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Concept
Clonmany
Summary
Clonmany () is a village in north-west Inishowen, in County Donegal, Ireland. The Urris valley to the west of Clonmany village was the last outpost of the Irish language in Inishowen. In the 19th century, the area was an important location for poitín distillation. Outside the village, there are a number of notable townlands, including Kinnea (Rockstown), Crossconnell, Dunaff, and Leenan.
The name of the town in Irish - Cluain Maine has been translated as both "The Meadow of St Maine" and "The Meadow of the Monks", with the former being the more widely recognized translation. The village is known locally as "The Cross", as the village was initially built around a crossroads.
The parish was home to a monastery that was founded by St Columba. It was closely associated with the Morrison family, who provided the role of erenagh. The monastery possessed the Míosach, an 11th century copper and silver shrine, now located in the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin.
The village claims to be the youngest in Inishowen. The 18th Century travel writer - Richard Pococke - did not mention the village when he toured the area in 1752. The village is mentioned in Topographia Hibernica, published in 1795. It did not feature in the census of 1841 or 1851. In the 1861 census, 112 inhabitants are recorded as living in Clonmany in 21 houses. A further 3 houses are recorded as uninhabited.
In the early 19th century, Urris - a valley three miles west of Clonmany - became a center of the illegal poitín distillation industry. The Urris Hills were an ideal place for poitín-making. The area was surrounded by mountains and only accessible through Mamore Gap and Crossconnell. Notwithstanding its remote location, Derry was about 16 miles away, providing a major market for the trade. To protect their lucrative business, the locals barricaded the road at Crossconnell to keep out revenue police, thus creating the "Poitin Republic of Urris". This period of relative independence lasted three years.
Official source
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