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Belcoo ()〔Flanagan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 172. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ISBN 0-7171-3396-6〕〔(Placenames NI - Belcoo )〕 is a small village and townland in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, 10 miles from Enniskillen. It is on the County Fermanagh/County Cavan border beside the village of Blacklion in the Republic of Ireland. It had a population (with Holywell) of 486 in the 2001 Census. The Lough MacNean Tourism Initiative has been in operation since 2003, and is an economy building project, aimed at addressing tourism needs in the area while promoting cross-border relations. Belcoo Enterprise Ltd opened in 1992 in units shared with the Belcoo Historical Society, a doctor's surgery, a chiropodist and Lakeland Community Care. The Mullycovet corn mill, which functioned from 1830 until the 1920s, is being restored. The Indigenous Resources School of Transferable Skills aims to teach marginalised groups including the unemployed, New Age travellers, the disabled, to use natural materials as a learning facility. == History == The earliest mention of the village is in the old Ulster Saga "" also known as "" (Massacre of Belcu Brefne). This tells the tale of a trap set for the great Ulster hero Conall Cernach by a Breifne chief named Belcu Brefne. However Conall manages to reverse the trap and causes Belcu's sons to kill Belcu by mistake. The place where the tale occurs was later named Belcu or sometimes Belcon in honour of Belcu. Isaac Butler in his book "A Journey to Lough Derg" written in c. 1749 states, "At Bell Con is a famous well called Davagh Patrick or the Holywell". A modern interpretation however states that the name of the village derives from the (アイルランド語:béal) meaning mouth and or meaning narrowing, referring to the village's position on a narrow neck of water (river) between Upper and Lower Lough MacNean. This interpretation is given support by the name of the place on the 1609 Ulster Plantation map where it is named 'Kiliconge', i.e. ''Coille Cunga'' = "''The Wood of the Narrow Strip of Land''". The townland to the immediate north of Belcoo continues this interpretation as it is called Drumcoo, i.e. 'The Hill of the Narrow Strip of Land'. Another often used derivation is i.e. where is the word for hound. Hence the village name would mean "''The Mouth of the Hound''". Máire MacNeill in her book "The Festival of Lughnasa", 1962, gives a local Belcoo folktale about balefire coming out of a hound's mouth before it is killed by Saint Patrick. In the Irish Rebellion of 1641, the English Army erected a fort at Belcoo which can be seen on the Down Survey maps of 1655. When the Irish surrendered at Cavan on 27 April 1653, paragraph 7 of the Articles of Surrender stated-''"That Collonel Reily with the partie now with him on the west side of Loughern lay downe their armes, and deliver such forts in the islands, with all the amunicion and provision therein that is in his powre, at or before the 18 of May next, at Crohan, and Collonel Hugh Me Guier's regiment to lay downe their armes the 18 of May next, at 'Belcowe fort', in the county of Fermanagh, and all others of his partie included in these articles are to lay downe their armes in the severall counties where their quarters are, in such places as the Governors of the several counties shall apoynt."''〔Gilbert, John T. (A Contemporary History of Affairs in Ireland from 1641 to 1652 ) p374〕 The fort was still in existence in 1700, as an entry in the Calendar of Treasury Books dated 1 June 1700 states there was "''1 foot soldier at Belcoe who receives an allowance of £14 per annum in respect of fire and candle for the Barracks''" In Seamus Pender's "A Census of Ireland, Circa 1659", the village is called "Belcow". In his book "Upper Lough Erne", written in 1739, Reverend William Henry states, "Lough Macnane ... is contracted into a narrow, deep canal, in which form it flows through a flat meadow for half a mile to the redoubt of Bellcoe, where is a good ford and a new bridge across it. From the ford, the lake, expanding again, continues for three miles more". Matthew Sleater's Directory of 1806 states "Belcoo-bridge (which leads to Garrison in Fermanagh County) over a river containing the two lakes called Lough Macnean, which extends along this road 6 miles". About two miles north-east of Belcoo is Gardenhill, an old derelict homestead. It is located on the side of a hill in Gardenhill townland, just off the sideroad from Belcoo to Boho. Parts of this old homestead possibly date from the early years of the Plantation of Ulster in the early seventeenth-century. It was rented, and later owned, by the Hassard family for around 300 years. Gardenhill is privately owned and is not open to the public. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Belcoo」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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