County Fermanagh Research Articles

History of the Diocese of Clogher (review)

History of the Diocese of Clogher. Edited by Henry A. Jefferies. (Dublin: Four Courts Press. Distributed in the United States by ISBS, Portland, Oregon. 2005. Pp. 249. $65.00.) The Irish diocese of Clogher, which incorporates County Monaghan, most of County Fermanagh, and portions of counties Cavan, Donegal, Louth, and Tyrone, has the good fortune of possessing many rich and important historical records. The Clogher Historical Society, which has produced the weErespected journal Clogher Record since 1953, has ensured that a lively interest in ecclesiastical history continues in the diocese to this day. This volume builds upon this strong tradition of historical scholarship by making available npotpourri of important articles which cast light not just on Clogher but also on significant national historical questions. The editor, Henry A. Jefferies, admits that the volume does not pretend to be exhaustive, and this is borne out by the lack of treatment given to the early modern period: nevertheless, there is much to recommend this collection. Charles Doherty begins with a study of the early cult of St. Molaisse, arguing that the ecclesiastical site of Devenish was an important and powerful force from the early seventh century, with wide jurisdiction, and that the status of Armagh, with the support of the Airgialla dynasty, only increased considerably around the year 640. Cormac Bourke traces a number of significant metalwork survivals from the early medieval period and in particular saints' beEs. Katharine Walsh, in a substantial and comprehensive article, examines evidence for the popularity of St. Patrick's Purgatory (Lough Derg) among late medieval continental pilgrims and provides much that is new and original. Brendan Smith explores diocesan relations in the late medieval period, with particular reference to papal interventions and the relationship between the bishop of Clogher and the archbishop of Armagh, which varied from collaborative to hostile. Henry A. Jefferies, in a ground-breaking study of the papal registers referring to Clogher, challenges the view that the late medieval Irish church was on the verge of total breakdown. His systematic examination of the registers reveals some significant statistics, which call into question previous generalizations. A second article by Jefferies, which assesses the career of Dr. Hugh MacMahon, vicar general and later bishop of Clogher from 1707 to 1715, also constitutes a fascinating yet accessible study of the practicalities of living under the penal laws in one Irish diocese. …

Status and Diet of the Otter <i>Lutra lutra</i> in Northern Ireland

We assess the status and diet of otters in Northern Ireland in 2002. Signs of otter presence were noted at 65% of 441 sites surveyed. This figure suggests a decline in signs of otters since the 1980s. Highest occurrence of signs of otters was around lakes, with coastal sites having the lowest occurrence. Percentage occurrence of signs of otter varied considerably with respect to catchment. The highest levels were in Lough Melvin, County Fermanagh, and around the Foyle catchment, County Londonderry; fewest signs occurred along the Antrim coast. Signs of otter occurrence were higher in larger rivers and at unpolluted sites (68%) as compared to polluted sites (57%). Over 50% of otter spraints were composed of stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus), salmonids and cyprinids, with stickleback constituting the most frequently occurring prey category. The frequency of occurrence of eels (Anguilla anguilla) in otter diet was found to be consistently higher in spraints collected from smaller streams across all land class groups. The frequency of occurrence of most prey items differed significantly with catchment with the exception of salmonids, which occurred consistently in spraints collected throughout all catchments in Northern Ireland. The current investigation confirms that otters remain widespread in Northern Ireland. However, otters may be feeding on less profitable prey items. urther investigations into the relationship between water quality, prey availability and prey selection are required to fully understand the factors affecting otter diet in Northern Ireland.

STATUS AND DIET OF THE OTTER LUTRA LUTRA IN NORTHERN IRELAND

We assess the status and diet of otters in Northern Ireland in 2002. Signs of otter presence were noted at 65% of 441 sites surveyed. This figure suggests a decline in signs of otters since the 1980s. Highest occurrence of signs of otters was around lakes, with coastal sites having the lowest occurrence. Percentage occurrence of signs of otter varied considerably with respect to catchment. The highest levels were in Lough Melvin, County Fermanagh, and around the Foyle catchment, County Londonderry; fewest signs occurred along the Antrim coast. Signs of otter occurrence were higher in larger rivers and at unpolluted sites (68%) as compared to polluted sites (57%). Over 50% of otter spraints were composed of stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus), salmonids and cyprinids, with stickleback constituting the most frequently occurring prey category. The frequency of occurrence of eels (Anguilla anguilla) in otter diet was found to be consistently higher in spraints collected from smaller streams across all land class groups. The frequency of occurrence of most prey items differed significantly with catchment with the exception of salmonids, which occurred consistently in spraints collected throughout all catchments in Northern Ireland. The current investigation confirms that otters remain widespread in Northern Ireland. However, otters may be feeding on less profitable prey items. Further investigations into the relationship between water quality, prey availability and prey selection are required to fully understand the factors affecting otter diet in Northern Ireland.

New dates for first millennium BC tephra isochrones in Ireland

Three distinct, first millennium BC tephras (BMR-190, OMH-185, GB4-150) have been recognized in Irish peat deposits, including a previously undated ash (BMR-190). We present the results of a programme of high-precision 14C wiggle-matching on a peat profile containing all three tephras from Glen West, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. The wiggle-match provides highly refined dates of 705-585cal. BC for BMR-190, 755-680cal. BC for OMH-185 and 800-758cal. BC for GB4-150. The tephras constitute valuable, widespread isochrones for palaeoecological research across the first millennium BC, when a prolonged 14C calibration plateau between 750 and 400 cal. BC presents a major problem to dating and correlating palaeoenvironmental events from multisite, multiproxy studies of the period.

An Index to the Insurgents of 1641 in the County Fermanagh Depositions

An Index to the Insurgents of 1641 in the County Fermanagh Depositions

Classification and evaluation of spider (Araneae) assemblages on environmentally sensitive areas in Northern Ireland

Spiders have been collected as part of a biodiversity monitoring programme on environmentally sensitive areas (ESAs) in Northern Ireland initiated in 1993. Work to date on spiders in Ireland has consisted mainly of the cataloguing of County records. This paper furthers this work by classifying spider assemblages according to the habitat on which they were trapped. A total of 64 205 individuals of 184 species have been trapped using pitfalls representing almost half of the known Irish species. Distinct spider assemblages were recognisable on heather moorland, in woodland and on species-rich and species-poor grasslands. Geographical differences in assemblage composition were discernible. The number of records for each species was used to construct a provisional set of species quality scores to rank sites accordingly. Heather moorland harboured the highest mean number of species per site whilst ash woodland in County Fermanagh had the highest species quality score per site based on the number and rarity of spiders. Species-poor grassland had the lowest numbers of spider species with the lowest species quality scores due to their relative abundances. The scoring system used in conjunction with traditional phytosociological studies adds an important dimension to the evaluation of biodiversity on a monitoring site. Scores are a valuable tool for the future evaluation of monitored sites. Our results highlight the importance of heather moorland and woodland as plant communities and as unique habitats for specialist spider species.

Dabhach Phádraig: St Patrick's Holy Well, Belcoo, County Fermanagh

Dabhach Phádraig: St Patrick's Holy Well, Belcoo, County Fermanagh

Archaeological Objects from County Fermanagh

Archaeological Objects from County Fermanagh

The practice of improvement in the Irish context — The Castle Caldwell estate in county Fermanagh in the second half of the eighteenth century

This paper discusses the eighteenth-century concept of improvement as applied on the estate of Sir James and Sir John Caldwell during the forty years from the early 1750s to the early 1790s. It sets the idea of improvement against the background of the Anglo-Irish situation in Ireland and. using material from Caldwell family archives, shows how in Ireland the concept, though largely derived from English and European ideas, took on significant additional overtones.

John White A.M., M.D., F.LS. (c. 1756–1832), Surgeon-General of New South Wales: a new biography of the messenger of the echidna and waratah

John White, Surgeon-General of New South Wales, is best remembered for his handsome book Journal of a voyage to new South Wales published in London during 1790. He was a native of County Fermanagh in northwestern Ireland. He became a naval surgeon and in this capacity was appointed to serve as surgeon on the First Fleet which left England for New South Wales (Australia) in 1787. While living in New South Wales, White adopted Nanberree, an aboriginal boy, and fathered a son by Rachel Turner, a convict, who later married Thomas Moore. John White returned to England in 1795, became a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London and was granted the degrees of Doctor of Medicine and Master of Arts by the University of St Andrews. White was married twice, and was survived by his second wife and his four children, including his illegitimate, Australian-born son, Captain Andrew Douglas White. Dr John White died in 1832 aged 75 and is buried in Worthing, Sussex, England. While serving as Surgeon-General at Sydney Cove, New South Wales, between 1788 and 1794 John White collected natural history specimens and assembled a series of paintings of plants and animals. After returning to England, White lent these paintings to botanists and zoologists, and permitted copies to be made. Thus, he contributed substantially to European knowledge of the indigenous flora and fauna of Australia.

Mid-Dinantian brachiopod biofacies from western Ireland

Abstract New silicified brachiopod faunas from lower and middle Viséan horizons have been retrieved from the vicinity of Loughs Carra, Corrib and Mask in west Connaught. In addition, carbonate shell beds dominated by Linoprotonia are recorded from mid County Galway. At present over 40 species of brachiopod are known, from current sampling programmes and the literature, variably associated with bryozoan, coral, echinoderm, mollusc and trilobite faunas; microvertebrates such as sharks teeth are locally common. Four main assemblages are recognized; in ascending order, Arundian strata at Ardnasillagh, Lough Carra, Kibeg Wood and Ballintober in a northern belt are variably dominated by Rhipidomella, Schizophoria, Leptagonia, Rugosochonetes, Krotovia, Echinoconchus, Tylothyris, Punctospirifer and Spiriferellina . In addition to genera recorded from Arundian strata elsewhere, Streptorhynchus, Plicochonetes, Dictyoclostus, Pleuropugnoides and ‘ Spirifer ’ also occur in the diverse Kiltiernan fauna assembled last century. In a southern belt, possible Holkerian horizons at Dunsandle are less diverse, with faunas dominated by Composita , whereas limestones of Holkerian-early Asbian age at Kiltullagh Bridge have quite different faunas with Schizophoria, Brochocarina, Minythyra and Cleiothyridina ; these faunas are more similar to the diverse Asbian assemblages described from County Fermanagh in the north of Ireland. In a central belt, in the Bunoghanaun area, Holkerian to early Asbian horizons are dominated by relatively thick shell beds in pure limestones with mainly opportunist large linoproductids; this fauna is not silicified.

Denis Parsons Burkitt, 28 February 1911 - 23 March 1993

Denis Parsons Burkitt was born in Lawnakilla near Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, in 1911 and spent his early boyhood there. He graduated M.B. from Trinity College Dublin in 1935, passed the Edinburgh F.R.C.S. examination three years later, and served during the Second World War as a surgeon in the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) in East Africa. On demobilization, Denis joined the Colonial Medical Service and went to Uganda to become what he described as ‘a simple bush surgeon’, but while working there he made observations on a hitherto unrecognized cancer of children which now bears his name, Burkitt’s lymphoma, with profound consequences for human oncology. In 1964, Denis transferred to a new appointment funded by the U.K. Medical Research Council (MRC) to work on geographical pathology in Uganda, but in the aftermath of Ugandan independence he moved his activities to London in 1966 and became interested shortly after this in the effects of diet on disease. As a result, he remained throughout the rest of his life a leading proponent of the importance of dietary fibre in the prevention and treatment of a wide range of human pathologies. Denis Burkitt came from a deeply religious family with a strong tradition of service in the Empire; these influences not only determined the way he lived, but were also responsible for the pattern of his career and, indeed, for the manner in which he made his scientific contributions. He was the elder of two brothers who both became surgeons.

‘I Was Always Fond of my Pillow’: The Handmade Lace Industry in the United Kingdom, 1870–1914

The extent of the handmade lace industry in the nineteenth century is difficult to estimate. Most lacemakers were not given an occupation in the census. For instance, Belleek (in county Fermanagh) was one of the centres of handmade lace in Ireland. Of the fifty-one women active in the Belleek lace and sprigging class in January 1911, fifty-six per cent were given no occupation in the 1911 census manuscripts and four per cent were given occupations other than lacemaker. In Ireland, it is clear that the census statistics do not include the tens of thousands of women making lace for the home industries societies examined in this article. The statistics for lacemaking in England, Wales and Scotland (given in table one) are confused by the fact that no distinction is made between hand and machine-made lace.

Evidence for a major Tertiary dyke swarm in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, on digitally processed aeromagnetic imagery

Digitally processed aeromagnetic imagery has revealed an extensive swarm of reversely magnetized Tertiary dykes in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, 50 km west of the main outcrop of the Tertiary Antrim Lava Group. The swarm covers an area >2000 km 2 , and ground magnetometer profiles across one example near Enniskillen show a negative anomaly of c. 2000 nT. Synergistic display of the available gravity and aeromagnetic data for the area shows a close coincidence between the Dromore gravity high and this dyke swarm and suggests the presence of a basic intrusive body at depth as the source of the magma for the dykes.

Banker and Absentee Landowner: William Tennent in County Fermanagh, 1813-32

Banker and Absentee Landowner: William Tennent in County Fermanagh, 1813-32

The County Gaol and Some Past Crimes and Punishments in County Fermanagh

The County Gaol and Some Past Crimes and Punishments in County Fermanagh

Formation and diagenesis of Visean trace fossils from Ireland

Tube-like trace fossils occur within dolomitised Visean pelmicrites in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. The pelmicrites are associated with algal laminated carbonates and evaporites which imply deposition in a coastal sabkha. The tubes exhibit a preferred orientation caused by minor current systems. Thin sections and scanning electron micrographs show that in life the tubes were characteristically bilaminar, with an internal sheath of organic material and an organically cemented tube wall. This structure resembles that of modern polychaete worms. Comparison with a Bahaman polychaete suggests that the Visean worms inhabited a subtidal algal mat. The diagenetic history of the tubes is one of progressive dolomitisation and is closely linked to the presence of organic substances in the walls of the tubes and the mucus sheath which lined the tubes during the worm's life. The presence of the organic matter may have been a prerequisite for the formation of the dolomite observed in the tubes. Ichnofossils, diagenesis, dolomitisation, sabkha environment, Polychaeta, algal mats. Carboniferous, Visean, Northern Ireland, Fermanagh.

English Settlement in County Fermanagh, 1610-1640

English Settlement in County Fermanagh, 1610-1640

An Artillery Fort on Trannish Island, County Fermanagh

An Artillery Fort on Trannish Island, County Fermanagh

Ecology and status of Erica vagans in County Fermanagh, Ireland

The colony of Erica vagans in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland was surveyed and soil and species-association analyses were carried out. The species is found in a base-rich flush, were it survives due to reduced competition from calcifuge species and is associated with other species that tolerate the relatively calcareous environment. The colony is uniquely uniform in flower colour and does not appear to be able to reproduce sexually at this time. The species probably arrived in Ireland in postglacial times and has since become genetically distinct. E. vagans does not appear to be a recent introduction, though man may have been involved in determining its present distribution and that of the other so-called “Hiberno-Lusitanian” Ericaceae. While considerable doubt remains concerning the origin and age of the colony, the species cannot be regarded as native.