Summerhill, County Meath

Summerhill Cnoc an Línsigh
Village
The village park
Land	Irland
Province	Leinster
County	County Meath
Dáil Éireann	Meath West
Population  (2006)
• Urban	799
Time zone	UTC+0 (WET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-1 (IST (WEST))

Summerhill (Irish: Cnoc an Línsigh) is a village in County Meath, Ireland. It is located at the intersection of the R156 and R158 regional roads. The Irish version of the town's name means "Lynch's Hill", and it was the ancestral home of the Norman-Irish Lynch family, whence came the Galway merchant family of the same name - one of the "Tribes of Galway". It is also the site of one of the more important battles in 17th century Ireland, the Battle of Dungan's Hill. The town was known in English as 'The Knock' or 'Lynchs' Knock' (phonetic renderings of Cnoc an Línsigh, Lynchs' hill) until about 1667 when it was renamed Summerhill. The ruins of the large Lynch castle can be seen in the village today.

Summerhill House/Demesne

The ancient seat of the Norman-Irish Lynch family had been granted to Bishop Henry Jones for his services provided as Scoutmaster General to Cromwell’s Army. Bishop Henry Jones, Bishop of Meath in 1661, sold Summerhill and many other townlands to Sir Hercules Langford.

Summerhill House, Main Front

Lynch's Castle, located on the Sumerhill Demesne was then occupied by the Langfords until it was abandoned in the 1730s when Summerhill house was built by Hercules Langford Rowley the 2nd Baron Langford. The old Lynch castle remained on the demesne as a folley.

The house is accredited to architects Edward Lovett Pearce and Richard Cassels, except Sir John Vanbrugh is supposed to have an influence on the house.

Summerhill house was damaged by fire on a number of occasions and then on the 4 February 1921, it was set on fire by the Irish Republican Army and completely destroyed.

In 1922 Colonel Rowley, the 6th Baron Langford, sought compensation from the Free State Government and after three years of negotiation with the Compensation Board a sum of £43,500 was paid to the Colonel, approximately one third of the value of the house and contents destroyed in the fire. Colonel Rowley invested the money in gilt-edged stocks and moved to Middlesex, England.

Summerhill house stood as a ruin until it was totally demolished in 1970.

The Empress of Austria

Equestrian portrait of Elisabeth at Possenhofen Castle, 1853

The Empress of Austria visited Summerhill in February 1879. The preparations were a well kept secret, the first thing that had to be sorted is where would she stay. Meath hunted the best hounds and Summerhill was centrally located so Summerhill was picked. When she was on one hunt in Dunshaughlin, as they came to Maynooth they came across two men repairing a demesne wall of the Catholic seminary, as the deer they were hunting jumped into the land of the college Her Imperial Majesty followed without knowing where she was going and nearly jumped on the President of the college, Dr. Walsh.

Dangan Castle

Between Trim and the town of Summerhill stand the ruins of Dangan House (formerly Dangan Castle), which was the birthplace and childhood home of England's greatest general, Duke of Wellington (who notoriously implied that his place of birth was a "stable").

The remains of the ancient castle consist of the outer walls of the keep, to which a modern mansion, built in the Italian style, has been added in modern times. The demesne and castle were sold by a Marquis Wellesley to a Colonel Burrows, and by him let to Roger O'Connor. While in the possession of O'Conner it was destroyed by fire and it is now a ruin.

Dangan House

Bildung

There are two primary schools in the parish. They are Coole National School and Dangan National School. They are both under separate board of managements, they are both Catholic and the Parish Priest is chairperson of both of the Board of managements. The two schools are Dangan National School and Coole National School.

Coole National School

Coole National School originated in a house in 1824. In 1854 a Father Colgan applied to have the school at Garadice taken under the Board. He stated that it was his intention to build a more commodious house, but he could not get a site. The landlords of the time refused to provide land for a school. In 1856, Fr Colgan built a school in the chapel yard as Mr. Pratt Winter, landlord, would not provide any land for it. The school was a two roomed slated building. It served the children of the parish for over 100 years. It became a mixed gender school in 1885.

In 1956 the Board of Works built a three roomed school, with a third of the bill paid by the parishioners. It was officially opened by a Father Michael Moore P.P. The school got an extension in 2007 of 3 new rooms, a sports hall and the renovation of the older building, with most of the bill paid by parishioners with fundraising. The extension was opened by the Minister for Transport, Noel Dempsey, T.D. and was blessed by a Father Gavin P.P. of Summerhill.

• The current enrolment figure is about 125.

Notable People

Portrait of the Duke of Wellington by Francisco Goya, 1812–14. In reference to his birthplace the Duke said that "being born in a stable doesn't make one a horse"

• Field Marshal, The Duke of Wellington, Lord Arthur Wellesley, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS. He might have been born in Dangan but he defiantly grew up in Dangan House.
• Mick Lyons - A former Gaelic footballer who played for Summerhill and Meath. He won two All Ireland medals with Meath in 1987 and 1988. Captaining the team in 1987 to Meath's first All Ireland Senior Football Championship in 20 years. He has won two All Star awards for the full back position in 1984 and 1986.
• Jim "Lugs" Branigan - famous Garda lived here during his retirement.
• Gordon Elliot - Trainer of 2007 Aintree Grand National, Silver Birch.
• Don Ambrosio O'Higgins Marqués de Osorno - (b.1720/21) Spanish Viceroy in Peru and Chile grew up in Summerhill between 1721-1751.

Sport

Football

Summerhill is home to Summerhill G.F.C. In 1905 a G.A.A. club was founded in Summerhill, sometime around 1913 or 1914 this team broke up and in the years that followed Summerhill had no team of its own. The present club was reformed in 1931 and won the Junior Football Championship the same year. It was not until 1972 that the club rose to Senior ranks for the first time. Once there, Summerhill quickly rose to become the foremost team in the county, winning the Senior title four times in a row from 1974 to 1977 and becoming the first Meath team to capture the Leinster title in 1977 by defeating St. Vincent's of Dublin. To date Summerhill G.F.C. have won six Senior County Football Championships: - 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1986 and most recently in 2011. The Summerhill GFC Roll of honor is as follows:

• Leinster Club Senior Football Champions 1977
• Meath Senior Football Champions 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1986, 2011
• Meath Intermediate Football Champions 1972
• Meath Junior Football Champions 1931, 1953, 1966, 1975
• Meath Junior B Football Champions 2002
• Meath Junior D Football Champions 2010
• Meath Feis Cup Football Champions 1973, 1974, 1985, 1991, 1996, 2006
• Meath 'A' League Div.1 Football Champions 1998, 2004, 2010
• Meath 'B' League Div.1 Football Champions 2010
• Meath Minor Football Champions 1942, 2004, 2005
• Meath Under 21 Football Champions 1997, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2009

Soccer

Summerhill is also the home of the soccer club Park Celtic Summerhill, which was founded in 2009 when local clubs Agher Park and Summerhill Celtic amalgamated to create one club for the area. The club also has a local rivalry with neighbouring club Trim Celtic.

Local Attractions

File:Balloon House (6788565746).jpg

One of the two Balloon Houses which were both pulled down. They were entrance lodges for Summerhill House.

• Dangan Castle,
• The Castle of Lynch,
• Summerhill Wood,
• The Leitrim Road (Ardrums),
• Agher Church, Reverend Jonathan Swift was Rector here,
• Larocor Church, Reverend Jonathan Swift was also Rector here. The church got deconsecrated and is not in use anymore,
• Summerhill Community Center has 2 indoor squash courts, a large indoor sports hall, 3 recently renovated tennis courts, an outdoor basketball court, a new playground and outdoor gym, a bar and restaurant,
• Summerhill Golf course.

Religion

The majority of the parish is Roman Catholic according to the 2011 census. However, there is a rising number of people who say they have no religion. Churches of the Area;

Jonathan Swift who was Rector in Agher church

Roman Catholic

• Our Lady of Lourdes, Dangan. (On Rosary Sunday, 4 October 1914 the church was consecrated by The Most Reverend Laurence Gaughran, Bishop of Meath.
• Church of the Assumption, Coole.

Church of Ireland (Anglican or Reformed Catholic)

• Agher Church (Agher Church is in the Rathmolyon and Dunboyne Union of parishes). The church's history goes back to 1407 when The Reverend W. Edwards was apart of the clergy.

See also

John's butcher (2007)

• List of towns and villages in Ireland

External links

• http://cooleschool.scoilnet.ie/blog/
• Map of Summerhill
• Summerhill Community Park an Playground
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