A Celebration of Our History and Heritage Dromboughil Community Association 1999-2019 a Celebration of Our History and Heritage
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DROMBOUGHIL COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION 1999-2019 A CELEBRATION OF OUR HISTORY AND HERITAGE DROMBOUGHIL COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION 1999-2019 A CELEBRATION OF OUR HISTORY AND HERITAGE © 2019 Dromboughil Community Association and Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council Museum Services. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without permission of Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council Museum Services. ISBN 978-1-9161494-4-1 The publication of this book has been funded under the PEACE IV Understanding Our Area project. A project supported by the European Union’s PEACE IV Programme, managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB). DROMBOUGHIL COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION 1999-2019 A CELEBRATION OF OUR HISTORY AND HERITAGE FOREWORD Community is at the centre of any society and this publication, with the memories of community members of ‘by-gone days’, reminds us that this has always been the case. Dromboughil Community Association 1999- 2019: A Celebration of our History and Heritage preserves some of the history of Dromboughil, offering the reader an opportunity to learn a bit about the area. This is important as we should all know how the places we live have been shaped and formed; bearing in mind our past makes us what we are today and shapes our future. Dromboughil Community Association celebrates its twentieth anniversary this year and I wish to take this opportunity to thank the members for all the work they have done over the years to strengthen, develop and build good relations between and among all sections of the local community. Their dedication and hard-work is a credit to them and this publication also gives a brief insight into what they offer the local community. One key aspect of their work in the community has been in building peace and reconciliation and it is appropriate that this book – which is about people and places – was supported by the Peace IV Understanding Our Area – People and Places project. I would like to congratulate Dromboughil Community Association and wish them well for the future. Cllr Dermot Nicholl Chair, Peace IV Partnership Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council DROMBOUGHIL COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION 1999-2019 A CELEBRATION OF OUR HISTORY AND HERITAGE Valerie Buchanan worked tirelessly as the Administrator at Dromboughil Community Association until she passed away on the 25th March 2013 6 | Dromboughil Community Association 1999-2019 NOTE ON SOURCES Many of the articles, including the histories of the schools reproduced from Benbradagh magazine with kind permission of the editors of The Winding Roe, quote from the Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland, volumes 15 and 30, published by the Institute of Irish Studies: Vol. 15: Parishes of Co. Londonderry, IV – Dungiven (1992) Vol. 30: Parishes of Co. Londonderry, X – Banagher (1995) Anyone interested in the history of our area will find these publications an excellent starting point. The blurb is, for once, entirely accurate: The Ordnance Survey Memoirs are a uniquely detailed source for the history of the northern half of Ireland immediately before the Great Famine. They were written in the 1830s to accompany the 6” Ordnance Survey maps, but with one exception were not published at the time. In this new edition they act as a nineteenth-century Domesday Book and are essential to the understanding of the cultural heritage of our communities. The Memoirs document the landscape and situation, buildings and antiquities, land-holdings and population, employment and livelihood of the parishes. The material paints a fascinating portrait of life in this largely agricultural area whose “wild and romantic” mountains and glens hold both a great wealth of antiquities and a huge variety of wildlife, notably wolves and eagles. As well as recounting the population, through marvellously detailed tables of schools, emigration and manufactories, these volumes contain a wonderful collection of local traditions and superstitions. These Memoirs provide a unique insight into life in this area over 150 years ago. NOTE ON SPELLING The official spellings of the townland names are now Carnanbane, Magheramore, Teeavan and Turmeel. With so many variant spellings over the years, someone had to make a random choice from all the attempts to record the Irish names in English! We have not tried to standardise the names but have left them as they appear in the Census and other documents. PART ONE: A Celebration of our History and Heritage | 7 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Dromboughil Community Association produced this publication as one element within Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council’s PEACE IV Understanding Our Area programme, delivered by Museum Services with a wide range of community partners. PEACE IV Understanding Our Area set out to increase the understanding and expression of the borough’s culture and history, our people and places, through museum collections, historic sites and cultural heritage to create a peace building legacy. We are very grateful to the local people who shared their memories with us, to their families for the hospitality on our visits, and to those who conducted the interviews. We would also like to extend our thanks to those who brought photographs to our community archiving events. We thank all those who have contributed to this publication, and especially acknowledge the generosity of The Winding Roe editors for giving us permission to republish articles which originally appeared in Bendradagh magazine. We appreciate the support provided throughout the process by PEACE IV and Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council Museum Services staff. D A O R H G A V R A G DUNGIVEN ET MAIN STRE 8 | Dromboughil Community Association 1999-2019 N E E R G H C A E L B RIV ER ROE D A O R L E E TEEAVAN ROAD M TUR ROAD BYPASS D A O R E R O M A DROMBOUGHIL R E COMMUNITY H G RESOURCE A CENTRE M PART ONE: A Celebration of our History and Heritage | 9 DROMBOUGHIL 1999-2019 Dromboughil Community Association is a community initiative set up by the residents of Dromboughil area, near Dungiven. This area consists of the townlands of Carnanbane, Magheramore, Teavan, and Termeil but, of course, everyone is welcome at Dromboughil. Peace and reconciliation: The central role of the association has been to encourage contact and co-operation between communities. Rural regeneration: We work to transform social and economic conditions, helping to develop the capacity of the community and individuals to help themselves, and provide people with the skills, resources, and self- confidence to undertake the task of regenerating their area. The promotion of local arts and crafts is one area we have focused on, and craft classes are organised weekly, throughout the year, in our custom- built Variety Crafts extension. We organise a variety of other activities, including painting classes, flower arranging, and yoga. Administrators: Siobhan Campbell and Sandra Smyth Address: 36 Magheramore Road, Dungiven, BT47 4SW Tel: 028 777 41247 Email: [email protected] Web: www.dromboughil.com 10 | Dromboughil Community Association 1999-2019 CONTENTS PART ONE: DROMBOUGHIL 1999 - 2019 Twenty Years of Dromboughil 13 Activities at Dromboughil 19 Education in our area 25 Dromboughil Old School 28 Magheramore Old School 33 Rallagh School 36 Templemoyle School 49 Townlands of Dromboughil 61 The Heaney Family and Banagher 69 The Murphys of Carnanbane 83 The Canning Family 91 The Smyth Family of Teeavan 97 Dromboughil Community Archive 101 PART ONE: A Celebration of our History and Heritage | 11 CONTENTS PART TWO: DROMBOUGHIL 1999 - 2019 Our Senior Residents Remember: Flax and Linen 113 Turf Cutting 127 School Days 134 Banagher Dam 140 The War 145 Farming 150 Place Names 157 Emigration 160 Going On Yer Ceilidh 166 Entertainment 168 APPENDICES Appendix 1 – 1831 Census 178 Appendix 2 – 1901 Census 180 Appendix 3 - Termeil School 190 12 | Dromboughil Community Association 1999-2019 PART ONE: A Celebration of our History and Heritage | 13 PART ONE DROMBOUGHIL 1999 - 2019 14 | Dromboughil Community Association 1999-2019 Alfred Canning with the gift presented by Dromboughil Community Association. Photo courtesy of A Canning. PART ONE: A Celebration of our History and Heritage | 15 PART ONE TWENTY YEARS OF DROMBOUGHIL s a youngster, Alfie Canning broke the windows in the old Dromboughil school which is now our Resource Centre. For this serious crime he has been doing Community Service ever since. He has, for 20 years, been our go-to man in all matters to do with the construction of the building and its Amaintenance. His Community Service Order has recently been extended for another twenty years, a lucky break for us! Alfie recounts the history of Dromboughil Community Association below: Early in 1999, Ian Buchanan called in with me, and asked for my thoughts on forming a community association to help get the minor roads gritted, and to get traffic lights at the junction of Magheramore Road and Main Street in Dungiven. I reckoned it was a good idea, so Ian arranged a meeting which took place in Dungiven Presbyterian Church Hall on 12th February 1999. The meeting was attended by Ian Buchanan, Robert Buchanan senior, Felicity Buchanan, Drew Semple, Olive Canning, Joe and Kathleen Canning, Alfred Canning, Sidney Canning, Ruth Canning, Willie James McElhinney, John Hill, Alice Morrow, Matthew Poston, Harry and Violet Morrow, Cecil Ross, and Billy Ross, who chaired the meeting. Discussion also covered the 16 | Dromboughil Community Association 1999-2019 aims of the group, a name, where we would meet, how we would raise initial funds, grants that might be available, and who the officers would be. A second meeting was held on 25th March, at my brother Sidney Canning’s showroom. Subsequent meetings were held at various locations, including my business office, Ian Buchanan’s ‘Wee Barn’, Robert and Valerie Buchanan’s home, and Mary Kathleen Muldoon’s home.