Swinford

The origins of the name "Swinford" are disputed. Two primary theories exist; the first suggests that the original name of the town was "Swineford", derived from a pig market held regularly in the town.{{cite web |url=https://www.mellettsemporium.com/about/history-of-swinford/ |title=History Of Swinford |author= |date= |website= |publisher= |access-date=11 September 2021 |quote=}} The official Irish language name for the town is "Béal Átha na Muice", which is "mouth of the ford of the pigs" in English. The second theory as to the origin of the Swinford name is that it has always been named Swinford, and that the name Swinford is derived from Swinford, Leicestershire. The Brabazon family, who founded the town, originally came to Ireland from Leicestershire in the 1700s.{{cite web |url=http://www.swinford.ie/about/history-swinford-co-mayo/ |title=History of Swinford Co Mayo |last=Comer |first=Michael |date= |website= |publisher= |access-date=11 September 2021 |quote=}}

Swinford was created as a planned town by the Anglo-Irish Brabazon family in the late 1700s. The Brabazons had originally resided in County Galway, but lost their estates there after fighting on the losing side in the Williamite War in Ireland.{{cite web |url=https://www.mayo-ireland.ie/en/towns-villages/swinford/history/the-brabazon-estate.html |title=The Brabazon Estate, Swinford in Co. Mayo |author= |date= |website= |publisher= |access-date=11 September 2021 |quote=}} Although their Galway estates were confiscated, they were granted new land in County Mayo as a consolation. In 1769, the Brabazons began granting leases; 40 people were given the right to build houses in a pre-planned pattern and layout in the area that would become Swinford. The then landlord, William Brabazon, encouraged good quality structures by donating lumber and slate towards construction, and the result was that many of the initial structures in Swinford were three stories tall.

The Protestant church, which still stands today, was built in 1810, while a courthouse was constructed in 1840. Shortly thereafter in 1842 a workhouse was built, and it immediately became a focal point of the town as the Irish Famine began in 1846. In 1847, the death toll around Swinford was so severe that 564 corpses had to be buried in a mass grave behind the workhouse.{{cite web |url=https://www.mayo-ireland.ie/en/towns-villages/swinford/swinford-history.html |title=Swinford History in Co. Mayo |author= |date= |website= |publisher= |access-date=11 September 2021 |quote=}}

In 1855, the Sisters of Mercy established a presence in the town, building a convent near the parish church. They took over operations at the workhouse during the 1880s. In 1906 they established a primary school and a secondary school for girls in the town. In 1916 the Sisters of Mercy took over Brabazon estate house and converted it into a school.

During the 1890s a bridge was constructed in Swinford to allow the entry of a railway through the town as well as the establishment of Swinford railway station. It was also during the 1890s that a Catholic church was built.

John Dillon was a long-serving Member of Parliament for East Mayo at Westminster. His major policy issue was the resolution of the Land Question. Dillon took an uncompromising position in favour of the smallholders (small farmers) who sought to gain ownership of the land which they held as tenants from the largely Anglo-Irish landlords. From the middle of the 19th century, ongoing attempts were made at Westminster by the Liberal Party under William Ewart Gladstone to resolve the issue by passing the Irish Land Acts. Irish opinion, while welcoming of the initiative to resolve the injustice, was divided between the moderates, led by William O'Brien, who favoured a conciliatory approach (known as the doctrine of conciliation) and the hardliners. The hardliners supported an aggressive agrarian struggle and sought to advance simultaneously the struggle for Home Rule.

On 25 August 1903, Dillon, addressing a meeting of his constituents at the Swinford Workhouse, spoke vehemently against the doctrine of conciliation. This divided the Party and led to the departure of William O'Brien. It became known as the "Swinford Revolt". Despite the turmoil, the Chief Secretary for Ireland, George Wyndham's Land Purchase (Ireland) Act 1903 passed at Westminster, resolving the Irish Land Question.{{cite book | first = Alvin | last = Jackson | title = Ireland 1798–1998: Politics and War | page = 152 | year = 1999 | isbn = 9780631195429 }}

File:Our Lady Help of Christians Church-Swinford, Co. Mayo - geograph.org.uk - 619885.jpg

Swinford, like other areas in the West of Ireland, was the site of a number of actions during the Irish War of Independence (1919–1921). According to one account, nationalists in East Mayo had a long running split dating back to the Parnell scandal, with relations between nationalist factions in Swinford and Meelick particularly poor.{{cite book|title = The Irish War of Independence: The Definitive Account of the Anglo Irish War of 1919–1921 |author= Michael Hopkinson |date= 2002 |isbn=978-0-7171-6197-3|page=149|publisher= Gill & Macmillan Ltd |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=q_P4AwAAQBAJ&pg=PT149}} The failure to organise in advance of the Easter Rebellion in 1916 paradoxically meant however that relatively few Swinford men were arrested and interned, meaning they were outside the network of republican leaders that developed in the internment camps and prisons. It was not until approx 1920 that the IRA was structured in Swinford, and from then, with the participation of a group of young volunteers, the activity increased, particularly in the sphere of Republican Courts.

According to the Galway Observer of Saturday, 24 July 1920, in an article entitled "Shots in Swinford":

A military patrol of the Border regiment from Claremorris was fired at on Saturday night at Swinford and two soldiers were severely wounded. The soldiers halted at Swinford courthouse, from which four streets branch and immediately shots were fired at them by unknown parties. The lorry was riddled in several places with several bullets.

The military returned the fire, discharging as many as 500 rounds, with what result did not transpire. The wounded soldiers were conveyed to Claremorris, where their wounds were dressed prior to removal to the Curragh Hospital.{{cite news | url= http://places.galwaylibrary.ie/history/chapter336.html#pt3 |title = Shots in Swinford |access-date= 16 July 2014 |work= Galway Observer |date = 24 July 1920}}

On 19 August 1920, IRA members broke into the goods shed at Swinford Railway station and destroyed 10 tons of food and fuel belonging to British security forces.{{cite web|url= https://archive.org/stream/administrationof00streuoft/administrationof00streuoft_djvu.txt |title= The administration of Ireland, 1920 by I.U. |author= Cecil John Charles Street|date= 1921}} Later that month, on 27 August 1920 IRA volunteers from Swinford and Bohola attacked and captured Ballyvary RIC Barracks,{{cite web|url= http://www.dcu.ie/~foxs/irhist/august_1920.htm |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20050212101341/http://www.dcu.ie/~foxs/irhist/august_1920.htm | archive-date= 12 February 2005 | work= Chronology of Irish History 1919 – 1923 |title= August 1920 }} and on 27 November 1920 two Swinford men, James Henry and Thomas Fraher were convicted at a military court in Galway of possessing weapons and intelligence on the RIC. Both were sentenced to periods of imprisonment.{{cite news|url= http://places.galwaylibrary.ie/history/chapter281.html | work= Connacht Tribune | date = 27 November 1920 |title= Sentences — Results of Recent Court Martial at Galway — Six Months for Acting as Republican Policeman }}

Local folklore has it that other British patrols were ambushed in rural areas outside the town, and that local Volunteers from the (Old) Irish Republican Army climbed onto the roof of the Royal Irish Constabulary barracks (now the site of the Gateway Hotel) and burnt it to the ground by breaking slates and pouring petrol into the building.

During this period British soldiers were also billeted in the town.

Swinford railway station opened on 1 October 1895, closed for passenger traffic on 17 June 1963 and finally closed altogether on 3 November 1975.{{cite web | title=Swinford station | work=Railscot – Irish Railways | url=http://www.railscot.co.uk/Ireland/Irish_railways.pdf | access-date=2007-11-24}}

File:Statue in Swinford (geograph 2445554).jpg

Swinford hosts one of County Mayo's largest summer festivals and has done since the mid-1980s: Siamsa Sráide Swinford, (Fun in the Streets of Swinford). This street festival of pageantry, céilí dancing, and heritage displays depicts the traditions of East Mayo. The five-day festival takes place in the first week of August and features live bands playing open-air concerts as well as a heritage day, history walks and an busking competition.{{cite news| title = Swinford comes alive for annual Siamsa festival| publisher = Western People| date = 21 July 2004| url = http://archives.tcm.ie/westernpeople/2004/07/21/story20681.asp| access-date = 2007-02-22| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070929150814/http://archives.tcm.ie/westernpeople/2004/07/21/story20681.asp| archive-date = 29 September 2007| df = dmy-all}}

Swinford is used for the filming of TV show Hardy Bucks, as the fictional town of Castletown.

Up to the mid-1980s the town had 3 second-level schools: St. Patrick's college, St. Mary's Convent and the vocational school. All three schools amalgamated in August 1992 to become Scoil Muire agus Padraig.{{cite web|url= http://www.irlgov.ie/debates-03/17Dec/Sect7.htm|title= Adjournment Debate – School Accommodation|access-date=2007-11-21 |date=2003-09-17|work= Dáil Éireann Debates|publisher= Office of the Houses of the Oireachtas|quote=Minister of State at the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (Mr. N. Ahern): The school came into operation as a result of an amalgamation of the existing secondary school, Meanscoil Mhuire agus Phádraig, and the local vocational school in August 1992.}}

{{cite web|url= http://www.educationireland.ie/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=131&Itemid=143

| title= Post Primary Schools in County Mayo|access-date=2007-11-21|work= Educationireland.ie}} There is also a national school called Scoil Maire Agus Treasa or Swinford National School.{{citation needed|date=November 2019}}

{{See also|Category:People from Swinford, County Mayo}}

• Thomas Martin Aloysius Burke, bishop of Albany (New York){{cite book | title = Ordinations of U.S. Catholic Bishops, 1790–1989: A Chronological List | first = Charles N. | last = Bransom | publisher = National Conference of Catholic Bishops | date = 1990 | isbn = 9781555863234 | page = 49}}
• Pádraig Carney (1928–2019), Mayo inter-county Gaelic footballer{{cite web|url = https://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/2019/0609/1054410-mayo-all-ireland-winner-padraig-carney-dies-aged-91/ | publisher = RTÉ | website = rte.ie | title = Mayo All-Ireland winner Padraig Carney dies aged 91 | date = 10 June 2019 | access-date = 30 June 2020 }}
• Mary Davis, disability rights activist{{cite web|url = https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-15118509 | publisher = BBC | website = bbc.com | title = Who are the seven people bidding to be the next president of Ireland? | date = 30 September 2011 | access-date = 30 June 2020 }}
• Bernard Durkan, TD for Kildare North constituency{{cite web|url = https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/oireachtas/profile-bernard-durkan-fg-1.2554210 | publisher = Irish Times | website = irishtimes.com | title = Profile: Bernard Durkan (FG) | date = 29 February 2016 | access-date = 30 June 2020 }}
• John Feeney (1903–1967), Irish tenor, buried at Swinford{{cite web |url=https://presspack.rte.ie/2005/08/24/townlands-loves-old-sweet-song/ |title=Townlands – 'Love's Old Sweet Song' | RTÉ Presspack |website=presspack.rte.ie |access-date=21 March 2018}}
• Joe Lydon, boxer and footballer{{fact|date=November 2024}}
• Enda Marren, former member of the Council of State and of the Law Reform Commission{{cite web|url = https://www.irishtimes.com/kenny-tribute-to-enda-marren-1.1320271 | publisher = Irish Times | website = irishtimes.com | title = Kenny tribute to Enda Marren | date = 9 March 2013 | access-date = 30 June 2020 }}
• Ulick McEvaddy, owner of Omega Air{{cite web|url = https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/brothers-with-altitude-26142383.html | publisher = Independent News & Media | website = independent.ie | title = Brothers with altitude | date = 28 August 1999 | access-date = 30 June 2020 }}
• Caitríona Ruane, Stormont Minister for Education and South Down MLA{{cite web|url = https://www.advertiser.ie/mayo/article/12012/remarkable-swinford-native-recognised-for-her-exceptional-work | publisher = Mayo Advertiser | website = advertiser.ie | title = 'Remarkable' Swinford native recognised for her exceptional work

| date = 8 May 2009 | access-date = 30 June 2020 }}

• Chris Tordoff, known as Francis 'The Viper' Higgins. Actor, Comedian and YouTube personality{{citation needed|date=June 2020}}
• Michaela Walsh, shotputter and hammer thrower{{cite web |url=http://www.con-telegraph.ie/news/roundup/articles/2018/01/18/4150960-swinford-athlete-michaela-walsh-is-young-mayo-person-of-the-year-2018/ |publisher=Connaught Telegraph | website = con-telegraph.ie |title=Swinford athlete Michaela Walsh is Young Mayo Person of the Year 2018 |date=18 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180118191348/http://www.con-telegraph.ie/news/roundup/articles/2018/01/18/4150960-swinford-athlete-michaela-walsh-is-young-mayo-person-of-the-year-2018/ |archive-date=18 January 2018 }}

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