90-534: Blacklion ( Irish : An Blaic ; originally An Leargaidh ) is a village in the north-west of County Cavan in Ireland. It is situated on the N16 national primary road , just across the border from Belcoo , a village in the south-west of County Fermanagh . The village is within the townland of Tuam ( Irish : Tuaim , meaning ' tumulus '). A stone cairn , a burial cist and two stone cashels are all within
180-547: A unique dialect of Irish developed before falling out of use in the early 20th century. With a writing system , Ogham , dating back to at least the 4th century AD, which was gradually replaced by Latin script since the 5th century AD, Irish has one of the oldest vernacular literatures in Western Europe . On the island, the language has three major dialects: Connacht , Munster and Ulster Irish . All three have distinctions in their speech and orthography . There
270-496: A Beg, whose proprietor was sympathetic to his message- After riding round, and round, we came in the evening to a lone house called Carrick-a-Beg. It lay in the midst of horrid mountains; and had no very promising appearance. However, it afforded corn for our horses, and potatoes for ourselves. So we made a hearty supper, called in as many as pleased of the family to prayers, and, though we had no fastening either for our door or our windows, slept in peace. The site of The Black Lion Inn
360-717: A bargaining chip during government formation in Northern Ireland, prompting protests from organisations and groups such as An Dream Dearg . Irish became an official language of the EU on 1 January 2007, meaning that MEPs with Irish fluency can now speak the language in the European Parliament and at committees, although in the case of the latter they have to give prior notice to a simultaneous interpreter in order to ensure that what they say can be interpreted into other languages. While an official language of
450-575: A better future for Ireland and all her citizens." The Strategy was produced on 21 December 2010 and will stay in action until 2030; it aims to target language vitality and revitalization of the Irish language. The 30-page document published by the Government of Ireland details the objectives it plans to work towards in an attempt to preserve and promote both the Irish language and the Gaeltacht. It
540-478: A cultural and social force. Irish speakers often insisted on using the language in law courts (even when they knew English), and Irish was also common in commercial transactions. The language was heavily implicated in the "devotional revolution" which marked the standardisation of Catholic religious practice and was also widely used in a political context. Down to the time of the Great Famine and even afterwards,
630-553: A degree course in the NUI federal system to pass the subject of Irish in the Leaving Certificate or GCE / GCSE examinations. Exemptions are made from this requirement for students who were born or completed primary education outside of Ireland, and students diagnosed with dyslexia . NUI Galway is required to appoint people who are competent in the Irish language, as long as they are also competent in all other aspects of
720-460: A fully recognised EU language for the first time in the state's history. Before Irish became an official language it was afforded the status of treaty language and only the highest-level documents of the EU were made available in Irish. The Irish language was carried abroad in the modern period by a vast diaspora , chiefly to Great Britain and North America, but also to Australia , New Zealand and Argentina . The first large movements began in
810-561: A main border crossing, was home to a joint Irish Army / Garda Síochána checkpoint. It was the scene of a bomb attack in 1974 by the UVF . Blacklion is situated between the lakes of Upper and Lower Lough MacNean . The river which connects the two lakes forms the border between County Cavan and County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. A bridge over this river connects Blacklion to the village of Belcoo in County Fermanagh. Blacklion sits at
900-585: A paper suggested that within a generation, non-Gaeltacht habitual users of Irish might typically be members of an urban, middle class, and highly educated minority. Parliamentary legislation is supposed to be available in both Irish and English but is frequently only available in English. This is notwithstanding that Article 25.4 of the Constitution of Ireland requires that an "official translation" of any law in one official language be provided immediately in
990-575: A pass in Leaving Certificate Irish or English, and receive lessons in Irish during their two years of training. Official documents of the Irish government must be published in both Irish and English or Irish alone (in accordance with the Official Languages Act 2003, enforced by An Coimisinéir Teanga , the Irish language ombudsman). The National University of Ireland requires all students wishing to embark on
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#17327731181401080-531: A quarter of a mile to the R. of Largay, or the Black Lion inn, is Belcoo Bridge, which leads to Garison [ Garrison ] road. The aforementioned inn may have been the establishment which gave shelter and hospitality to the founder of Methodism , John Wesley . In the 1770s, during one of his many tours through the Kingdom of Ireland , he recorded how bad weather forced him to stay the night at a local inn, Carrick
1170-625: A religious context. An Irish translation of the Old Testament by Leinsterman Muircheartach Ó Cíonga , commissioned by Bishop Bedell , was published after 1685 along with a translation of the New Testament. Otherwise, Anglicisation was seen as synonymous with 'civilising' the native Irish. Currently, modern day Irish speakers in the church are pushing for language revival. It has been estimated that there were around 800,000 monoglot Irish speakers in 1800, which dropped to 320,000 by
1260-460: A small number of his forces to hire them; and he left another large party of them with Maguire to assist him, and he ordered them to remain blockading the castle. When the Lord Justice, Sir William Fitzwilliam, had received intelligence that the warders of Enniskillen were in want of stores and provisions, he ordered a great number of the men of Meath [ Kingdom of Mide ], and of the gentlemen of
1350-545: A wider meaning, including the Gaelic of Scotland and the Isle of Man , as well as of Ireland. When required by the context, these are distinguished as Gaeilge na hAlban , Gaeilge Mhanann and Gaeilge na hÉireann respectively. In English (including Hiberno-English ), the language is usually referred to as Irish , as well as Gaelic and Irish Gaelic . The term Irish Gaelic may be seen when English speakers discuss
1440-452: Is also An Caighdeán Oifigiúil , a standardised written form devised by a parliamentary commission in the 1950s. The traditional Irish alphabet , a variant of the Latin alphabet with 18 letters , has been succeeded by the standard Latin alphabet (albeit with 7–8 letters used primarily in loanwords ). Irish has constitutional status as the national and first official language of
1530-511: Is divided into four separate phases with the intention of improving 9 main areas of action including: The general goal for this strategy was to increase the number of daily speakers from 83,000 to 250,000 by the end of its run. By 2022, the number of such speakers had fallen to 71,968. Before the partition of Ireland in 1921, Irish was recognised as a school subject and as "Celtic" in some third level institutions. Between 1921 and 1972, Northern Ireland had devolved government. During those years
1620-634: Is in the centre of Upper Lough McNean. In 1879 the Sligo, Leitrim and Northern Counties Railway line opened with Belcoo station serving both Belcoo and Blacklion. The last trains ran through the station on 20 September 1957. The railway bridge crossing the river between Blacklion and Belcoo was blown up by the British Army in the late 1970s, ostensibly to prevent its potential use by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) for moving arms across
1710-587: Is only in Gaeltacht areas that Irish continues to be spoken as a community vernacular to some extent. According to data compiled by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht , Sport and Media , only 1/4 of households in Gaeltacht areas are fluent in Irish. The author of a detailed analysis of the survey, Donncha Ó hÉallaithe of the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology , described
1800-412: Is still spoken daily to some extent as a first language . These regions are known individually and collectively as the Gaeltacht (plural Gaeltachtaí ). While the fluent Irish speakers of these areas, whose numbers have been estimated at 20–30,000, are a minority of the total number of fluent Irish speakers, they represent a higher concentration of Irish speakers than other parts of the country and it
1890-666: The Fíor-Ghaeltacht (true Gaeltacht ), a term originally officially applied to areas where over 50% of the population spoke Irish. There are Gaeltacht regions in the following counties: Gweedore ( Gaoth Dobhair ), County Donegal, is the largest Gaeltacht parish in Ireland. Irish language summer colleges in the Gaeltacht are attended by tens of thousands of teenagers annually. Students live with Gaeltacht families, attend classes, participate in sports, go to céilithe and are obliged to speak Irish. All aspects of Irish culture and tradition are encouraged. The Act
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#17327731181401980-652: The Diocese of Kilmore and the Diocese of Kilmore, Elphin and Ardagh is named after this ancient site. The original name of the village was Largay (also Largy, Largain, Largin and Largan, from the Gaelic Leargaidh meaning a hillside), which was part of a túath belonging to the Coffey McGoverns, a sub-sept of the Mac Shamhráin ( McGovern or Magauran) clan, from the 9th century until
2070-834: The Irish border . Today the nearest railway station is in Sligo with trains to Dublin Connolly . Blacklion is a stop on the Bus Éireann Sligo - Manorhamilton - Enniskillen Expressway route 66. The coach stops at Sligo bus station which is beside Sligo railway station . Attractions near Blacklion include the lakes of Upper and Lower Lough MacNean, the Marble Arch Caves , the Cladagh Glen Nature Reserve, Florence Court house and grounds, Glenfarne forest with its lakeside walks, Shannon Pot (the source of
2160-480: The Lord Deputy that "to go without a thousand men at the least or otherwise we shall dearly repent our going". No reinforcements were forthcoming, so the column set out from Cavan on 4 August. Burdened with supplies, the army was expected to take four days to march 29 miles north to Enniskillen. The English infantry included pikemen as well as musketeers and caliver -men (together known as "shot"). When
2250-725: The Plantation of Ulster in the 17th century. The Annals of the Four Masters under the year 1594 state: M1594.7: O'Donnell, as we have stated, was encamped, laying siege to Enniskillen , from the middle of June to the month of August, until the warders of the castle had consumed almost all their provisions. Messengers came to O'Donnell from the Scots, whom he had before invited over, to inform him that they had arrived at Derry. And those who had come thither were Donnell Gorm Mac Donnell, and Mac Leod of Ara. O'Donnell then set out with
2340-631: The Republic of Ireland , and is also an official language of Northern Ireland and among the official languages of the European Union . The public body Foras na Gaeilge is responsible for the promotion of the language throughout the island. Irish has no regulatory body but An Caighdeán Oifigiúil , the standard written form, is guided by a parliamentary service and new vocabulary by a voluntary committee with university input. In An Caighdeán Oifigiúil ("The Official [Written] Standard ")
2430-616: The River Shannon , Ireland's longest river) and Cuilcagh Mountain Park . 3 kilometres (2 mi) south of Blacklion lies the Cavan Burren, a limestone landscape containing a number of Neolithic remains, which was planted with forestry in the 1950s and has since been partially reclaimed and signposted to provide access to its structures and geological features. The Cavan Way , a 25 km (16 mi) marked walking trail runs from
2520-601: The Tudor conquest of Ireland , a policy of surrender and regrant was introduced that involved the formal submission of the Gaelic lords to the Crown. The Gaelic territory of Fermanagh was shired as a county and elements of Irish Brehon Law were replaced by English law . Hugh Maguire , the Gaelic lord of Fermanagh, opposed the introduction of English law which reduced his overlordship over his weaker neighbours, and particularly
2610-634: The 17th century, largely as a result of the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland , which saw many Irish sent to the West Indies . Irish emigration to the United States was well established by the 18th century, and was reinforced in the 1840s by thousands fleeing from the Famine . This flight also affected Britain. Up until that time most emigrants spoke Irish as their first language, though English
2700-789: The 1998 Good Friday Agreement , the language gradually received a degree of formal recognition in Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom, and then, in 2003, by the British government's ratification in respect of the language of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages . In the 2006 St Andrews Agreement the British government promised to enact legislation to promote the language and in 2022 it approved legislation to recognise Irish as an official language alongside English. The bill received royal assent on 6 December 2022. The Irish language has often been used as
2790-400: The 2021 census of Northern Ireland , 43,557 individuals stated they spoke Irish on a daily basis, 26,286 spoke it on a weekly basis, 47,153 spoke it less often than weekly, and 9,758 said they could speak Irish, but never spoke it. From 2006 to 2008, over 22,000 Irish Americans reported speaking Irish as their first language at home, with several times that number claiming "some knowledge" of
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2880-403: The 6th century, used the Latin alphabet and is attested primarily in marginalia to Latin manuscripts. During this time, the Irish language absorbed some Latin words, some via Old Welsh , including ecclesiastical terms : examples are easpag (bishop) from episcopus , and Domhnach (Sunday, from dominica ). By the 10th century, Old Irish had evolved into Middle Irish , which
2970-571: The Act all detailing different aspects of the use of Irish in official documentation and communication. Included in these sections are subjects such as Irish language use in official courts, official publications, and placenames. The Act was recently amended in December 2019 in order to strengthen the already preexisting legislation. All changes made took into account data collected from online surveys and written submissions. The Official Languages Scheme
3060-556: The English, they were not pursued as most of the Irish had fallen to looting the baggage train which gave the battle its name, Béal Átha na mBriosgadh or The Ford of the Biscuits. The English commanders Duke and Herbert recorded 56 soldiers killed and 69 wounded. The badly-mauled Crown forces retreated westwards to Sligo . A second relief expedition, led by the Lord Deputy of Ireland William Russell , managed to reach Enniskillen and re-supply it. However Enniskillen did fall to
3150-471: The European Union , only co-decision regulations were available until 2022, due to a five-year derogation, requested by the Irish Government when negotiating the language's new official status. The Irish government had committed itself to train the necessary number of translators and interpreters and to bear the related costs. This derogation ultimately came to an end on 1 January 2022, making Irish
3240-743: The Ford of the Biscuits The Battle of the Ford of the Biscuits took place in Fermanagh , Ireland on 7 August 1594, during the Nine Years' War . A column of almost 650 English troops led by Sir Henry Duke was ambushed and defeated by a Gaelic Irish force under Hugh Maguire and Cormac MacBaron O'Neill at the Arney River . The English column had been sent to relieve and resupply Enniskillen Castle , which had been under siege by
3330-597: The Irish in May the following year and the garrison was massacred, despite having been promised their lives when they surrendered. A number of factors, including the presence of his brother Cormac MacBaron O'Neill, have led some historians to conclude that Hugh O'Neill of Tyrone had encouraged Maguire to revolt a second time as a stalking horse for himself, hoping to prod the English administration into making more favorable concessions without formally taking up arms himself. Others have gone further to suggest that Maguire's rebellion
3420-549: The Irish language policy followed by Irish governments as a "complete and absolute disaster". The Irish Times , referring to his analysis published in the Irish language newspaper Foinse , quoted him as follows: "It is an absolute indictment of successive Irish Governments that at the foundation of the Irish State there were 250,000 fluent Irish speakers living in Irish-speaking or semi Irish-speaking areas, but
3510-506: The Irish since May. The English suffered at least 56 killed and 69 wounded, and were forced to make a hasty retreat. The battle gained its name because the supplies of the English, largely hard biscuits , were left scattered and floating in the river. The battle was an early engagement of the Nine Years' War, and exposed the vulnerability of the English to ambushes in the wilder parts of Ulster with its thick woods and bogs. As part of
3600-489: The Irish surrounding Enniskillen learned of the relief force, they moved to intercept it with c.1,000 men, which included horsemen, kern , and caliver-men. On the evening of 6 August, the English force made camp three miles south of a ford on the Arney River. That night the English camp was harried by Irish gunfire and incessant skirmishing meant the English troops were poorly rested when they set out on 7 August to relieve
3690-538: The Reillys and the Binghams of Connaught, under the conduct of George Oge Bingham, to convey provisions to Enniskillen. These chieftains, having afterwards met together, went to Cavan, O'Reilly's town, for provisions; and they proceeded through Fermanagh, keeping Lough Erne on the right, until they arrived within about four miles of the town. When Maguire (Hugh) received intelligence that these forces were marching towards
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3780-620: The Republic of Ireland ), new appointees to the Civil Service of the Republic of Ireland , including postal workers , tax collectors , agricultural inspectors, Garda Síochána (police), etc., were required to have some proficiency in Irish. By law, a Garda who was addressed in Irish had to respond in Irish as well. In 1974, in part through the actions of protest organisations like the Language Freedom Movement ,
3870-746: The beginning of the following academic year. For a number of years there has been vigorous debate in political, academic and other circles about the failure of most students in English-medium schools to achieve competence in Irish, even after fourteen years of teaching as one of the three main subjects. The concomitant decline in the number of traditional native speakers has also been a cause of great concern. In 2007, filmmaker Manchán Magan found few Irish speakers in Dublin , and faced incredulity when trying to get by speaking only Irish in Dublin. He
3960-518: The beleaguered garrison. As the thin column snaked its way north, it was harried on both sides by Irish kern armed with javelins . The ground was boggy near the Arney ford and so the English horsemen were forced to dismount. Thus, the infantry escorting the supply wagons for Enniskillen ran straight into the ambush. At around 11 o'clock, the head of the column reached the ford and without warning intense Irish gunfire tore into it from hidden positions on
4050-636: The defeated, besides the steeds and horses that were loaded with provisions, on their way to Enniskillen. A few fugitives of Meath and of the Reillys escaped from this conflict, and never stopped until they arrived in Breifny O'Reilly. The route taken by George Oge Bingham and the few who escaped with him from the field was through the Largan, the territory of the Clann-Coffey Magauran , through Breifny O'Rourke, and from thence to Sligo. The name of
4140-474: The end of the famine, and under 17,000 by 1911. Irish is recognised by the Constitution of Ireland as the national and first official language of Republic of Ireland (English being the other official language). Despite this, almost all government business and legislative debate is conducted in English. In 1938, the founder of Conradh na Gaeilge (Gaelic League), Douglas Hyde , was inaugurated as
4230-614: The family and is indigenous to the island of Ireland . It was the majority of the population's first language until the 19th century, when English gradually became dominant, particularly in the last decades of the century, in what is sometimes characterised as a result of linguistic imperialism . Today, Irish is still commonly spoken as a first language in Ireland's Gaeltacht regions, in which 2% of Ireland's population lived in 2022. The total number of people (aged 3 and over) in Ireland who declared they could speak Irish in April 2022
4320-794: The field, and alongside his estranged brother in law Bagenal defeated some of Maguire's forces at the Battle of Belleek in October 1593. Maguire's capital at Enniskillen was captured in February 1594 by an English force led by Captain John Dowdall, who massacred the Irish occupants after they had surrendered. Maguire then agreed to submit, and an agreement was brokered by Tyrone. However the peace did not last long and Maguire, Cormac MacBaron O'Neill (Tyrone's brother), and Red Hugh O'Donnell laid siege to Enniskillen in May 1594. An English relief force
4410-560: The first President of Ireland . The record of his delivering his inaugural Declaration of Office in Roscommon Irish is one of only a few recordings of that dialect. In the 2016 census, 10.5% of respondents stated that they spoke Irish, either daily or weekly, while over 70,000 people (4.2%) speak it as a habitual daily means of communication. From the foundation of the Irish Free State in 1922 (see History of
4500-606: The following grant: Patent 13 James I. XL-8. 14th December. Grant from the king to Nich Pynner, Gent. Cavan Co. In Largy, or Largin Ter. The Precinct of Toom, containing 4 polls, called Gortnesillagh, Mullaghgarrowe, Rossan and Ture or Toore. Total rent £1-12-0 English. To hold for ever, as of the Castle of Dublin, in common socage. In the Commonwealth Survey of 1652, the lands were owned by Thomas Worship (alias Worsopp) and
4590-546: The foot of the hills below Cuilcagh Mountain , across which the border extends. Blacklion is on the N16 road that goes from Sligo to Enniskillen and on to Belfast (becomes the A4 road in Northern Ireland). In addition to being on the border of County Fermanagh, Blacklion is also just 5 kilometres (3 mi) from the border of County Leitrim . The point where the three counties of Cavan, Leitrim and Fermanagh join
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#17327731181404680-406: The ford at which this great victory was gained was changed to Bel-atha-na-mBriosgadh Battle of the Ford of the Biscuits , from the number of biscuits and small cakes left there to the victors on that day. When the warders of the castle heard of the defeat of the army, they surrendered the castle to Maguire; and he gave them pardon and protection. King James I then granted it to Nicholas Pynner in
4770-402: The lakes. Blacklion is home to the most westerly and northerly Gaelic Athletic Association club in County Cavan, the Shannon Gaels. The team currently plays in the Division 3 of the all county football league and the Cavan Junior Football Championship. The club covers the geographical area of Blacklion, Glangevlin and the divided village of Dowra . The club's name derives from Shannon Pot ,
4860-498: The language family, is derived from the Old Irish term. Endonyms of the language in the various modern Irish dialects include: Gaeilge [ˈɡeːlʲɟə] in Galway, Gaeilg / Gaeilic / Gaeilig [ˈɡeːlʲəc] in Mayo and Ulster , Gaelainn / Gaoluinn [ˈɡeːl̪ˠən̠ʲ] in West/Cork, Kerry Munster , as well as Gaedhealaing in mid and East Kerry/Cork and Waterford Munster to reflect local pronunciation. Gaeilge also has
4950-410: The language was in use by all classes, Irish being an urban as well as a rural language. This linguistic dynamism was reflected in the efforts of certain public intellectuals to counter the decline of the language. At the end of the 19th century, they launched the Gaelic revival in an attempt to encourage the learning and use of Irish, although few adult learners mastered the language. The vehicle of
5040-425: The language. For most of recorded Irish history , Irish was the dominant language of the Irish people , who took it with them to other regions , such as Scotland and the Isle of Man , where Middle Irish gave rise to Scottish Gaelic and Manx . It was also, for a period, spoken widely across Canada , with an estimated 200,000–250,000 daily Canadian speakers of Irish in 1890. On the island of Newfoundland ,
5130-399: The mid-18th century, English was becoming a language of the Catholic middle class, the Catholic Church and public intellectuals, especially in the east of the country. Increasingly, as the value of English became apparent, parents sanctioned the prohibition of Irish in schools. Increasing interest in emigrating to the United States and Canada was also a driver, as fluency in English allowed
5220-399: The misdeeds of the local English sheriff, Captain Humphrey Willis . In the summer of 1593, Maguire launched a revolt by raiding lands held by the English Lord President of Connaught , Richard Bingham . The English government sent a force under the Marshal of Ireland , Sir Henry Bagenal , to Fermanagh. The leading Gaelic lord of Ulster, Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone also led forces into
5310-460: The mouth of a certain ford. A fierce and vehement conflict, and a spirited and hard-contested battle, was fought between both parties, till at length Maguire and his forces routed the others by dint of fighting, and a strages of heads was left to him; and the rout was followed up a great way from that place. A countless number of nobles and plebeians [ plebs ] fell in this conflict. Many steeds, weapons, and other spoils, were left behind in that place by
5400-497: The name of the language is Gaeilge , from the South Connacht form, spelled Gaedhilge prior the spelling reform of 1948, which was originally the genitive of Gaedhealg , the form used in Classical Gaelic . The modern spelling results from the deletion of the silent ⟨dh⟩ in Gaedhilge . Older spellings include Gaoidhealg [ˈɡeːʝəlˠəɡ] in Classical Gaelic and Goídelc [ˈɡoiðʲelɡ] in Old Irish . Goidelic , used to refer to
5490-409: The new immigrants to get jobs in areas other than farming. An estimated one quarter to one third of US immigrants during the Great Famine were Irish speakers. Irish was not marginal to Ireland's modernisation in the 19th century, as is often assumed. In the first half of the century there were still around three million people for whom Irish was the primary language, and their numbers alone made them
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#17327731181405580-522: The number now is between 20,000 and 30,000." In the 1920s, when the Irish Free State was founded, Irish was still a vernacular in some western coastal areas. In the 1930s, areas where more than 25% of the population spoke Irish were classified as Gaeltacht . Today, the strongest Gaeltacht areas, numerically and socially, are those of South Connemara , the west of the Dingle Peninsula , and northwest Donegal, where many residents still use Irish as their primary language. These areas are often referred to as
5670-445: The opposite bank. With the advance stalled, Maguire and MacBaron attacked the rear of the column with the bulk of their forces. Wings of English shot deployed around the column to skirmish with the Irish, but withering Irish fire pushed them back to their pike stands in the column. The rear body of English pikemen was raked by volleys of close-range gunfire, causing it to fall apart. The Irish pikemen and Scots mercenaries then charged
5760-448: The other official language, if not already passed in both official languages. In November 2016, RTÉ reported that over 2.3 million people worldwide were learning Irish through the Duolingo app. Irish president Michael D. Higgins officially honoured several volunteer translators for developing the Irish edition, and said the push for Irish language rights remains an "unfinished project". There are rural areas of Ireland where Irish
5850-473: The place – colloquially called Leargy . Learga is the plural of an Irish word Learg meaning rising ground, slopes, or mountain side. This description would connect with the topographical location of the village, which sits below steeply rising ground and hills. Today, Learga no longer appears on the village signs, which now show An Blaic . The village is generally referred to by local residents as "The Black". During The Troubles , Blacklion, as
5940-415: The political party holding power in the Stormont Parliament , the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), was hostile to the language. The context of this hostility was the use of the language by nationalists. In broadcasting, there was an exclusion on the reporting of minority cultural issues, and Irish was excluded from radio and television for almost the first fifty years of the previous devolved government. After
6030-406: The rear, forcing it to flee pell-mell onto the middle of the column. The English pikemen at the front of the column charged over the ford, pushing back the Irish shot, giving the English some room to reorder and regroup north of the river. The rest of the column hastily fled across the ford, abandoning their supplies. The English came under Irish fire from the surrounding hills, and a counter-attack
6120-436: The relationship between the three Goidelic languages (Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Manx). Gaelic is a collective term for the Goidelic languages, and when the context is clear it may be used without qualification to refer to each language individually. When the context is specific but unclear, the term may be qualified, as Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic or Manx Gaelic. Historically the name "Erse" ( / ɜːr s / URS )
6210-432: The requirement for entrance to the public service was changed to proficiency in just one official language. Nevertheless, Irish remains a required subject of study in all schools in the Republic of Ireland that receive public money (see Education in the Republic of Ireland ). Teachers in primary schools must also pass a compulsory examination called Scrúdú Cáilíochta sa Ghaeilge . As of 2005, Garda Síochána recruits need
6300-452: The revival was the Gaelic League ( Conradh na Gaeilge ), and particular emphasis was placed on the folk tradition, which in Irish is particularly rich. Efforts were also made to develop journalism and a modern literature. Although it has been noted that the Catholic Church played a role in the decline of the Irish language before the Gaelic Revival, the Protestant Church of Ireland also made only minor efforts to encourage use of Irish in
6390-421: The source of the River Shannon , which is located southwest of the village below Cuilcagh mountain. Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish : Gaeilge ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( / ˈ ɡ eɪ l ɪ k / GAY -lik ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family . It is a member of the Goidelic language group of the Insular Celtic sub branch of
6480-623: The tenant was Lan Lawther. By a deed dated 9 April 1711, the lands of Pinner alias Leirgg alias Largy were granted, inter alia, to Morley Saunders . In 1625, the McGoverns planned an uprising against the English Crown . On 21 August 1625, the Fermanagh Assize Judges wrote from Enniskillen to The 1st Viscount Falkland , Lord Deputy of Ireland , as follows- On 20 August 1625 Phelim bane McCabe swore: The name
6570-512: The town with the aforesaid provisions, he set out with his own forces and the forces left him by O'Donnell, together with Cormac, the son of the Baron, i.e. the brother of the Earl O'Neill; and they halted at a certain narrow pass, to which they thought they the enemy would come to them. The ambuscade was successful, for they came on, without noticing any thing, until they fell in with Maguire's people at
6660-686: The townland, giving evidence of early habitation. The ruins of the mediaeval Killesher Church lie about 4.2 kilometres (2.6 mi) south-east of Blacklion. The ruins sit on a hillside in the south-west of County Fermanagh , between Blacklion and Cladagh Bridge, very close to the Hanging Rock and overlooking both the Gortatole Outdoor Education Centre and Lower Lough Macnean . The current ruins sit on an Early Christian ecclesiastical site associated with St. Lasser or St. Lasair. The modern Parish of Killesher in both
6750-726: The vacancy to which they are appointed. This requirement is laid down by the University College Galway Act, 1929 (Section 3). In 2016, the university faced controversy when it announced the planned appointment of a president who did not speak Irish. Misneach staged protests against this decision. The following year the university announced that Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh , a fluent Irish speaker, would be its 13th president. He assumed office in January 2018; in June 2024, he announced he would be stepping down as president at
6840-683: The village of Dowra , County Cavan to Blacklion. It links up with the Ulster Way at Blacklion and the Leitrim Way and Beara-Breifne Way in Dowra. Blacklion also has a nine-hole golf course and a restaurant, the MacNean Bistro, run by chef Neven Maguire . Upper Lough Macnean is known as a coarse fishing lake and contains bream , roach , hybrids , pike , perch , eel and brown trout . The Lough MacNean Sculpture Trail circles
6930-471: The west of Blacklion. This was never fully repaired. According to local tradition Blacklion was the first place in County Cavan to be affected by the potato blight in the autumn of 1845. Deaths as a result of malnutrition and disease in the subsequent Great Famine were high. In the 1950s the village name plate read Learga . This was the name by which local older generation people would have called
7020-594: The work of such writers as Geoffrey Keating , is said to date from the 17th century, and was the medium of popular literature from that time on. From the 18th century on, the language lost ground in the east of the country. The reasons behind this shift were complex but came down to a number of factors: The change was characterised by diglossia (two languages being used by the same community in different social and economic situations) and transitional bilingualism (monoglot Irish-speaking grandparents with bilingual children and monoglot English-speaking grandchildren). By
7110-465: Was 1,873,997, representing 40% of respondents, but of these, 472,887 said they never spoke it and a further 551,993 said they only spoke it within the education system. Linguistic analyses of Irish speakers are therefore based primarily on the number of daily users in Ireland outside the education system, which in 2022 was 20,261 in the Gaeltacht and 51,707 outside it, totalling 71,968. In response to
7200-517: Was a diversion to focus English attention and military strength in Fermanagh while the Earl of Tyrone strengthened his position elsewhere in Ulster before breaking into open warfare at the start of 1595. This is yet more compelling when one considers that it was reported that many of the Irish shot deployed wore the distinctive red livery of the earl of Tyrone. Moreover, a report by a woman captured by
7290-479: Was also sometimes used in Scots and then in English to refer to Irish; as well as Scottish Gaelic. Written Irish is first attested in Ogham inscriptions from the 4th century AD, a stage of the language known as Primitive Irish . These writings have been found throughout Ireland and the west coast of Great Britain. Primitive Irish underwent a change into Old Irish through the 5th century. Old Irish, dating from
7380-431: Was changed to Blacklion in honour of a famous coaching inn in the village. Wilson's Post-Chaise Companion of 1786 states: Within 2 miles and a half of the Black Lion, on the L. are the ruins of a church; and within a mile of the Black Lion, on the L. is Marle Bank, the seat of Mr. Irwine. On the R. is a large and beautiful lake, called Lough Machnean [ sic ], with three finely cultivated islands in it. About
7470-668: Was enacted 1 July 2019 and is an 18-page document that adheres to the guidelines of the Official Languages Act 2003 . The purpose of the Scheme is to provide services through the mediums of Irish and/or English. According to the Department of the Taoiseach, it is meant to "develop a sustainable economy and a successful society, to pursue Ireland's interests abroad, to implement the Government's Programme and to build
7560-481: Was establishing itself as the primary language. Irish speakers had first arrived in Australia in the late 18th century as convicts and soldiers, and many Irish-speaking settlers followed, particularly in the 1860s. New Zealand also received some of this influx. Argentina was the only non-English-speaking country to receive large numbers of Irish emigrants, and there were few Irish speakers among them. Battle of
7650-521: Was occupied by Dolan's Hotel in the 1920s. Ambrose Leet's 1814 Directory spells the name as Black-lion . Blacklion's urban growth was hampered until the mid nineteenth century by the nearby village of Red Lion, some miles to the west on the coach-road to Sligo . The weather event known as The Night of the Big Wind in January 1839 caused structural damage to the Protestant church at Thornhill, to
7740-474: Was passed 14 July 2003 with the main purpose of improving the number and quality of public services delivered in Irish by the government and other public bodies. Compliance with the Act is monitored by the An Coimisinéir Teanga (Irish Language Commissioner) which was established in 2004 and any complaints or concerns pertaining to the Act are brought to them. There are 35 sections included in
7830-470: Was sent to help the besieged garrison. The relief force was under the joint command of Sir Henry Duke and Sir Edward Herbert, and included experienced soldiers such as Captains Humphrey Willis , Henry Street, George Bingham, and John Dowdall (commander of the force that had taken Enniskillen in February). They had 600 infantry and 46 horsemen. Duke and Herbert believed this to be insufficient, and wrote to
7920-693: Was spoken throughout Ireland, Isle of Man and parts of Scotland . It is the language of a large corpus of literature, including the Ulster Cycle . From the 12th century, Middle Irish began to evolve into modern Irish in Ireland, into Scottish Gaelic in Scotland, and into the Manx language in the Isle of Man . Early Modern Irish , dating from the 13th century, was the basis of the literary language of both Ireland and Gaelic-speaking Scotland. Modern Irish, sometimes called Late Modern Irish, as attested in
8010-458: Was stillborn when its leader Captain Fuller was killed by an Irish javelin. With most of the supplies abandoned at the river, Duke and Herbert decided their only option was to retreat. However, their retreat to the ford was met with renewed gunfire. The disintegrating army had to run along the river and cross at another ford an "arrow shot" upstream, casting aside their weapons and armour. Luckily for
8100-442: Was unable to accomplish some everyday tasks, as portrayed in his documentary No Béarla . There is, however, a growing body of Irish speakers in urban areas, particularly in Dublin. Many have been educated in schools in which Irish is the language of instruction. Such schools are known as Gaelscoileanna at primary level. These Irish-medium schools report some better outcomes for students than English-medium schools. In 2009,
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