placenamesMaghera
Machaire Rátha
Schools supported by the Keowen family form part of the parish’s nineteenth-century history.
The name
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
- Maghera · English · main form
Place & story
Land and inhabitants
In 1837 Samuel Lewis recorded 1,514 inhabitants in Maghera parish, of whom 167 lived in the village. His description places the parish beside an inlet of Dundrum Bay. Fertile ground, sandy soil, marsh and bog all occurred within its boundaries, with marshy land providing pasture. [2]
Schools and local support
The parochial school was founded in 1826 by J. Keowen, who built its schoolhouse on the glebe and endowed it with five pounds a year. Lewis reported about forty pupils there. At Tollymore, Mrs Keowen supported another schoolhouse where around fifty children received free instruction, and some girls were provided with clothing. Two Sunday schools added to the parish’s educational provision. [2]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Civil parish
- County
- Down
- Barony
- Iveagh Upper, Lower Half
- Coordinates
- 0.00000, 0.00000
- Mapped area
- 13.1 km²
- Logainm ID
- 65739 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Maghera. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Maghera, Upper Iveagh, Down, A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837) · Samuel Lewis
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2019-10-08. How this page was prepared.