Projects completed in 2005
County Monaghan Place-name Project, Phase 1
The Society, in association with the Coiste Logainmneacha (or Place-names Committee) of Monaghan County Council and with funding from the Heritage Council of Ireland, is engaged in an ongoing project designed to assist developers and planners in the naming of places in the county, both in Irish and English. Phase 1 of the project concentrated on the collection of source material on place-names in and immediately around the five major towns of the county: Ballybay, Castleblayney, Carrickmacross, Clones and Monaghan. The reason for this focus was to deal in the first instance with place-names in those areas which are seeing most development at present.
In 2005, the project assisted in the naming of several new developments in the county. It provided a bilingual list of street-names for signage in Monaghan Town and in a development not yet seen elsewhere in the country, named several new NRA town bypasses.
During this first year, the project promoted wider public awareness, through a series of talks on place-names in each of the county towns to coincide with National Heritage Week. The attendance to these events was very encouraging and the presence of over 200 people over the week displays the interest among the people of the county in their place-names. Feedback at the talks was lively, with many valuable contributions from local residents on names that had not yet been recorded.
It is anticipated that the project will continue in 2006 and Phase 2 will focus on place-names in the villages of the county.
Ó Gallachair/West Archival Project
In 2005, the Society undertook to provide a catalogue of the papers of Revd P. Ó Gallachair and W. H. West and to provide adequate storage for these collections. This project was supported by the Heritage Council of Ireland and by Clones Credit Union. Both of these collections are now available to researchers by appointment.Revd P. Ó Gallachair
Revd P. Ó Gallachair was born in Bundoran on 28 August 1919, educated at St Macartan’s College, Monaghan and studied for the priesthood at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth. He was ordained in 1945 and ministered in California from 1946 until 1951 when he was appointed to the staff of St Tiernach’s Secondary School in Clones. After 12 years in Clones, where he was a founder member of the local Credit Union, he was appointed to the parish of Dromore, County Tyrone. In 1978 he was appointed parish priest of Botha and ministered there until ill health forced him to retire in 1988. Fr Ó Gallachair died at his residence in Botha on 30 March 1996.
Fr Ó Gallachair was the first president of the League of Credit Unions of Ireland and a founder member of Clogher Historical Society. He was also associated with the founding of Cumann Seanchais Ard Mhacha in 1953 and Cumann Seanchais Bhreifne in 1959. For over 30 years he was editor of the Donegal Annual. In 1984 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland and was the Ulster vice-president of the Society from 1984-6. He received an honorary doctorate in philosophy from NUI Maynooth on 24 April 1995.
Fr Ó Gallachair’s collection consists of personal papers, papers relating to the Credit Union and to his membership of many historical organisations, along with numerous notes on the history of the diocese of Clogher, especially its clergy and important families. Some of these were preparatory notes for published articles, but many have not been published and we hope they will be of assistance to other researchers.
William H. West
William H. West was born at Mullaghmeen in 1869, son of Henry West and Rebecca Rutledge. He had one son, Harry W. West (later MP for Fermanagh/South Tyrone), and 5 daughters, Ruby, Mary, Joan, Noelle and Eithne.William was appointed County Secretary, Fermanagh County Council in 1923. He was agent for the Porter Estate, Bellisle for many years. West instigated the building of a primary school at Mullaghmeen, which ran from 1927-33. He died in April 1935 and is buried at Brandrum graveyard.
Along with family letters, the papers of W. H. West contain correspondence relating to his work on the Porter Estate. There is also limited material relating to local politics in the early 20th century. This collection was donated to Clogher Historical Society in 2000.
