Shercock
Searcóg
Town
St. Patrick's Church
St. Patrick's Church
Shercock is located in Ireland
Shercock
Shercock
Location in Ireland
Coordinates: 53°59′40″N 6°53′48″W / 53.9945°N 6.8968°W / 53.9945; -6.8968
CountryIreland
ProvinceUlster
CountyCounty Cavan
Population
 (2016)[1]
588
Time zoneUTC±0 (WET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+1 (IST)
Eircode routing key
A81
Telephone area code+353(0)42
Irish Grid ReferenceH720057
Glasleck Presbyterian church near Shercock

Shercock (/ˈʃɜːrˌkɒk/ SHUR-kok);[2] Irish: Searcóg)[3] is a small town and civil parish in the east of County Cavan, Ireland. As of the 2016 census, the population of the town was 588.[1]

Shercock is 12 km west of Carrickmacross, at the intersection of the R162 and R178 regional roads. It sits on the shores of three lakes: Lough Sillan, Steepleton's Lake, and Muddy Lake. Lough Sillan is the largest of the three, covering approximately 162 hectares.

Main Street

History

The town was founded in the early seventeenth century as a plantation village to accommodate mainly Presbyterian Scottish settlers who were planted in this part of County Cavan. Usually, these planters gave their new settlements English or Scottish names—the neighbouring towns are Kingscourt, Cootehill, and Bailieborough—but Shercock retained its Irish name. The modern Irish-language name is Searcoig or Searcóg.

Nearly all of the surrounding townlands have kept their Gaelic names. For example, the townland of Lecks, on the Kingscourt road on the outskirts of Shercock, has been so named for a thousand years because of the flat-slabbed rocky landscape (leac is the Irish word for a flagstone).

By the mid-nineteenth century, the village and immediate area had a population of about 5,000. However, the great famines and subsequent emigration affected the county of Cavan, reducing the population by 50% between 1841 and 1891.

There were less than 300 people residing in Shercock by 1910. Despite the small population, the town enjoyed the services of a railway station and post office, which had telegraph and money-order departments. Letters arrived daily from Dublin, Belfast, and England at 8.15 am and were dispatched every 5.15 pm. The telegraph office operated from 8 am to 8 pm. Wednesday was the market day around this time.[4]

Industry

The region is known as "Drumlin Country" owing to its topography of small hills and lakes formed at the end of the last ice age. County Cavan borders County Fermanagh and County Monaghan. Together, they form the colloquially named "Drumlin County". Shercock lies on the border between County Cavan and County Monaghan.

The Shercock area's main industry for nearly 300 years was the growing of flax for linen-making. One townland just outside Shercock is named Miltown, after the flax mill which lies ruined at its center. The industry gradually died away with the decline of the linen industry in northern Ireland.

Nowadays the town has some light industry and a small number of tourists based mainly on water sports and angling. Lough Sillan, on the edge of the town, is a noted coarse fishing lake. Annaghieran lake is situated one mile from town, and populated with Roach and Bream.[5]

One of the enterprises which brings employment to the town is Manor Farms and Carton Brothers Chicken factory, which employs over 800 people and sources chicken from some 160 local chicken farms.

Transport

Sillan Tours Limited provides daily bus connections from Shercock to Kingscourt, Navan and Dublin.[6] Local Link launched route 171, from Shercock to Dundalk via Carrickmacross and Inniskeen, in July 2023 with several journeys each way daily. An electric bus is used on the route.[7] Bus Éireann route 166 links Shercock to Cavan, Carrickmacross and Dundalk on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays only.[8]

Arts

The annual Shercock Drama Festival usually takes place in March, with drama groups from around the country participating in the event. St Patrick's Hall serves as the venue. It celebrated its 25th year in 2012.

Sport

Shercock GFC, the local GAA club, play in the Cavan Senior Football Championship. In 2017, the club won the Tommy Gilroy Cup[9][10] and, in the same year, received funding for the improvement of their dressing room and gym facilities.[11]

People

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Census 2016 Sapmap Area: Settlement Shercock". Census 2016. Central Statistics Office. Archived from the original on 17 September 2017. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  2. ↑ "Shercock, County Cavan, Irish Accent (Female) AccentBase File #217". YouTube. 26 May 2021. Archived from the original on 13 December 2021. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  3. ↑ "Searcóg / Shercock". Logainm.ie. Placenames Commission. Archived from the original on 17 September 2017. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  4. ↑ The Belfast and Ulster Towns Directory for 1910. Archived from the original on 28 December 2019. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  5. ↑ "Annagheran Lodge - Surrounding Area". Annaghierinlodge.ie. Annagheran Lodge. Archived from the original on 17 September 2017. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  6. ↑ "Bus Timetables". Sillan.ie. Sillan Tours. Archived from the original on 5 September 2012. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  7. ↑ https://www.anglocelt.ie/2023/07/14/new-local-link-bus-service-from-shercock-to-dundalk/
  8. ↑ "Schedule : Dundalk − Carrickmacross − Cavan" (PDF). Bus Éireann. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 May 2011.
  9. ↑ "IFC final: Shercock stun Ballyhaise to bridge 33-year gap". HoganStand.com. 1 October 2017. Archived from the original on 29 January 2018. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  10. ↑ "Killian Clarke selected on International Rules Squad". Cavan GAA. 25 October 2017. Archived from the original on 30 January 2018. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  11. ↑ "Local clubs awarded €960k in sports funding". The Anglo-Celt. 1 December 2017. Archived from the original on 29 January 2018. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  12. ↑ Lewis' Topographical Dictionary of Ireland cites Shercock as Sheridan's birthplace, though most sources say Dublin. Archived 28 May 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  13. ↑ "John and Mary Ann Murtha". Jim's Irish Genealogy Pages. Archived from the original on 6 January 2006.
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