Bellanagare

Evidence of ancient settlement in the area includes several ringfort, enclosure, standing stone and Ogham stone sites in the townlands of Bellanagare, Drummin and Kilcorkey.{{cite book | title = Record of Monuments and Places - County Roscommon | publisher = National Monuments and Historic Properties Service | date = 1997 | place = Dublin}} Bellanagare Castle, located in Bellanagare townland and historically associated with the O'Conor family, was surrounded by a bawn wall and was the site of a later house.{{cite web|url = https://heritagedata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=0c9eb9575b544081b0d296436d8f60f8&query=18a4b61b268-layer-9%2CSMRS%2CRO015-048001- | title = NMS mapping data - RO015-048001- | via = heritagedata.maps.arcgis.com | quote = RO015-048001- [..] Castle [..] Bellanagare [..] Described as Bellanagare Castle on the 1837 ed. of the OS 6-inch map, and situated on a slight S-facing slope. Denis O'Conor received a partial return of O'Conor Don lands in 1720 [..] Bellanagare is the location of Bealach Coille recorded in 1489 [..] which may have been a castle }}{{cite web|url = https://heritagedata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=0c9eb9575b544081b0d296436d8f60f8&query=18a4b61b268-layer-9%2CSMRS%2CRO015-048001- | title = NMS mapping data - RO015-048002- | via = heritagedata.maps.arcgis.com }}

The O'Conor Don ancestral lands were in County Roscommon centred on Clonalis House near Castlerea in County Roscommon.{{Cite web|url=http://landedestates.nuigalway.ie/LandedEstates/jsp/estate-show.jsp?id=273|title=Estate Record: O'Conor Don | website = landedestates.nuigalway.ie }} When Alexander O'Conor Don died in 1820 without a male heir, the title was inherited by the O'Conors of Bellanagare. In 1828, O'Conor Don of Belanagar was a member of the Grand Panel of County Roscommon. At the time of Griffith's Valuation (1860s), Charles Owen O'Conor was one of the principal lessors in the parishes of Kilcorkey and Kilkeevin, barony of Castlereagh.

Charles O'Conor, of Belanagare, was a scholar and antiquary who was born in 1710.{{cite book |chapter-url = http://www.libraryireland.com/biography/CharlesOConor.php | via = libraryireland.com | chapter = Charles O'Conor | title = A Compendium of Irish Biography | first = Alfred | last = Webb | date = 1878 }} In 1754 he published a work on Irish mining, and in 1766 he published the work for which he is best known, Dissertations on the History of Ireland. O'Conor died at Belanagare on 1 July 1791, and his collection of manuscripts (containing the only then known original of the first part of the Annals of the Four Masters), passed into the hands of the Marquis of Buckingham.{{fact|date=October 2024}}

Hermitage House was built by Charles O'Conor circa 1760, and the former O'Conor family residence at Bellanagare Castle subsequently fell into ruin. Hermitage House, built some distance away, was a smaller Georgian house which O'Conor referred to as his "hermitage". At Hermitage House, he devoted his time to the collection and study of Irish manuscripts, the publication of dissertations, and the cause of Irish and Catholic emancipation.{{fact|date=October 2024}} His great-great-grandson, also Charles O'Conor, was leasing the property at Ballaghcullia, valued at £10, to Honoria O'Conor at the time of Griffith's Valuation in 1868. As of the 21st century, Hermitage House is still extant though not occupied and a modern bungalow has been constructed in front of it.{{citation needed|date=March 2020}}

File:The Catholic Church at the village of Bellanagare (geograph 2714870).jpg

Ballinagare Community Centre, a community-run centre for the village and surrounding area, runs leisure activities and has a gym, and astro turf pitch.{{citation needed|date=October 2017}}

Ballinagare Football Club, an association football club which was established in 2004,{{cite web|url = http://bfc.ie/ | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20130520105343/http://bfc.ie/ | archivedate = 20 May 2013 | title = Ballinagare Football Club website | website = bfc.ie }} plays its home games at Ballinagare Community Pitch beside the community centre. The club colours are orange with a black trim

Other sports clubs in the area include the Western Gaels GAA Club. This Gaelic Athletic Association club was formed in Fairymount Hall in 1962. The club's catchment area consists of the parishes of Frenchpark and Fairymount in West Roscommon, close to the towns of Castlerea and Ballaghaderreen.{{fact|date=October 2024}} The club's crest includes images of several landmarks from the area, including Mount Druid House near Ballinagare.{{cite web|url = http://westerngaels.com/?page_id=357 | website = westerngaels.com | title = Club History - Our Crest | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20180816154340/http://westerngaels.com/?page_id=357| archivedate = 16 August 2018 }}

Ballinagare Horse and Pony Racing club was established in 2012.{{citation needed|date=October 2017}}

• Pádraig Ó Caoimh (1897–1964), soldier and secretary of the Gaelic Athletic Association{{cite web|url = https://www.dib.ie/biography/o-caoimh-padraig-paddy-okeeffe-a6290 | work = Dictionary of Irish Biography | title = Ó Caoimh, Pádraig (Paddy O'Keeffe) | last = Coleman | first = Marie | date = October 2009 | accessdate = 15 October 2024 | doi = 10.3318/dib.006290.v1 }}
• Charles O'Conor (1710–1791), antiquarian and activist for Catholic Emancipation{{cite web|url = https://www.dib.ie/biography/oconor-charles-a6652 | work = Dictionary of Irish Biography | title = O'Conor, Charles | last = Ó Catháin | first = Diarmaid | date = October 2009 | accessdate = 15 October 2024 | doi = 10.3318/dib.006652.v1 }}
• Douglas Hyde (1860–1949), the first President of Ireland, was from the area and attended fairs in Bellanagare{{cite web|url = http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft2w1004tq/ | title = Douglas Hyde: A Maker of Modern Ireland | first1 = Janet Egleson | last1 = Dunleavy | first2 = Gareth W. | last2 = Dunleavy | date = 1991 | publisher = University of California Press | page = 24 | quote = Sometimes in the shop in Ballaghaderreen or at the fair in Bellanagare, he would eavesdrop on other Irish speakers, testing his comprehension }}
• Andrew McDermot (1790–1881), fur trader with the Hudson's Bay Company.{{cite web|url = https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/mcdermot_andrew_11E.html | work = Dictionary of Canadian Biography (volume XI) | publisher = University of Toronto/Université Laval | date = 1982 | title = McDermot, Andrew | first = Barry E. | last = Hyman | accessdate = 22 April 2025 }}

• List of towns and villages in Ireland

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• [http://www.buildingsofireland.ie/cgi-bin/viewsite.cgi?siteid=4564 Historic map showing Hermitage House and estate near Bellanagare]
• [https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRPMaFpLLSvfOGJgjq4wZKWXFqSKI79uL3Sm84CX0V8AGzLiN4fzw Hermitage 1812 Bog Commission Survey - Photo]

{{County Roscommon}}

Category:Towns and villages in County Roscommon