Parish of Virginia Church of Ireland - Virginia town, County Cavan (3 June 2014)
The Parish of Virginia Church of Ireland building was completed c.1821, aided with a Board of First Fruits grant that was one of many grants given for the building of Anglican churches across Ireland. This parish, also known as the Parish of Lurgan, now includes the four Anglican churches that were amalgamated into one incumbency in 1972 to become the Virginia Group of Parishes whereas previously, each operated separately under their own ministry. The current incumbent of the parish is the Reverend Craig McCauley.
The origins of Virginia town go back to the Elizabethan Ulster Plantations when in 1612 an English Adventurer, Captain John Ridgeway, was granted a thousand acres by Royal patent for estates and to build a new town there. Virginia was intended to be one of 25 new towns to be built at strategic locations within Ulster and secure the land for the English Crown and protect it from a hostile indigenous population. The number of settlers from Scotland and England were insufficient and so the new town had not yet materialised. In 1622 the Virginia estates were sold to Lord Plunkett, 1st Earl of Fingall, a long-standing Anglo-Irish Lord who already held extensive estates in County Meath. Plans to commence laying out the new town were submitted in 1638 but these were set back by the 1641/1642 Irish Rebellion.
Plans to develop the town lay in abeyance until around 1750 when the Plunketts sold their Virginia estates to Thomas Taylor (Lord Headfort). The Taylors soon set about improving the lands with drainage scheme, afforestations and other agricultural improvement as well as new building within the town and the establishment of regular markets there. By the 1830’s the population of the town had increased to over 900 inhabitants and much of the town’s buildings from this period still survive. Industry in the region was mainly agricultural, especially flax growing for the linen industries, creamery products and cattle. In 1863, the completion of the Kells to Oldcastle railway line by the Great Northern Railway (GNR) facilitated transport of goods in and out of the town and greatly improved trade within the region.
Post-Famine conditions (post-1850’s) hit the town hard and emigration became endemic causing a gradual but continual fall in the town’s population, falling to its lowest with only 297 residents (1951 census). Over the past fifty years, the town’s population recovered and there were 2,282 residing in Virginia town (2011 census), a 32% increase over the previous census of 2006. Virginia, along with many other towns within commuting distance of Dublin, was heavily developed as a ‘commuter town’ during the building boom of the 1990’s and 2000’s with new housing estates. It is said that the town was named Virginia after Queen Elizabeth I, who was known as “The Virgin Queen”.
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References:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia,_County_Cavan
www.cavan.ie/cavantourism/virginia (Virginia tourism website).
Parish of Virginia Church of Ireland - Virginia town, County Cavan (3 June 2014)
The Parish of Virginia Church of Ireland building was completed c.1821, aided with a Board of First Fruits grant that was one of many grants given for the building of Anglican churches across Ireland. This parish, also known as the Parish of Lurgan, now includes the four Anglican churches that were amalgamated into one incumbency in 1972 to become the Virginia Group of Parishes whereas previously, each operated separately under their own ministry. The current incumbent of the parish is the Reverend Craig McCauley.
The origins of Virginia town go back to the Elizabethan Ulster Plantations when in 1612 an English Adventurer, Captain John Ridgeway, was granted a thousand acres by Royal patent for estates and to build a new town there. Virginia was intended to be one of 25 new towns to be built at strategic locations within Ulster and secure the land for the English Crown and protect it from a hostile indigenous population. The number of settlers from Scotland and England were insufficient and so the new town had not yet materialised. In 1622 the Virginia estates were sold to Lord Plunkett, 1st Earl of Fingall, a long-standing Anglo-Irish Lord who already held extensive estates in County Meath. Plans to commence laying out the new town were submitted in 1638 but these were set back by the 1641/1642 Irish Rebellion.
Plans to develop the town lay in abeyance until around 1750 when the Plunketts sold their Virginia estates to Thomas Taylor (Lord Headfort). The Taylors soon set about improving the lands with drainage scheme, afforestations and other agricultural improvement as well as new building within the town and the establishment of regular markets there. By the 1830’s the population of the town had increased to over 900 inhabitants and much of the town’s buildings from this period still survive. Industry in the region was mainly agricultural, especially flax growing for the linen industries, creamery products and cattle. In 1863, the completion of the Kells to Oldcastle railway line by the Great Northern Railway (GNR) facilitated transport of goods in and out of the town and greatly improved trade within the region.
Post-Famine conditions (post-1850’s) hit the town hard and emigration became endemic causing a gradual but continual fall in the town’s population, falling to its lowest with only 297 residents (1951 census). Over the past fifty years, the town’s population recovered and there were 2,282 residing in Virginia town (2011 census), a 32% increase over the previous census of 2006. Virginia, along with many other towns within commuting distance of Dublin, was heavily developed as a ‘commuter town’ during the building boom of the 1990’s and 2000’s with new housing estates. It is said that the town was named Virginia after Queen Elizabeth I, who was known as “The Virgin Queen”.
.
References:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia,_County_Cavan
www.cavan.ie/cavantourism/virginia (Virginia tourism website).