Shercock

Shercock
Searcóg
Town
St. Patrick's Church, Shercock
Shercock
Location in Ireland
Coordinates: 53°59′40″N 6°53′48″W / 53.9945°N 6.8968°W / 53.9945; -6.8968Coordinates: 53°59′40″N 6°53′48″W / 53.9945°N 6.8968°W / 53.9945; -6.8968
Country Ireland
Province Ulster
County County Cavan
Time zone UTC+0 (WET)
 • Summer (DST) UTC-1 (IST (WEST))
Irish Grid Reference H720057
The old Presbyterian church just outside of Shercock

Shercock (Irish: Searcóg)[1] is a small town situated in the east of County Cavan, Ireland. As of the 2016 census, the population of the town was 588.[2]

Shercock is located at the intersection of the R162 and R178 regional roads. The town is located on the shores of three lakes - Lough Sillan, Steepleton's Lake and Muddy Lake. Lough Sillan is the largest of the three, covering approximately 162 hectares.

Shercock

History

The town was founded in the early 17th century as a plantation village to accommodate mainly Presbyterian Scottish settlers who were planted in this part of County Cavan. Usually, these planters gave their new settlements English or Scottish names - the neighbouring towns are Kingscourt, Cootehill, and Bailieborough - but the existing Irish name was maintained with Shercock. The modern Irish-language name is Searcoig or Searcóg.

Nearly all of the surrounding townlands retain their Gaelic names. For example, the townland of Lecks, on the Kingscourt road on the outskirts of Shercock, has been so named for a thousand years because of the flat-slabbed rocky landscape (leac is the Irish word for a flagstone).

By the mid-19th century the village and immediate area had a population of about 5,000. However, the great famines and subsequent emigration affected the county of Cavan, reducing the population by 50% between 1841 and 1891.

Industry

The region is known as "Drumlin Country" owing to its topography of small hills and lakes formed at the end of the last ice age. County Cavan borders County Fermanagh and County Monaghan. Together, they form the colloquially named "Drumlin County". Shercock lies on the border between County Cavan and County Monaghan.

The Shercock area's main industry for nearly 300 years was the growing of flax for linen-making. One townland just outside Shercock is named Miltown, after the flax mill which lies ruined at its center. The industry gradually died away with the decline of the linen industry in northern Ireland.

Nowadays the town has some light industry and a small number of tourists based mainly on water sports and angling. Lough Sillan, on the edge of the town, is a noted coarse fishing lake. Annaghieran lake is situated one mile from town, and populated with Roach and Bream.[3]

One of the enterprises which brings employment to the town is Manor Farms and Carton Brothers Chicken factory, which employs over 800 people and sources chicken from some 160 local chicken farms.

Transport

Sillan Tours Limited provides daily bus connections from Shercock to Kingscourt, Navan and Dublin.[4] Bus Éireann route 166 links Shercock to Cavan, Carrickmacross and Dundalk on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays only.[5]

Arts

The annual Shercock Drama Festival celebrated its 25th year in 2012, and usually takes place in March each year with drama groups from around the country participating in the event. It takes place in St Patrick's Hall.

Sport

Shercock GFC, the local GAA club, play in the Cavan Senior Football Championship. In 2017, the club won the Tommy Gilroy Cup,[6][7] and in the same year received funding for improvements to its dressing room and gym facilities.[8]

People

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Searcóg / Shercock". Logainm.ie. Placenames Commission. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  2. ↑ "Census 2016 Sapmap Area: Settlement Shercock". Census 2016. Central Statistics Office. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  3. ↑ "Annagheran Lodge - Surrounding Area". Annaghierinlodge.ie. Annagheran Lodge. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  4. ↑ "Bus Timetables". Sillan.ie. Sillan Tours. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  5. ↑ "Schedule : Dundalk − Carrickmacross − Cavan" (PDF). Bus Éireann. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 May 2011.
  6. ↑ "IFC final: Shercock stun Ballyhaise to bridge 33-year gap". HoganStand.com. 1 October 2017. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  7. ↑ "Killian Clarke selected on International Rules Squad". Cavan GAA. 25 October 2017. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  8. ↑ "Local clubs awarded €960k in sports funding". The Anglo-Celt. 1 December 2017. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  9. ↑ Lewis' Topographical Dictionary of Ireland cites Shercock as Sheridan's birthplace, though most sources say Dublin.
  10. ↑ "John and Mary Ann Murtha". Jim's Irish Genealogy Pages. Archived from the original on 6 January 2006.
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