The information contained in this web site is reproduced from a booklet entitled "Desertmartin Past and Present" which was published on behalf of Desertmartin Local History Group and Loughinsholin Tourism Association. We hope you find the site interesting and would invite you to visit again or try other web links.

Documentary evidence about the early history of Desertmartin and the surrounding area is fairly scant, but thanks to the dedication and voluntary effort of organisations such as Desertmartin Local History Group ( Ballinascreen Historical Society ) much has been done to preserve what they have unearthed. One of the aims of Desertmartin Local History Group is to try and ensure, through its meetings and events, that the history of Desertmartin is not lost to the annals of time, but preserved for the benefit of future generations. It tries to achieve this through various information and social evenings and involvement in demonstrations of bygone farming practices and techniques such as butter making , corn threshing and flax harvesting. It has also produced a video entitled "Beneath Slieve Gallion Braes". Sponsored by The Millennium Commission it is a documentary of everyday life in the parish of Desertmartin in 2000.

The VILLAGE of DESERTMARTIN

The village of Desertmartin lies at the foot of Slieve Gallion, which is part of the Sperrin range of mountains. It is practically equidistant (approximately 40 miles ) from Ulster's three main cities - Belfast, Armagh and Derry / Londonderry. Its central location and a good network of roads means that a wide variety of attractions and sites of interest, both locally and further afield, can be accessed easily from it.

The village lies in the townlands of Stranagard and Knocknagin. The main street which runs through the centre of the village marks the boundary between them.

An early 20th Century view of Desertmartin.

It would seem that Desertmartin may once have been 'the Assizes town' of the county i.e. the town where the civil and criminal court cases for the whole of the county were heard. According to the Lewis Extracts: ".... in the reign of Elizabeth, it was intended that Coleraine should be the capital and the county was therefore designated and long bore the name of, "the county of Coleraine", although it is singular fact that the ruins of the courthouse and gaol then built for the county are at Desertmartin ..."

We know that as at 1836-37 there were old foundations on the south side of the village which were thought to be those of the jail and the Court House, with the hill of Knocknagin ( 'the hill of heads' ) being believed to be the place where executions were carried out. According to the "Ordinance Survey Memoirs for the Parishes of Desertmartin and Kilcronaghan 1836-37". ( As published by Ballinascreen Historical Society in 1986) The jail and the attached court house ceased to be used about 1736 and part of the jail may have once belonged to a castle. It would appear that the jail was in the process of being pulled down at the date of those memoirs, the oldest part of those walls being a gable forming a cowhouse. It was 17 feet long and the walls approximately two feet thick, with the mortar appearing very 'ancient'. It seems that the jail was demolished to make a road through the village.

A recommendation was made for the London Companies in 1611 that a settlement of 300 acres should be mapped out in Desertmartin and a fort built to house a constable and wardens. The London agents had agreed to making the settlement significant, with the King contributing £200.

The fort was constructed and the settlement said to have been progressing well when it came under attack in 1641 by the native Irish led by Cormac O'Hagan ( a follower of Sir Phelim O'Neill). His men having fled from an earlier attempt to take over the settlement at Moneymore, they are said to have secured the fort of 'Desert Martine' without much effort, much to the shock and disgust of the Crown as it had considered 'Desert Martine' to be one of the strongest fort's in the area. Apparently the people of Magherafelt had heard that O'Hagan's men had taken Moneymore and were on their way to attack Magherafelt so the people in the settlement at Desertmartin were called to Magherafelt to help defend it. Instead O'Hagan and his men attacked and took Desertmartin.

Yet the Ordinance Survey Memoirs 1836-37 tell us that according to local tradition a battle took place in Desertmartin during the 1641 Rebellion ".... between the Presbyterian and the Irish in which the latter were overcome ..." , the commanders being General Munroe and Sir Phelim O'Neill respectively. (O'Neill was recognised by the Pope as Prince of Ulster.)

It would seem it took considerable time before Desertmartin began to prosper again. By the 1800's the spinning of flax and weaving of linen was emerging as a significant cottage industry in the area.

SAINT MARTIN

The name 'Desertmartin' has several possible derivations. One is that it was the hermitage of Saint Martin. Opinions vary as to whether he was an uncle or nephew of Saint Patrick. Some say he was Saint Martin de Tours who sent his monks, or missionaries, out from France to convert others to Christianity and that he gave a copy of the Gospels to Saint Patrick. Known as the 'Soisceal Mhartain', they are said to be buried with Saint Patrick in Downpatrick and to have been the basis of the work carried out on the Scottish island of Iona on the 'Book of Kells'.

An old postcard scene

As a result of its relative isolation, Ireland avoided much of the impact that the collapse of the Roman Empire had upon the Christian church in Europe. Untouched by the developments which had effected its European counterparts, Irish monks still adhered to the practices of the early Christian church as first introduced to Ireland, including an austere and meagre existence and strict penitential life. Penance by some Irish monks took the form of a reclusive life in uninhabited places. Apparently the prefix 'desert' denotes the site of such a hermitage, the Irish hermitages having been based on those early Christian examples set in equally remote - i.e. desert - locations.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

EARLY IRELAND
Habitation of Ireland by man is thought to date back to at least 8000 BC, with the first human beings travelling across the land bridge which existed then between Scotland and Ireland. A race known as the Beaker People appeared around 2000 BC, with the invasion of Ireland by the Celts taking place around 500 BC. The Celts retained much of the mythology they had inherited from their predecessors in Ireland. In contrast to the Celts in Europe, who were prevented from developing their culture and traditions because of the expansion of the Roman Empire, the Celts in Ireland were spared conquest by the Romans. This enabled them to develop their own unique Celtic civilisation.

The Viking invasion of Celtic Ireland dates from the 8th century. Having invaded and conquered England in the 11th century, the Normans turned their attention to Ireland in the 12th century, their invasion taking place at the invitation of the king of Leinster who had sailed to Bristol to seek support against the king of Connacht from England's Norman king, Henry II. It also took place with the blessing of the Pope who in 1154 granted and donated Ireland to the king of England. Christianity was brought to Ireland by various missionaries, including St Patrick. The early Christian church in Ireland regarded itself as autonomous and was opposed to the Pope's drive to bring it (together with the other Christian churches throughout Europe) under his sole authority. Hence the Pope's action.

The reign of Elizabeth I of England saw a concerted, protracted and bloody campaign to bring Ireland under English control. Throughout Europe the various superpowers of the day sought to protect their interests and to expand and enhance their political and economic might by either striking up alliances with various countries and foreign powers or by waging war against them, as circumstances dictated. As a potential springboard from which England could face invasion from enemies in Europe and a potential source of revenue, the English renewed their efforts under Elizabeth to take over and rule Ireland. Resistance was fierce. A country comprising several kingdoms with their own political hierarchies and systems, frequently engaged in power struggles with one another, the conquest of Ireland with its inhospitable climate and difficult terrain was to prove horrendous. Loyalties were divided between the Gaelic lords. Some made deals with the English for various reasons. Some made bargains with the English in return for retention of lands, others struck up alliances in a bid to settle scores with other Gaels. Against a background of fierce and bitter warfare and ever moving goal posts, the English found themselves embroiled in a long, tortuous conflict. The conquest of Ireland cost £2 million.

THE FLIGHT OF THE EARLS
By the time James VI of Scotland / James I of England came to the English throne in 1603, Ireland was under English rule. Elizabeth I and her predecessors had allocated lands and granted earldoms to their Irish allies, the most famous in the locality being Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone. It would appear that O'Neill's ultimate ambition was control of Ulster , supporting the English when doing so could help in this objective and turning against them during what came to be known as 'The Nine Years' War'. Subsequently pardoned by James I, the Earl of Tyrone took flight from Ireland in 1607 together with a band of other Gaelic noblemen and their families. Known as 'the Flight of the Earls' further information about this part of our history can be found by visiting the Plantation Centre in the village of Draperstown.

THE PLANTATION
The reign of Elizabeth had seen the conquest of Ireland. The reign of her successor, her Scottish cousin -James VI of Scotland, James I of England , saw 'the plantation' of Ireland. Settlers had already left England to seek a new life in America. During the reign of James I, the attempt to colonise Ireland took the form of 'the Plantation', supposedly so called because it involved the uprooting of English stock from its native soil and replanting in Ireland in the anticipation that it would take root and flourish.

If England was to prevent the native population from regenerating itself fast enough to mount opposition to the new regime, this plantation had to be carried out quickly and on a large scale. Some parts were exempt from plantation such as the lands belonging to those who had assisted the English. Confiscated land was divided into 'precincts' or baronies, these being further subdivided into estates.

'Undertakers' had to be English or Scottish, undertake to clear their land of native inhabitants (which they failed to do, resulting in higher rents and fines) and plant twenty-four Protestant English or Scots on every thousand acres. They had to take the Oath of Supremacy and pay rent of £5 6s.8d to the king for every thousand acres. 'Servitors' -those who had fought for the English -were not required to plant. They paid rent of £8 per thousand acres if they did not plant, £5 6s. 8d. if they did. Native Irish to whom land was granted were not required to take the Oath of Supremacy, had to pay rent of £ 10 13s. 4d. per thousand acres and were obliged to adopt English farming methods. In some instances the estates granted to them were only for their lifetime. Other conditions laid down for the planters included the building of towns and churches, the founding of schools and bringing in of craftsmen.
Concerned that not enough men of wealth had applied for land in Ulster, James I looked to the City of London. He granted to the London Companies the county then known as Coleraine, and the barony of Loughinsholin.

A body was established by Royal Charter in 1613 to manage the venture, namely 'The Society of the Governor and Assistants of London of the New Plantation in Ulster, within the Realm of Ireland'. This was commonly known as 'the Irish Society'. All "the towns, castles, lordships, manors, lands and hereditaments "[ I ] given to the city of London were combined under the charter into a district county to be called "the County of Londonderry "[ I ].

Vast sums of money were spent on the Plantation "at length amounting to £60,000"[1]. However, the Crown was dissatisfied "at the mode in which the stipulations of the society were fulfilled"[l]. As a result the whole county was sequestered in 1632. The charter of 1613 was revoked in 1637 and the county reverted to the Crown. Parliament subsequently decided that this was illegal. Cromwell reinstated the Irish Society and when the monarchy was restored in England, Charles II granted it a new charter similar to that granted by James I in 1613.

THE REBELLION OF 1641
The Gaelic lords of Ulster had amassed huge debts in their efforts to manage their estates in accordance with the practices which the Plantation had sought to impose. Add to that the enduring resentment of the native peasantry at their treatment - including the loss of their lands under the Plantation - and the injustices carried out during both the reformation and rebellion was bound to ensue. The rebellion of 1641 is supposed to have seen dreadful massacres of the settlers, with Cromwell exacting terrible retribution on his arrival in Ireland in 1649
Footnote:[1] refers to extracts from Samuel Lewis, " Topographical Dictionary of Ireland " 1837