Clones ( ; , meaning 'meadow of Eois') is a small town in the west of County Monaghan in Ireland. The area is part of the Border Region in the Republic of Ireland, earmarked for economic development by the Irish Government due to its currently below-average economic situation. The town was badly hit economically by the Partition of Ireland in 1921 because of its location on the border with County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. The creation of the Irish border deprived it of access to a large part of its economic hinterland for many years. The town had a population of 1,885 at the 2022 census. The town is in a civil parish of the same name.

Toponymy Historically Clones was also spelt Clonis, Clonish and Clownish. These are anglicised versions of the Irish Cluain Eois, meaning "Eos's meadow". The ancient name was Cluan Innis, "island of retreat", it having formerly been nearly surrounded by water.

History

Early Christian Ireland The monastery of Clones was established in the 6th century by St. Tighernach. Tighernach was of the family Uí Cremthainn: one of the many families that made up the kingdom of Airgialla in South Ulster. St. Tighernach had received the benediction of St. Maccartin, granted the bishopric of Clogher and performed many miracles across Ireland, Britain and France. It is said under the direction of an Angel, he erected Clones Monastery in the territory of his grandfather. The monastery of Clones would expand quickly, and Tighernach was consecrated as the first bishop of Clones while retaining his Clogher bishopric, being referred to as "Ferdachrioch", (man of two districts). The cult of Tighernach, which grew from his legend, was propagated a branch of the Uí Cremthainn who migrated to the Clones area in the 8th century. St. Tighernach became the most popular saint in the Clogher diocese. The Clones abbey of SS Peter and Paul promoted Tighernach outside of the diocese that his cult extended across the British Isles. The succeeding abbots of Clones would be titled "coarb" (successors to the founder of the monastery) and received special privileges in the Clones parish.

Norman Ireland During the 12th century, ecclesiastical reform sought to curtail the perceived clerical abuses of the Irish. Like the Clones coarbship, church offices had become hereditary within powerful Gaelic families. As part of the reformation, the Canons Regular of St Augustine established themselves in Clones and set up a monastery. They owned property in Lisdrum, Maguiresbridge and Granshagh. Nevertheless, the Clones coarbship continued to be inherited within families like the McMahons up until the confiscation of Clones parish in the 16th century.

The Norman invasions of the late 13th century saw Clones monastery razed by Hugh de Lacy. In 1211, a motte and bailey were constructed by Normans overlooking Clones but the occupation did not last.

Early Modern Ireland Having been confiscated by the English Crown during the Plantations of Ireland, the entire church estate was subsequently leased to Elizabethan explorer Sir Henry Duke in 1587. It was later inherited in 1640 by his descendant, Anne Loftus, granddaughter of Thomas, 1st Viscount Loftus. By 1641, the estate was in the ownership of her husband, who was Richard Lennard-Barrett, owner of the Belhus Estate in Essex. During the Irish Rebellion of 1641, Clones was the site of conflicts between native Gaelic gentry and newly settled planters from Great Britain. The Depositions state that Irish rebels, led by MacMahons of Oriel (Monaghan) hoping to restore their ancestral lands, looted and burned properties now occupied by planters; targeting rich farmers and their tenants. At least thirty-four planters and dozens of Irish rebels were killed over the course of the war.

Free State and Republic On 11 February 1922, during the partition of Ireland, there was an armed confrontation in Clones between the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the Ulster Special Constabulary (USC). A unit of armed Special Constables stopped off at Clones railway station while travelling by train from Belfast to Enniskillen (both in Northern Ireland). The Provisional Government of Southern Ireland was unaware any British forces would be crossing through its territory. IRA volunteers called on the USC men to surrender for questioning, but one of them shot dead an IRA sergeant. This sparked a firefight in which four Special Constables were killed and several wounded. Five others were captured.Lawlor, Pearse. The Outrages: The IRA and the Ulster Special Constabulary in the Border Campaign. Mercier Press, 2011. pp.212–246 The incident, known as the "Clones Affray", threatened to spark off a major confrontation between North and South, and the British government temporarily suspended the withdrawal of British troops from the South. A Border Commission was set up to mediate in any future border disputes, but achieved very little."The Clones affray, 1922 – massacre or invasion?". History Ireland, Volume 12, Issue 3 (Autumn 2004).

During The Troubles, on 28 December 1972, a car bomb exploded on Fermanagh Street in Clones, seriously injuring two men. This happened on the same day as the Belturbet bombing in County Cavan which killed two teenagers and injured several other people. The bombings were believed to be the work of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). This was not the only incident in Clones during the Troubles. On the 16 October 1972 at 11 p.m. a bomb exploded again - it was on Fermanagh Street in Clones, at the side of The Creighton Hotel in a yard known as the "Butter Yard"; nobody was injured in this attack. Gardaí said they believed the UVF linked loyalist paramilitary group the Red Hand Commandos were behind the bombing.

Historical Features

Clones Abbey Clones Abbey was founded in the 6th century by St. Tighernach on land granted by an Irish king. The remains that can be seen today include an Augustinian abbey, round tower, 18th century, pictographic tombstones and the stone sarcophagus of St. Tighernach.

Crossmoyle High Cross Cross Moyle ('Cruisse Mhuile', meaning half cross) High Cross is a 15 foot tall or 5 metre (excluding the base) sandstone structure overlooking the Diamond (market place or town square). The shaft and head are separate pieces. The shaft is older dating from 825 to 875 AD, it is decorated with interlacing beads that run up the sides and form a collar at the top. Religious imagery is displayed in compartments which give a chronological summary of the bible. Such depictions include: 'The Fall of Man', 'The Adoration of the Magi' and 'The Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes'. The head of the cross complements the shaft, featuring old testament and new testament images on either side.

Norman Motte and Bailey The Norman Motte and Bailey are large earthen structures located behind the St Tighearnach's Church of Ireland. It consists of a steep central mound situated atop three concentric terraces and a bailey. It was constructed in 1211 and used by the Normans to launch an attack on County Tyrone. The attack resulted in a Norman defeat and the fortification was destroyed in 1212. Reports of 'extensive subterraneous passages' in relation to the fortification have been made by locals as far back as 1865.

St. Tighearnach's Church of Ireland St Tighearnach's Church of Ireland is a limestone, cruciform Gothic revival Church of Ireland church. A sketch dating to 1586-7 shows evidence of churches being present on the site from before the land was leased to Sir Henry Duke by the English crown. The earliest inscription on St Tighearnach's Church reads: 1696. The actual Church of Ireland Parish itself predates this. The earliest recorded Rector of Clones was James Hygate, a native of Scotland, who was appointed in 1609. The 17th century structure was replaced in 1822–25 by a building designed by John Bowden, Board of First Fruits diocesan architect, or his successor William Farrell. It was remodeled in 1857–8 to become a pro-cathedral. It features a steep set of fourteen sandstone steps, a three staged tower with ashlar masonry and a crenellated parapet topped with a spire with pointed-arch windows with chamfered surrounds and hood mouldings.

Clones Presbyterian Church Built in 1858 and designed by architect Robert Young, Clones Presbyterian Church building features a rare 1873 J.C. Combe pipe organ. The congregation is part of the Monaghan Presbytery.

Plantation Castle The Plantation Castle is a , three-story stone structure. The castle was constructed before 1640. A lease for Clones estate in 1636 mentions 'the Castle of Clones' in the possession of Nicholas Simpson. It lists features including a kitchen, brew house, stable and bawn. In 1641, the Protestant inhabitants of Clones took refuge in the castle after two hundred Jacobites assembled in Clones. The occupants of the castle sallied multiple times and, armed with muskets, harassed the Jacobite forces. This drove the Jacobites into negotiation with the occupants offering the security of their lives and property in exchange for the surrendering of the castle. The defenders acquiesced and returned to their already looted homes. The castle was 'rediscovered' in 2016 and its story was featured in BBC news and the Irish Times. It is currently owned by Failte Ireland. Clones Community Forum applied for a Heritage Council grant to contract an archaeological team to investigate the site in 2016.

Railways Clones was linked by rail to Dundalk from 1855, Enniskillen from 1859, Cavan from 1862 and Armagh from 1863. Clones railway station was opened on 26 June 1858 by the Dundalk and Enniskillen Railway. From 1876 all of these lines were part of the Great Northern Railway (GNR).

The Partition of Ireland in 1922 made Clones a border post on the railway, which combined with road competition to cause the Great Northern to decline. In 1954, the governments of the Republic and Northern Ireland jointly nationalised the GNR and in 1957 Northern Ireland made the GNR close its lines from Armagh and Enniskillen to Clones. This made it impractical to continue services on the Cavan and Dundalk lines so the GNR withdrew passenger services on those lines as well, leaving Clones with no passenger trains and a freight service truncated at the border. The GNR closed Clones station to passenger traffic on 14 October 1957.

In 1958 the two states partitioned the GNR between the Ulster Transport Authority and CIÉ. CIÉ withdrew freight services from the Cavan line in 1959 and from the Dundalk line in 1960, leaving Clones with no railway at all. CIÉ closed Clones freight depot on 1 January 1960.

Rivers and canal

The Finn River, which rises a few miles north-west of Roslea in the south-east of County Fermanagh, flows immediately to the south of Clones, while a stream called the Lacky River (also known as the Killylacky River) flows along the northern, western and south-western outskirts of Clones.Discoverer Series Sheet 27 (E Edition). Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland (O.S.N.I.), Land and Property Services, Belfast, 2011. The source of the Lacky River is Killylacky Lough, just to the west of Aghadrumsee in the south-east of County Fermanagh. The Lacky River flows into the Finn River close to Annies Bridge, just south-south-west of Clones, between Clones and Scotshouse.

The Cavan Road (part of the A3/N54) and the Newtownbutler Road (part of the A34) both cross the Lacky River on the outskirts of Clones, as do two sideroads: the Lacky Road and the Magheraveely Road.

The national inland waterways agency, Waterways Ireland, is planning to restore the Ulster Canal from the Wattlebridge area of Upper Lough Erne to Clones.

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