There is a part of Mrs O'Connor's Rock, which is situated near Clogher Church, known as Poll an tSeipéil, or the "Chapel Hole". In Penal Days priests used to say Mass here in a thatched church. There was a path leading into it from the Clogher River, which can still be seen.There is another place in Ballydwyer in the Presbytery grounds called "Poll an Aifrinn". Mass is supposed to have been said here also in Penal Days.There is a field in Pat Cronin's land, which is situated at the back of Gortatlea Station, known locally as "Pairc na gCapall." The local people say that it was a prophecy of Saint Columcille that there would be blood shed in this field and so it came to pass. Two men were killed here, John Brown of Clogher, and Richard Laide of Gortatlea; in the taking of the Police Barrack in 1918. The R.I.C. Barrack was situated near the place where the Station Master's house now is situated.The patron saint of the Parish is St. Brendan.

When Gortpishane field in Clogher was broken a good deal of neighbouring people took plots in it to grow potatoes, then their chief food. The time went on and the potatoes were dug out and pitted. Two of the plot holders used to guard the pits each night and on this night two plot holders headed for Gortpishane but as two wicked dogs were kept by people on the roadside they shortcutted across the fields. After reaching Gortpishane they got a beart of stalks and threw themselves down on them. They lit their pipes and began talking. Sometime near midnight they heard a great galloping of horses coming over Clogher hill and "ullagoning" of hounds. The sounds traveled all over the place but not a horse or hound could be seen.

Maidstown castle was built by the OHanlons but was afterwards taken over by an Englishman known as John Webberley esq. It again passed on to a cruel tyrant named Ormsby. Time went on and when Cromwell was passing it by he ordered it to be dismantled. He afterwards granted it to a man in is army called Gubbins. As bad as the earlier occupants were the Gubbinses turned out still worse and harder. In 1775 they cleared three hundred acres of their tenants by evictions in the neighbourhood of Ballamudaugh and Dromin. One of the Gubbinses lived where Moloneys now live on the hill of Clogher and he used to drive his carriage on by Knockmore and Clogher where there was an old road. The piers of his entrance can still be seen. The years went by and about 1793 or '4 the Gubbinses had £600 from a fairly wealthy family named Colls. It seems that some time before this the Gubbinses had broken into Dromin Catholic church and buried

The Iver's story:- Mrs. Joyce heard from her mother who was born in 1840 and lived in Clogher Bruree

wicks but these candles would do instead of matches. These candles were made in Clogher.

The Dwyers of Kilnamanagh built many castles in this disctrict all of which are now in ruins.Cloneyharp, Ballagh, Miltown, Ballymore, Clogher all come within this parish. There is no trace of the latter except the foundation mark on the top of Clogher Hill. The stones were carted away for housebuilding.
It was a favourite custom of the people of the district to draw to the foundation sticks, bushes & turf for a fire on St. John's Eve & to dance there until the small hours of the morning.
This custom has long since ceased to exist.This hill must have been a place of Pagan worship in olden times, for at the base of the hill in a small garden now belonging to Denis Ryan, Clogher, Clonoulty is a

"One day in a foreign land a saint called St. Denis was cast adrift on the sea on a big stone. They thought that it would sink but instead the stone kept afloat and it is supposed to have sailed into Clogher Head about five miles from Ballymakenney. St. Denis is the patron saint of Clogher Head"The above is often told in the district. It was written down my Nicholas Mc Quillan of this school from his aunt of Cartown, Ballymakenny. It is found too in John O'Donovans history of 100 years ago

During the Penal Times, Priests were not allowed to say Mass. Many of them had secret places where they offered the Holy Sacrifice at the risk of their lives. About half a mile from Arklow there is a path leading to Clogher Strand: it is called the Mass Path. It lies along the edge of deep brows. It winds in and out and it is very difficult to trace as bushes and briars have covered it in. Mass used to be celebrated in a certain place near Clogher Strand and this path leads to it. The Priest used to go by the path on his way to say Mass and that is why it is called the Mass Path.

and Armagh. Macaten lifted Patrick on his back and started to cross the river. When he got half way he began to grunt and grumble. "What's wrong", said Patrick. "You gave all the other followers jobs and I who worked so hard for you got nothing. If you don't give me a job I'll dump you in the river", said Macarten. Patrick got very sorry for him and he gave him the Diocese of Clogher. Macarten is now known as the patron saint of Clogher.

Patrick full of sympathy consented and bad him go and erect a monastery in the street before the Royal Seat of Urgall and after some days he placed him over the church of Clogher which the Saint himself had ruled.
St. Macartan lived here to a ripe old age exercising the offices of the first Bishop of Clogher

There is an old sword hanging on the wall here in the school, that was also found in the bog. About two years ago Charles Gallagher of Ballymacahill found it when cutting turf in the Clogher bog about five miles from here. He picked it up, cleaned away the earth from it, and saw it was rusty with age. It had no scabbard and taking it home he left it in the barn. One day after that the Mistress was talking of things found in the bog, and Gerald told her his father found a sword in Clogher bog. The Mistress asked him to bring it to school, and Gerald brought

The following is an account of a local faction fight which I got from Mr. Daniel Dowling (Parish Clerk) some time ago:- "In 1803 there was a faction fight at Clogher Church. The Church was then an old thatched building, near Mrs O'Connor's. A Carmody woman was taken by force for marriage by Spillane from Killarney. But he was caught before he got home, dispossessed of the young lady and warned never to come to the parish again. The Slatterys of O'Brennan brought him in again to dare the Carmodys. Hence the fight. -The priest said that the man who gave the 1st blow would regret it. It was Slattery who gave it and he was killed in the fight. Against the Slatterys were the Carmodys, Learys, Butlers and Leens. The Protestants came to help the Clogher men, but were late for the fight. As the old church was desecrated by the fight it was abandoned and a new one was built at Ballydwyer. It may in fact be said that the Penal Days terminated in the parish at the whack of a blackthorn at the "Battle of Clogher" as I often heard the old people call it.
A more remarkable faction fight was that which occurred at Móin a' Mhuilínn Co Limerick. This fight lives on in poetry which I give in the next Page.I may say that I collected this near Feale's Bridge in a district (Caher) between Feale's Bridge and Abbeyfeale in the year 1924 - with the help of Paddy McCarthy N.T. Abbeyfeale

Nora Foy - Clogher Westport has a stone called "The dart" sewed in cloth. If it is dipped in a drink given to a sick cow it will cure her. The stone was flung at a cow by the fairies and the cow got sick
George Nixon, Clogher, Westport makes up a cure for the Scurvy
Mrs Quinn, Doon, Westport has a cure for chicken-pox
Mrs Vonnell Carnoclay Westport has a cure for Ringworm

A few years previous to the last quarter of the nineteenth century Clogher and the surrounding townlands were owned by a Landlord named Mr Holmes. We here that many changes took place in our district under his ownership. Families had been changed time and again at the whim of this landlord. It is inside the knowledge of the very old people that as much as three or four changes happened inside a period of ten years. Some families from Edmondstown were changed to Clogher and visa versa, others emigrated.
Such was the position until the pressure of local opinion forced a change of Landlords. Two attempts were made to sell the property. the original attempt was abortive for the simple reason that sectarian issues were being involved. Consequently all the highest bidder. The Mac Dermotts of Collavin, being Catholics were not accepted. A for sale in twelve months afterwards left the original bidder, the purchaser. Thus on the 21st May 1879 the present MacDermotts ancestor took over possession of the demesne and the surrounding tenanty and strange though it may seem time was never a few quenched or an eviction since under the various land acts from 1885 sales took place agreeably with the result

Poll a' CómhrannThere is a place or hole in the Clogher River which flows from Gleanageenty called "Poll a' Chómhrann". This hole is in the vicinity of Clogher Cross. Above this hole is a ford called 'Áth an tSagairt". The story told in connection with it is as follows. In ancient times the Presbytery was in Ballinavarscal circ. 3 miles from Castleisland. The house which was the Presbytery is still intact. A sick call came from Cloughvoul (?) in Gleanageenty. The priest jumped up on his horse and

There did a woman die in Clogher a long time ago. A neighboring woman gave the loan of a little feather pillow for the laying out of the corpse, and the wake being over, the body was about to be coffined. The head seemed a bit low in the coffin and one of the women said she'd run out for a "gauwl" of hay to put under it. Faith then ye won't says the woman of the pillow because while the pillow is mine she won't be without it. She went over to the corpse and put the little pillow under its head. While she was doing it the people distinctly saw the corpse smile on her. Jim Gorman of Boherbue (North Clogher) was hanged in a nearby field for stealing two ounces of tobacco from some shopkeeper. The execution took place in a field now in Toby Burke's farm.

Rathdrummion moat is situated between the villages of Dunleer, and Clogher Head, and commands a view of the entire countryside, as well as many miles of our easten seashore.
This moat which, is made in the form of a heart, is supposed to be the second highest rath in our country. From its summit on a clear day you can view far out to sea, and keep under observation ships which sail between Clogher Head and Dunany Point. You can also observe all ships sailing along the mountains between Dunany Point and Dundalk Bay. Some people believe that this famous moat was erected by the Danes sometimes in the tenth century, as the Danes made Dunany their Headquarters.
From Rathdrummion these sea Pirates could an enemy movement on land and sea, and

The best known of these was Cullough Mc Mahon.
Scotshouse R.C. church (chapel)—demolished last year 1937—was built in the year 1782 (this is the year according to the narrator but a notice over one of the doors of the chapel put the date as 1725). It was the first chapel built in the diocese of Clogher and it was here that the priest and bishops of Clogher used to assemble for conference. The Catholics got the land for building it from mad Jack Walsh but when he died the land passed over to Madden. A new aisle had been built and it was then decided to have the chapel consecrated. Madden heard about this and he wrote a letter to Cullogh Mc Mahon, the principal Catholic in the district telling him that he would be there to prevent the consecration. Mc Mahon wrote back that he himself would be there to prevent Madden doing anything and to see that it would be consecrated; the day arrived and an awful crowd came. The people filled the grounds, the little chapel and the public road. It was the bishops of Kilmore that consecrated it. He arrived—a small man dressed in breeches. High Mass commenced and John Madden came tearing in and

Stepping stonesThere are stepping-stones across the big river between Killacorn and Knockagrave. There are four big stones in the river each about 3 ft. high. Further up the river there is a foot-stick, it is there for generations.Local-roads - The broad road running from Tydavnet to Clogher is said to be the oldest road in the district. Long ago the Mail Coaches coming from Clogher till Tydavnet used to change horses on Treanor's heights.

There is a story told that St. Macartan once preached all during the night & that neither he nor his listeners wearied.
St. Macartan was buried in the ground near the Protestant Church in Monaghan & up to recently people used to take clay from his grave for healing.
Some people in Monaghan think that St. Macartan is buried in the grounds of Clogher Protestant Cathedral. Co. Tyrone. This is asserted by Fr. James O'Daly present P.P. of Clogher.