled by King James I of England and VI of Scotland began in 1609...
and was named Virginia after Queen Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
.
Situated close to Lough Ramor
Lough Ramor
Lough Ramor is a large natural lake of 741 hectares situated near Virginia, County Cavan. From early records Vita Tripartita identified as being in the territory of Cenal Muinreamhair. The literal meaning of the term Muinreamhair is 'fat-neck' and appears to be derived from a prehistoric or...
, Virginia is on the N3 route approximately 85 km northwest of Dublin, where once it was a strategic staging and rest point for the coaches plying between Enniskillen
Enniskillen
Enniskillen is a town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is located almost exactly in the centre of the county between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of 13,599 in the 2001 Census...
and Dublin. In more recent times, Virginia is connected to the capital by an hourly bus service from Cavan town Bus Éireann
Bus Éireann
Bus Éireann provides bus services in Ireland with the exception of those operated entirely within the Dublin Region, which are provided by Dublin Bus. Bus Éireann, established as a separate company in 1987, is a subsidiary of Córas Iompair Éireann. The logo of Bus Éireann incorporates a red Irish...
. Regarded these days as a commuter town
Commuter town
A commuter town is an urban community that is primarily residential, from which most of the workforce commutes out to earn their livelihood. Many commuter towns act as suburbs of a nearby metropolis that workers travel to daily, and many suburbs are commuter towns...
with its proximity to larger trading towns east and west, the local industry consists mainly of farming and milk processing at the local Glanbia
Glanbia
Glanbia plc is an international nutritional solutions and cheese group, headquartered in Ireland. Glanbia is listed on the Irish and London Stock Exchange . The Group has four segments; US Cheese & Global Nutritionals, Dairy Ireland, Joint Ventures & Associates and Other Business...
factory, (formerly Virginia Milk Products) which produces skim milk powder and cream for the world renowned brand Baileys Irish Cream
Baileys Irish Cream
Baileys Irish Cream is an Irish whiskey and cream based liqueur, made by Gilbeys of Ireland. The trademark is currently owned by Diageo. It has a declared alcohol content of 17% alcohol by volume...
liqueur. Other local manufacturers include the Fleetwood brand of paint products. Virginia won the Irish Tidy Towns Competition
Irish Tidy Towns Competition
Tidy Towns is an annual competition, first held in 1958, organised by the Irish Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government in order to honour the tidiest and most attractive cities, towns and villages in the Republic of Ireland...
in 1964 and 1965. It is also home to the popular annual Virginia Agricultural Show for over sixty years and Ireland's only Pumpkin
Pumpkin
A pumpkin is a gourd-like squash of the genus Cucurbita and the family Cucurbitaceae . It commonly refers to cultivars of any one of the species Cucurbita pepo, Cucurbita mixta, Cucurbita maxima, and Cucurbita moschata, and is native to North America...
Festival.
History
Virginia began as an Ulster Plantation project, where an English adventurer named John Ridgeway was granted the crown patent in August of 1612 to build a new town, situated upon the Great road, approximately mid way between the towns of Kells and Cavan. The chosen site according to tradition existed a ruined O'Reilly castle, and was then described as Aghaler, a location once set within the ancient Lurgan parish townland of Ballaghanea. Patented conditions of settlement which were to introduce English settlers to the area and build the town to incorporated borough status. Ridgeway's difficulty in attracting sufficient English trades people and settler families into what was then regarded as a hostile territory outside of the protection of the Leinster Pale, managed to build a few wooden cabins and a corn mill near to the castle and situated close to the shores of Lough Ramor. Ridgeway passed the patent on to another Englishman captain Hugh Culme who already possessed lands about Lough Oughter in County Cavan and had access to building timber. Culme persuaded the Plantation Commission to move the location of Virginia to its present location close to the Blackwater tributary river, whereupon he built a number of cabins for the settlers but still failed to meet the Commissions time frame for developing the town further before giving up on the task, probably for the same reasons as his predecessor. During November of 1622, the Virginia estate came into the possession of Lucas Plunkett Earl of FingallEarl of Fingall
Baron Killeen and Earl of Fingall were titles in the Peerage of Ireland. Baron Fingall was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom...
who also held extensive lands around County Meath. Plunkett was a Catholic Anglo-Irish lord probably from twelfth century Norman descent undertook to complete the patented project.
Complaints from the Virginia inhabitants about the lack of development progress reached the Commission by 1638 whereupon the second Earl of Fingall, Christopher Plunkett was ordered to submit a substantial bond with the Commission court and to build the church in Virginia or face forfeiture of his county Cavan lands. The Anglican Bishop of Kilmore then William Bedell
William Bedell
William Bedell was an Anglican churchman.-Early life:He was born at Black Notley in Essex, and educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he was a pupil of William Perkins. He became a fellow of Emmanuel in 1593, and took orders...
undertook to lay out the town in accordance with the Commission requirement. However events which led to the Irish Rebellion of 1641
Irish Rebellion of 1641
The Irish Rebellion of 1641 began as an attempted coup d'état by Irish Catholic gentry, who tried to seize control of the English administration in Ireland to force concessions for the Catholics living under English rule...
and Irish Confederate Wars
Irish Confederate Wars
This article is concerned with the military history of Ireland from 1641-53. For the political context of this conflict, see Confederate Ireland....
enveloped Virginia causing widespread destruction and de-population. The summer of 1642 saw the outright destruction by government forces of the castle along with the burning of stocks of hay, corn and turf in a bid to punish the outlawed Earl of Fingall for supporting an insurgent siege on the garrison located at Drogheda. What remained of Virginia after the wars can be assessed through hearth tax records from the 1660s, indicating a small resident community. During the following century estate surveys were undertaken for the absentee landlord (exiled since the Williamite wars of 1688-91) which tell of a wayside Inn that existed since the earliest times (exact location unknown), operated then in 1727 by a Cornelius Donnellan and was frequented around that time by Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift was an Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer , poet and cleric who became Dean of St...
during his several excursions to Co. Cavan. The Virginia estate was eventually sold around the year 1750 on behalf of the Plunkett's to pay off mounting debts, setting the way for a new landlord Thomas Taylor, Lord Headfort to continue in building the town where others had failed. It is recorded that Taylor's grandfather, also a Thomas Taylor, was a cartographer who assisted Sir William Petty with the Down Survey
Down Survey
The Down Survey, also known as the Civil Survey, refers to the mapping of Ireland carried out by William Petty, English scientist in 1655 and 1656....
during the previous century.
The Taylors (later Taylour) had built a substantial mansion (now the Headfort school) beside Kells in County Meath and turned their attention to making the unproductive lands around Virginia into profitable farms through land drainage and afforestation of low lying areas. The results of which brought employment and quickly led to the setting up of markets and fairs in Virginia where local produce including flax yarn and linen was traded on the streets. Virginia's population grew to double from 467 inhabitants between the census years of 1821 to 1841, as did the rapid construction of the town with the Main street as we know it today. Successive Lords Headfort, later became Earl of Bective and Marquess of Headfort
Marquess of Headfort
Marquess of Headfort is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1800 for Thomas Taylor, 2nd Earl of Bective. Despite the official title, the family unfailingly use the alternative rendering Marquis of Headfort, and this is the spelling more commonly encountered in references to family...
, created their own private demesne and a hunting lodge (now Park Hotel) overlooking Lough Ramor.
The famine of 1845-49 (see ref. below) caused by successive failures in the potato crop brought with it extreme hardship for the poorer classes, death was widespread caused by diseases like typhus
Typhus
Epidemic typhus is a form of typhus so named because the disease often causes epidemics following wars and natural disasters...
and cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
, pandemic throughout Europe at that time and the result of poor sanitation, contaminated drinking water and deplorable living conditions. Starvation which ravished many parts of the country was averted in Virginia due to the efforts of the local Famine Relief Committee, who made extra rations of Indian meal available in return for hard labour, this included women and children breaking stones for making roads and the building of the local Catholic church which took place during 1845 on lands donated by the landlord.
In subsequent years Virginia prospered with the introduction of a Butter market in 1856, followed by the opening of the Great Northern (GNR) railway line between Kells and Oldcastle in March 1863. Cattle and livestock could then be moved for export, however this also meant that produce such as coal and beer could be transported from the larger towns into rural areas which led to the closure of the local malt brewery and several bakeries in the town.
Until relatively recently emigration was a feature of rural Irish life down through the centuries and Virginia was no exception to this. Perhaps the most famous Virginia emigrant was Philip H. Sheridan, whose parents came from nearby Killinkere, left Ireland around 1830 and settled in America. Sheridan achieved success through a military career, particularly during the American Civil War. President Lincoln stated, "this Sheridan is a little Irishman, but a big fighter", eventually became commanding General of the US Army and had many honours bestowed upon him. Other famous people who have associations to Virginia are Dean Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift was an Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer , poet and cleric who became Dean of St...
who penned his well known novel Gullivers Travels while staying nearby at Quilca, the home of his cleric friend Thomas Sheridan who also kept a classics school and later became headmaster of Cavan's Royal School. Playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Richard Brinsley Butler Sheridan was an Irish-born playwright and poet and long-term owner of the London Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. For thirty-two years he was also a Whig Member of the British House of Commons for Stafford , Westminster and Ilchester...
was also descended from this family, while othor reputable Virginian's from the nineteenth century were Thomas Fitzpatrick a noted London physician, and entrepreneur Joseph Rathborne the son of local mill owner Henry Talbot Rathborne, Joseph went to America and created the world's biggest lumber mill with the Rathborne Cypress Lumber Company in Louisiana. Admiral Sir Josias Rowley
Josias Rowley
Admiral Sir Josias Rowley, 1st Baronet GCB, GCMG , known as "The Sweeper of the Seas", was a naval officer who commanded the campaign that captured the French Indian Ocean islands of Réunion and Mauritius in 1810.-Naval career:...
had links here through his brother Rev. John Rowley who was an Anglican clergyman and incumbent at Virginia during the period that the First Fruits
Board of First Fruits
The Board of First Fruits was an institution of the Church of Ireland that was established in 1711 by Anne, Queen of Great Britain in order to build and improve churches and glebe houses in Ireland. This was funded from taxes collected on clerical incomes which were in turn funded by tithes...
church was built. Admiral Rowley also helped to finance the rebuilding of the church after a major fire destroyed the roof on Christmas night 1830.
Nowadays, Virginia continues to modernise as a growing urban community with a foothold still clinging on to its rural origins. The closure of the Virginia Roads railway station and GNR line in 1958 came about as Ireland's population fell to its lowest levels, the 1951 census lists Virginia with a population then of just 297 persons. However road transport links to Virginia have since made significant improvement down through the years, and leading to the opening during 2010 of the M3 motorway linking Virginia to Dublin. This has led to a continued rise in local prosperity, with many new houses and commercial business being built. The last census, taken in April 2011, put the population of Virginia electoral area at 3,939 inhabitants, having risen by 23.2% from the previous 2006 census.
See also
- Lough RamorLough RamorLough Ramor is a large natural lake of 741 hectares situated near Virginia, County Cavan. From early records Vita Tripartita identified as being in the territory of Cenal Muinreamhair. The literal meaning of the term Muinreamhair is 'fat-neck' and appears to be derived from a prehistoric or...
- List of towns and villages in Ireland
- Market Houses in IrelandMarket Houses in the Republic of IrelandMarket houses are a notable feature of many Irish towns with varying styles of architecture, size and ornamentation making for a most interesting feature of the streetscape. Originally there were three, four or even five bays on the ground floor which were an open arcade. An upper floor was...
- National Library of IrelandNational Library of IrelandThe National Library of Ireland is Ireland's national library located in Dublin, in a building designed by Thomas Newenham Deane. The Minister for Arts, Sport & Tourism is the member of the Irish Government responsible for the library....
NLI manuscript archives ref. Fingall and Headfort papers. - Clayton and BellClayton and BellClayton and Bell was one of the most prolific and proficient workshops of English stained glass during the latter half of the 19th century. The partners were John Richard Clayton and Alfred Bell . The company was founded in 1855 and continued until 1993...
Stained glass church windows - Irish Architectural ArchiveIrish Architectural ArchiveThe Irish Architectural Archive was established in 1976 by Dr Edward McParland and Nicholas Robinson to collect and preserve material of every kind relating to the architecture of Ireland, and make it available to the public...
External links
- http://www.virginia.ie Community website for Virginia and its surrounding communities
- http://www.proni.gov.uk/ Public Records Office for Northern Ireland.
- http://multitext.ucc.ie/d/Central_Relief_Committee Great Irish Famine and the work of the Central Relief Committee.
- http://www.bluegraymagazine.com Blue & Gray Magazine references to General Philip Sheridan's campaign's in American Civil War (Shenandoah - Winchester & Ceder Creek)
- http://www.pumpkinfestival.ie Virginia's Pumpkin Festival October Bank Holiday Weekend
- http://www.virginia.kilmore.anglican.org Virginia Group of Parishes website
- http://www.gloine.ie/gloine/diocese/building/3079/ Virginia church stainglass windows (Gloine website)
- http://www.irish-roots.ie Irish Genealogy and Family History website
- The Tidy Towns of Ireland "Celebrating 50 years"
- http://www.rathborne.com/about-us From little acorns - a profile on the Rathborne lumber company today
- Cavan Heritage website