Magharenny Townland, Longfield East Parish, County Tyrone

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Magharenny, Longfield East, Omagh, County Tyrone, Ireland
Surname/tag: COUNTY_TYRONE

Contents 1 Magharenny Townland, Longfield East Parish, County Tyrone 1.1 Location 1.2 Spelling 1.3 Records 2 Langfield churches 2.1 Nethery Graveyard 3 Census substitutes 3.1 Tithe Applotment Book 3.2 Griffith's Valuation and updates 4 Sources 4.1 See also

Magharenny Townland, Longfield East Parish, County Tyrone

Location

Magharenny lies between Drumquin and Omagh. It extends south from the Omagh Road east of Drumquin, and comes close to the summit of Pollnalaght (Poll na Leacht), a hill of height about 300m.

The neighbouring townlands are: Cornavarrow, Corradinna, Dressoge, Drumbarley, Drumrawn, Glebe and Unshinagh.

It is in the Catholic parish of Langfield, and the civil parish of Longfield East. The civil parish of Longfield was split into Lower/West and Upper/East in 1800 and is interchangeably spelt Longfield or Langfield.

Spelling

Magharenny is the canonical spelling; however in civil and church records the spelling varies, e.g. Magherinny is common.

Records

Civil records are under Omagh SRD. Catholic baptisms are mostly under Langfield; with some at Omagh. The Langfield R.C. register is poor quality, with nothing before 1844, and a gap from about 1858 to 1863.

Langfield churches

The present-day Upper Langfield parish church (Church of Ireland) is in Drumrawn townland, but only a few yards from the boundary between Drumrawn and Magharenny.

There is a section on Magharenny in a 2008 archaeology book: ^[1]

• The site of Langfield parish church in 1306(!) may have been at "the old graveyard in Magharenny townland"
• Drumquin church was burned by the Cenel-Eogain in 1213.
• Part of the Erenagh lands in the early 17th century.
• Church ruinous in 1622 and in repair 17th and 18th centuries; abandoned mid-19th for new site. (This may refer to Lackagh church)
• "Likely site for medieval parish church and perhaps earlier establishment in Magharenny townland. O.S. 1834 marked egg-shaped graveyard, about 240 ft northwest-southeast by 190 ft, with ‘old church’ marked against east perimeter, and 1834 ‘Memoir’ refers briefly to traces of walls in old enclosure, formerly burial ground."

In the 1840 Topological Dictionary: ^[2]

• "The townland of Magheraney, on which is the church, is the property of the Bishop of Derry."
• "The living is a rectory in the diocese of Derry and in the patronage of the Bishop; the tithe rent-charge is £183. 15. The glebe-house, a good residence, was built in 1803, by aid of a gift of £100 and a loan of £600 from the Board of First Fruits; the glebe comprises 26 Cunningham acres. The church, which was erected in 1803, is a small neat edifice with a square tower; the Board of First Fruits gave £500 towards its erection, and the Ecclesiastical Commissioners recently granted £254 towards its repair. In the Roman Catholic divisions the parish, with that of West Langfield, forms the district of Langfield; there is a place of worship for Presbyterians in connexion with the General Assembly. About a quarter of a mile from the parish church are the remains of an ancient church, with a burial-ground."

The site of the old church and graveyard is marked on the Griffith's Valuation map. It is near the corner of Omagh Rd and Corradinna Rd; to the south-west of that intersection. It is in Griffith's lot 9a which belonged to Robert Nethery sen. (-1866)).

Nethery Graveyard

I have a recollection of coming across mention of "Magharenny graveyard" on the property of Robert Nethery, in newspaper references , although cannot find them right now!. Will update this section with references if I can re-discover them.

According to information sent to me via Ancestry message 18 August 2023, based on oral family history of a Nethery descendant, there was graveyard, likely on the Corradina Road, on the property of Robert Nethery "of the Sandpit". It never had any headstones, and was bulldozed before the 1950s and perhaps much earlier.

Based on this oral history matching details of the Griffith's map; perhaps these graveyards are one and the same, i.e. it was in fact the old Langfield parish graveyard that was destroyed?

Other possible mentions:

• Gibson Nethery (abt.1816-1891) was buried at "the church burying-ground" and the priest was of "Magharenny church".

See also: Nethery of Magharenny

Census substitutes

Tithe Applotment Book

The 1829 Tithe Applotment for Longfield East had the following names: ^[3]

Transcribed Name	Possible Associated Profiles
Coll, Bernard
Galagher, Francis
Levingston, Jas.	Sarah (Levingstone) Corr (abt.1863-)
Marley, Pat.
McCavil, Patk.
McTagart, Jas.
Netherey, James
Netherey, Robt.	Robert Nethery (-1866)
Netherey, Thos.
Percy, Pat.	Patrick Percy (abt.1800-)
Pilkington, Rev. J. T.
Rab, James
Turner, Jas.
Turner, Robt.
Turner, Wm.

Images of the book can be found on PRONI e-Catalogue that give detail about the actual land areas and land quality.

Griffith's Valuation and updates

• Francis McNabb sublets lot 7a (house, office and land - 6 acres) from Andrew Nethery. This is probably NOT Francis McNABB (abt.1841-1928) of Magharenny as he would have been too young to own a lease at the time of Griffith's ; it could perhaps be Francis McNabb of Segully.
• Lot 9a is held by "Robert Nethery sen.", this contains the old parish church graveyard.
• Lot 15a: David Livingston.
• TODO tabulate the rest of the valuation and updates .

Other townlands:

• At Segully, Mary Nethery sublets a house from Francis McNabb (1822-1886).

Sources

1. ↑ "The Archaeology of Early Christianity in the North of Ireland", Ann Elizabeth Hamlin. Edited by Thomas R. Kerr with contributions from Janet Bell, Alison Kyle, Marion Meek and Brian Sloan. BAR British Series 460 9 781407 302850 B A R 2008
2. ↑ "Longfield (Langfield) Co. Tyrone", CoTyrone website accessed 21 August 2023; citing "Topographical Dictionary of Ireland" (1840, Samuel Lewis)
3. ↑ Tithe Applotment Books: Longfield East Parish, County Tyrone, Irish Genealogy Hub, website accessed 21 August 2023.

See also

• Magharenny Townland, Longfield East Parish, County Tyrone category
• Nethery of Magharenny
• McNabb families of Tyrone