A visit to Belturbet, Co. Cavan in 2019

A slideshow of photos I took during my first visit to Belturbet in County Cavan on Monday 25th November 2019.
Belturbet (Irish: Béal Tairbirt, meaning "mouth of the isthmus") is a town in County Cavan, Ireland. It lies next to the N3 Dublin-Ballyshannon road, around 14 km north of Cavan town and 123 km from Dublin. It is also located around 4 km south of the border with County Fermanagh, and 36 km from Enniskillen. It had a population of 1,369 in the 2016 Census.
Belturbet's location is historically one of the best places for crossing the River Erne. When the Anglo-Normans tried to conquer Cavan in the early 13th century, Walter de Lacy built a motte-and-bailey on Turbet Island. The fort was probably made of wood and has not survived, although the steep mound of earth where it was built can still be seen. In the late 16th century the local O'Reilly chieftains built a castle opposite Turbot Island, but this has not survived either.
As part of the Plantation of Ulster in the early 17th century, the lands around Belturbet were granted to the English "undertaker" Stephen Butler. He soon established a thriving urban centre, whose prosperity relied heavily on its position on the Erne. The town was seized by the Irish during the Irish Rebellion of 1641, and was the site of one of the massacres of planters, in which over two dozen people were thrown from the town's bridge and drowned. In March 1653, under Viscount Magennis of Iveagh, it was the last town in Ireland to fall to Cromwell; the final Irish stronghold at nearby Cloughoughter held out for a further month.
The town also acquired an English garrison in the late 17th century. Many of the original fortifications are in good repair. Belturbet retains much of its original layout. The main street leads to the square or 'diamond' where all of the town's important buildings are situated. The Church of Ireland church dominates the skyline; some of it dates from the early 17th century, and it was one of the first Anglican churches built in Ireland, reputedly using materials from Drumlane Abbey. The proto-Quaker leader, William Edmundson, was detained in Belturbet in the 1650s, and put in the stocks. The church was damaged by lightning in the 1720s.
Belturbet was represented in the Irish House of Commons from 1611 to 1800. Between 1725 and 1793 Catholics and those married to Catholics could not vote.
John Wesley passed through in 1760, and noted
"a town in which there is neither Papist nor Presbyterian; but, to supply that defect there are, Sabbath-breakers, drunkards, and common swearers in abundance."
Two young people, Geraldine O'Reilly, from Staghall, Belturbet, and Patrick Stanley, from Clara, County Offaly, were killed by a Loyalist car bomb in Belturbet on 28 December 1972.
Church of the Immaculate Conception in Belturbet was built between 1954 and 1956 and replaced an older church. Belturbet Church of Ireland was built in 1828 and replaced an older church.
St. Mary's BNS, Fairgreen National School and Covent of Mercy National School are the primary schools in Belturbet. The town's only secondary school is St Bricins Vocational School. It is a vocational school run by County Cavan VEC.
The railway station in Belturbet has recently been restored and is back to its former glory. It was opened on 29 June 1885 for the Great Northern Railway (Ireland) connecting to the broad gauge branch to Ballyhaise railway station on the Clones to Cavan line. It also served the narrow gauge Cavan and Leitrim Railway to Dromod and Arigna, for which it opened on 24 October 1887. The station finally closed for all services on 1 April 1959. Belturbet railway station is now a railway museum.
Bus Éireann Expressway Route 30 links Belturbet with Dublin, Cavan, Enniskillen and Donegal. Also, Ulsterbus Route 5810 from Enniskillen has its terminus in the town. The bus stop is located outside the former post office on the Diamond (for Cavan/Dublin-bound services it is on the opposite side of the road). Leydons Coaches operate route 930 linking the town to Cavan, Ballyconnell, Bawnboy, Swanlinbar and Enniskillen.
The Staghall to Drumaloor section of the N3 Belturbet Bypass opened on 2 August 2013. The remainder to the south opened on 13 December 2013.
The town has a Farmers Mart every Friday afternoon, where local and fresh produce is sold.
Belturbet has a local GAA club, Belturbet Rory O'Moores. The club was founded in 1888. The club won the Cavan Junior Football Championship in 1937 and 1995 and won the Cavan Intermediate Football Championship in 1996.
A Play entitled "The Tangler in Court" written by local Playwright Brendan McCann, and produced by Belturbet Dramatic Society is presented at Belturbet Festival of The Erne during the period July 26 - August 3, 2009.
The Erne Palais Ballroom is one of the buildings in the town listed by the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.

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Thank you for this!!

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Beautiful town,and great people live in it,

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