Mullaghbrack

{{see also|List of townlands of County Armagh{{!}}Townlands of County Armagh|List of civil parishes of County Armagh{{!}}Civil parishes of County Armagh}}

The civil parish of Mullaghbrack ({{irish place name|An Mullach Breac}}) spans the historic baronies of Fews Lower and Oneilland West in County Armagh.{{cite web|url = https://www.logainm.ie/2732.aspx | publisher = Placenames Database of Ireland | website = logainm.ie | title = An Mullach Breac / Mullaghbrack | accessdate = 11 September 2024 }} There are at least 43 townlands in the civil parish,{{cite web|url = https://www.logainm.ie/en/2732/omnisub/BF | publisher = Placenames Database of Ireland | website = logainm.ie | title = Sub-units of: An Mullach Breac/Mullaghbrack | accessdate = 11 September 2024 }}{{Cite web |title=IreAtlas Townland Search Form |url=https://thecore.com/seanruad/town_new2.php?MODE=search&TOWNLAND=&SORTBY=townland&METHOD=any&COUNTY=&BARONY=&METHOD1=any&PARISH=Mullaghbrack&METHOD2=any&PLU=&METHOD3=any&PROVINCE= |access-date=2024-10-25 |website=thecore.com}} including smaller townlands like Crunaght ({{convert|29|acres|km2}}){{cite web|url = https://www.townlands.ie/armagh/fews-lower/mullaghbrack-lower-fews-portion/markethill/crunaght/ | website = townlands.ie | title = Crunaght Townland, Co. Armagh | accessdate = 30 October 2024 }} and slightly larger townlands like Drumnamether ({{convert|389|acres|km2}}).{{Cite web |title=Drumnamether Townland, Co. Armagh |url=https://www.townlands.ie/armagh/orior-lower/mullaghbrack-oneilland-west-portion/mullaghbrack/drumnamether/ |access-date=11 September 2024 |website=townlands.ie}} Larger settlements in the civil parish include Markethill and Hamiltonsbawn.{{cite book | title = A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland | chapter = Mullaghbrack | chapter-url = https://www.libraryireland.com/topog/M/Mullaghbrack-Lower-Fews-Armagh.php | editor-first = Samuel | editor-last = Lewis | publisher = Lewis | date = 1837 | via = libraryireland.com }}

File:St. Johns's Parish Church, Mullabrack. - geograph.org.uk - 677964 (cropped).jpg

In the 5th century, a simple wooden church was built at Mullaghbrack, within the remains of an ancient earthen-ringed fort. This church is associated with the Culdee Priors of Armagh, who are sometimes regarded as "the successors of St Patrick".{{cite web |url=http://armagh.anglican.org/index.php/mullabrack-parishes-a-short-history/ |title=Mullabrack Parishes – a Short History | publisher=Diocese of Armagh |access-date=2020-11-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120209125121/http://armagh.anglican.org/index.php/mullabrack-parishes-a-short-history/ |archive-date=2012-02-09 }} The current Church of Ireland church in Mullaghbrack, St. John's Church, was largely rebuilt in the 18th and 19th centuries on the site of an earlier structure.{{cite web|url = http://www.bygonesandbyways.com/folders/churches_and_graveyards/st__john_s_mullabrack.htm | website = bygonesandbyways.com | title = St. John's Church of Ireland - Mullabrack | accessdate = 30 October 2024 }} Among the earliest monuments in the church is a plaque dated to 1638.{{cite web|url = http://www.mullabrackandkilcluney.yolasite.com/church-tours.php | website = mullabrackandkilcluney.co.uk | title = Church Tours | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20201126071049fw_/http://www.mullabrackandkilcluney.yolasite.com/church-tours.php | archivedate = 26 November 2020 | quote = The oldest monument in the Church is the memorial to Sarah Brabazon [..] which bears at the top, the date 1638 }}

The area was impacted during the Irish Rebellion of 1641. Irish commander Féilim Ó Néill, on his march from Newry to Armagh in 1641, reputedly ordered Mulmory MacDonell "... to kill all the English and Scots within the parishes of Mullebrack, Logilly and Kilcluney".{{cite book | title = A Review of the Evidence of the Pretended General Conspiracy of the Roman Catholics of Ireland, to Massacre "all the Protestants that Would Not Join with Them," on the 23d of October, 1641 | first = Mathew | last = Carey | page = 52 | publisher = H. C. Carey & I. Lea | date= 1823}} Among the properties destroyed in the Markethill area were the parish churches of Mullaghbrack and Kilcluney, Achesons Castle at Markethill and Hamilton's bawn. The rectors of Mullaghbrack (Reverend Mercer) and Loughgilly (Reverend Burns) were both killed.{{cite book | title = The Irish Rebellion of 1641: With a History of the Events which Led Up to and Succeeded it | publisher = J. Murray | date = 1920 | page = 192 | first = Ernest William | last = Hamiliton | authorlink = Lord Ernest Hamilton | quote = [While some reports] may be taken as one of the exaggerations so common to the period. All that is known for certain is that Mr. Mercer, minister of Mullaghbrack, and Mr. Burns, curate of Loughgilly, were among the victims | url = https://archive.org/details/irishrebellionof00hamiuoft/page/192/mode/2up?view=theater }}

The local Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) club is O'Donovan Rossa's ({{lang|ga|Cumann Uí Dhonnabháin Rossa}}), founded in 1903 as the Shamrocks; it disappeared in the 1930s but was reformed under its present name in 1953. The high point in the club's history was its winning the Armagh Junior Football Championship in 1983.{{cite web|url = http://www.armaghgaa.net/mullabrack-odonovan-rossa/ | work = Armagh GAA website | title = Mullabrack O'Donovan Rossa | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120830183455/http://www.armaghgaa.net/mullabrack-odonovan-rossa/ |archive-date=2012-08-30 }}

• Lord William Beresford (William Leslie de la Poer Beresford; 1847–1900), born in Mullabrack, received the Victoria Cross during the Anglo-Zulu War.{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/lordwilliamberes00menzuoft |last=Menzies |first=Mrs. Stuart |title=Lord William Beresford, V. C.; Some Memories of a Famous Sportsman, Soldier and Wit |year=1917 | page = 4 | quote = born [..] July 20th, 1847, in the quaint little village of Mullaghbrach, in the north of Ireland, where his father was rector | publisher = Herbert Jenkins Ltd | place = London }}

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{{County Armagh}}

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Category:Villages in County Armagh

Category:Townlands of County Armagh

Category:Civil parishes of County Armagh