Calmore

{{short description|Townland in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}} {{EngvarB|date=March 2020}} {{Infobox settlement | name = Calmore | type = townland | native_name = | translit_lang1 = Irish | translit_lang1_type = Derivation: | translit_lang1_info = {{lang|ga|An Coll Mór}} | translit_lang1_type1 = Meaning: | translit_lang1_info1 = "The great/large hazel"

| image_skyline = | imagesize = | image_alt = | image_caption = | image_map = Calmore.png | mapsize = | map_alt = | map_caption = | pushpin_map = Northern Ireland#United Kingdom | pushpin_label_position =  | pushpin_label =  | pushpin_map_alt = | pushpin_mapsize = | pushpin_map_caption = Calmore shown within Northern Ireland | coordinates = {{coord|54.8057|-6.7108|region:GB_scale:20000|format=dms|display=inline,title}} | coor_pinpoint =  | coordinates_footnotes =   | subdivision_type = Sovereign state | subdivision_name = United Kingdom | subdivision_type1 = Country | subdivision_name1 = Northern Ireland | subdivision_type2 = County | subdivision_name2 = County Londonderry | subdivision_type3 = Barony | subdivision_name3 = Loughinsholin | subdivision_type4 = Civil parish | subdivision_name4 = Kilcronaghan

| leader_title = Council | leader_name = Mid Ulster District | leader_title1 = Ward | leader_name1 = Tobermore

| population_footnotes =  | population_total = | population_as_of = | population_density_km2 =  | population_density_sq_mi= | population_note =  | blank_name_sec1 = Irish grid ref | blank_info_sec1 = {{Oscoor|H829961}}  | website =  | footnotes = }} '''Calmore''' ({{Irish derived place name|An Coll Mór|the great/large hazel}}<ref name="IPA"/>) is a townland lying within the civil parish of Kilcronaghan, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It lies in the north-west of the parish, and is bounded by the townlands of; Granny, Moneyshanere, Moyesset, and Tobermore. It was apportioned to the Drapers company as well as Crown freeholds.<ref name="Munn"/>

The townland was part of Tobermore electoral ward of the former Magherafelt District Council, however in 1926 it was part of Tobermore district electoral division as part of the Maghera division of Magherafelt Rural District.<ref name="HistPop1926"/> It was also part of the historic barony of Loughinsholin.<ref name="Munn"/>

==History== The townland of Calmore is named after a large ancient hazel tree that was said to have been used in pagan ceremonies.<ref name="Ordnance1986p"/>

===Calmore crannog=== The townland of Calmore appears to have formerly been a place of some importance, attested by a crannog that once lay in an ancient lake in the townland.<ref name="IPA"/><ref name="Ordnance1986p"/> This crannog is stated as having been ''of a tolerable large size'' and constructed of an oak frame, composed of large logs and planks bound together by wooden pins. This frame was enclosed by long poles, standing upright and fastened by mortices. In April 1835, at the crannog, a flat bottomed boat of oak was discovered, containing several oak boards that served as seats. This boat appeared to have had no nail or iron work, being completely hallowed out from the trunk of a tree. In the 1780s a smaller boat of similar construction had also been found, but had been scuttled and sunk several times. It is stated that these boats may have been either pleasure or fishing boats belonging to Calmore Castle.<ref name="Ordnance1986p"/>

The crannog was dismantled in the early 19th century.<ref name="IPA"/>

===Calmore castle=== Calmore Castle was an ancient castle that once stood in the townland of Calmore. It has been formerly known as O'Hagan's Castle and Rowley's Castle.<ref name="IPA"/>

The O'Hagans of Ballinascreen when being questioned by John O'Donovan in 1821 as part of his letters pertaining to the antiquities of County Londonderry, claimed that Sir William O'Hagan built Calmore Castle. Local traditions however picked up by the Ordnance Survey Memoirs of 1836-37 state that it was his father, Shane More O'Hagan, who built it. Shane More O'Hagan is noted as being the proprietor of the Drapers Proportion in this area together with other tracts of land, including ten townlands in Ballynascreen and Lough Insholin [sic], the heart of a large territory of the same name.<ref name="Ordnance1986p"/>

The Ordnance Survey Memoirs note that in neighbouring Moneyshanere, a battle was said to have been fought between the O'Hagans who are stated as ruling Tobermore and the O'Neills of Tyrone, who are said to have come rampaging down from Ballynascreen.<ref name="Ordnance1986p"/> During its control by the O'Hagans, Calmore Castle was considered "once a place of very considerable strength, which commanded the mountain passes, and the fords of the Moyola".<ref name="Reports1821p"/>

After Sir William O'Hagan, Calmore Castle was inhabited by Owen Roe O'Hagan, who after which it is said to have been burned down.<ref name="Ordnance1986p"/> By 1619, a plantation house was built for William Rowley, which incorporated parts of Calmore Castle. Rowley was the brother of John Rowley, former chief agent of The Honourable The Irish Society, and later for the Drapers Company. Shortly after the 1641 rebellion, it fell back into Irish hands.<ref name="IPA"/> In 1689, it was burnt by a party of the Jacobite army retreating from the Siege of Derry.<ref name="Ordnance1986p"/><ref name="MacCloskey1821p"/>

A tradition is recorded claiming that two years after it was burnt down, the very person who led the party and was the first to throw a sheaf of burning straw into the rooms, came begging to the windows of the partly repaired building. When he was recognised he was immediately "stalled" by Rowley himself. The last inhabitant of the estate was Henry Rowley in 1814, but was still listed as "Rowley's Castle" in Civil Survey maps from 1850.<ref name="PlaceNamesNI"/> The plantation house that succeeded Calmore Castle no longer exists. Its remains were carried off by a local tenant, John McKee, for building work.<ref name="IPA"/>

===Townland statistics=== The town of Tobermore lies partially in this townland, and those of Moneyshanere, Moyesset, and Tobermore.

{{col-begin|width=auto}} {{col-break}} {|class="wikitable" style="margin:0; border:1px solid darkgrey;" |+ Population |- ! style="width:75px;"|Year ! style="width:75px;"|Pop. |- ! 1841 | 215 <ref name="HistPop1881"/> |- ! 1851 | 185 <ref name="HistPop1881"/> |- ! 1861 | 190 <ref name="HistPop1881"/> |- ! 1871 | 169 <ref name="HistPop1881"/> |- ! 1881 | 169 <ref name="HistPop1881"/> |- ! 1891 | 69 <ref name="HistPop1901"/> |- ! 1901 | 54 {{ref|note1|[a]}}<ref name="HistPop1901"/> |- ! 1911 | 342 {{ref|note1|[b]}}<ref name="HistPop1926"/> |- ! 1926 | 98 <ref name="HistPop1926"/> |- | colspan="2" align="center" | {{small|{{note|note1|[a]}} - decrease is attributed to emigration and removals <ref name="HistPop1901"/>}}<br/>{{small|{{note|note1|[b]}} - along with townlands of Moneyshanere and Tobermore, population counted as part of total for Tobermore town.<ref name="HistPop1926"/>}} |} {{col-break}} {|class="wikitable" style="margin:0 0 0 3em; border:1px solid darkgrey;" |+ Size (acres, roods, poles) |- ! style="width:75px;" | Year ! style="width:100px;" | a, r, p |- ! 1851 | 283, 2, 10 <ref name="HistPop1851"/> |- ! 1881 | 284, 1, 26 <ref name="HistPop1881"/> |- ! 1901 | 284, 1, 26 <ref name="HistPop1901"/> |- ! 1926 | 283, 0, 2 <ref name="HistPop1926"/> |} {{col-break}} {|class="wikitable" style="margin:0 0 0 3em; border:1px solid darkgrey;" |+ Earlier recorded forms<ref name="IPA"/><ref name="PlaceNamesNI"/> |- ! style="width:75px;" | Year ! style="width:200px;" | Form |- ! 1609 | Calemore (E.C.) |- ! 1613 | Call Moore |- ! 1613 | Culemoire (Charter) |- ! 1622 | Coolmor |- ! 1645c | san Chall M-r |- ! 1654 | Kallmore |- ! 1659c | Calmoore & Cloghfin |- ! 1663 | Culmore |- ! 1767 | Calmore |- ! 1834c | Caul-more |- | colspan="2" align="center" | <sub>(E.C.) - Escheated Counties Map 1609<br/>(Charter) - Charter of Londonderry 1613</sub> |} {{col-end}}

==References== <references>

<ref name="HistPop1926">[http://www.histpop.org/ohpr/servlet/PageBrowser2?ResourceType=Census&ResourceType=TNA&SearchTerms=tobermore&simple=yes&path=Results&active=yes&titlepos=20&mno=239&pageseq=53 HistPop; County and County Borough of Londonderry, 1926, page 27]</ref> <ref name="HistPop1851">[http://www.histpop.org/ohpr/servlet/PageBrowser2?ResourceType=Census&ResourceType=TNA&SearchTerms=tobermore&simple=yes&path=Results&active=yes&titlepos=1&mno=396&pageseq=15 HistPop; County of Londonderry, 1851, page 241]</ref> <ref name="HistPop1881">[http://www.histpop.org/ohpr/servlet/PageBrowser2?ResourceType=Census&ResourceType=Legislation&ResourceType=Essays&ResourceType=Registrar%20General&ResourceType=TNA&SearchTerms=brackaghlislea&simple=yes&path=Results&active=yes&titlepos=1&mno=434&pageseq=696 HistPop; Area, population and number of houses, Vol. III, Ireland, 1881, page 698]</ref> <ref name="PlaceNamesNI">[http://www.placenamesni.org/resultdetails.php?entry=3824 Place Names NI - Calmore]</ref> <ref name="Munn">''Notes on the Place Names of the Parishes and Townlands of the County of Londonderry'', 1925, Alfred Moore Munn, Clerk of the Crown and Peace of the City and County of Londonderry</ref> <ref name="Ordnance1986p">''Ordnance Survey Memoirs for the Parishes of Desertmartin and Kilcronaghan'', Ballinascreen Historical Society. Published 1986</ref> <ref name="IPA">Toner, Gregory: ''Place-Names of Northern Ireland'', page 115-116. Queen's University of Belfast, 1996, {{ISBN|0-85389-613-5}}</ref> <ref name="Reports1821p">''Statistical Reports of Six Derry Parishes 1821''. Ballinascreen Historical Society, 1983.</ref> <ref name="MacCloskey1821p">Statistical Reports of Six Derry Parishes 1821, John MacCloskey</ref> <ref name="OSNI">{{Cite web |url=http://maps.ehsni.gov.uk/SixInchSeries/Default.aspx |accessdate=27 January 2012 |author=Northern Ireland Environment Agency |title=NIEA Map Viewer |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111124125249/http://maps.ehsni.gov.uk/SixInchSeries/Default.aspx |archivedate=24 November 2011 }}</ref> <ref name="HistPop1901">[http://www.histpop.org/ohpr/servlet/PageBrowser2?ResourceType=Census&ResourceType=Legislation&ResourceType=Essays&ResourceType=Registrar%20General&ResourceType=TNA&SearchTerms=ballymacilcurr&simple=yes&path=Results&active=yes&treestate=expandnew&titlepos=0&mno=450&tocstate=expandnew&display=sections&display=tables&display=pagetitles&pageseq=367 HistPop; Area, houses, and population, Vol. III [Part 2], Ireland, 1901 Page 35]</ref>

</references>

Category:Townlands of County Londonderry Category:Civil parish of Kilcronaghan