These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
Machaire Rátha· Irish · main form · validated name
Maghera· English · main form
Place & story
St Lurach’s church
The church associated with Lurach developed over many centuries. It was a bishop’s seat from the middle of the twelfth century into the thirteenth, then continued as a parish church until a replacement was built across the road in the early nineteenth century. The fabric includes an early nave, later chancel and a seventeenth-century tower. Repairs and alterations reflect that long use.[2]
The crucifixion above the door
The Romanesque west doorway carries interlace, plant and animal carving. On the lintel a crowded crucifixion scene places Christ between the thieves, with other figures and angels around the cross. The doorway has an external lintel and an internal semicircular arch. Nearby in the graveyard, a rough cross-carved pillar marks what tradition regards as Lurach’s burial place.[2]
People & connections
John Glendy’s Maghera ministry
John Glendy was born at Maghera in 1755 and became its Presbyterian minister in 1778 after education at Glasgow. He raised funds for a new meeting-house, completed in 1785, and participated in the Volunteer movement. In the 1790s his preaching embraced French revolutionary principles. A Volunteer corps formed from his congregation after an impassioned sermon in December 1792. He later joined the United Irishmen, making the congregation’s history part of the district’s radical political life.[3]
Both censuses use the same 2015 settlement boundary. These exact counts cover usual residents in the settlement, rather than local government districts or historic counties. Other NISRA tables may use approximate counts.
View population figures
MAGHERA (MID ULSTER LGD) — Settlement 2015 (N11000477) — census population
The census used a grid rectangle around the built-up area, rather than today’s settlement boundary. The 1981 figures are as enumerated, without adjustment for non-enumeration. These counts remain separate from later settlement totals.
View population figures
Maghera — census rectangle H840990 to C870020 — census population
The published 2001 KS01 settlement count uses an earlier geography and disclosure-control methods. It is not rebased to the 2015 settlement used for 2011 and 2021. The geographic matching file can contain a different 2001 count; the figure shown here comes from KS01.
View population figures
Maghera — KS01 Settlement (2005 geography) — census population
placenames