Inishrush

Innisrush
Village, townland
Inishrush
Innisrush
Coordinates: 54°52′20″N 6°31′29″W

Innisrush or Inishrush (from Irish Inis Rois, meaning 'island of the woods')^[1] is a small village and townland near Glenone in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 114 people. It lies within the Mid-Ulster District area.

History

The local Orange Hall

The island referred to in the name of the village was in a small lake called Green Lough, which was located north-west of Inishrush until being drained in the 19th century.^[2]

Inishrush was a flashpoint during the Home Rule Crisis as it was a Protestant settlement that bordered territory where the Irish Volunteers and Ancient Order of Hibernians were strong.^[3]

In 1913, Sunday school children were attacked by nationalists as they made their way to a local fete.^[3] Fears of a repeat emerged the following year after a minister received letters threatening violence if the fete were held again.^[3] In response, the Ulster Volunteers mobilized 100 armed men to escort the children the one mile from the village to the fete.^[3] This time there was no trouble – whether the threats were genuine or the work of a local 'crank' is unknown.^[3]

On 17 June 1920, Patrick Loughran, an IRA volunteer, was killed by police when he attempted to burn the village RIC station.^[4] This was the first casualty suffered by the IRA in the six counties during the Anglo-Irish War.^[4] The police station was eventually closed in 1937.^[5]

The Troubles

On 20 December 1976, 'four raiders' damaged a public house with a bomb packed into a tea chest, firing shots into the building before they made their escape. No one was hurt in this incident.^[6] As the pub was Catholic-owned, this attack was likely carried out by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF).^[7]

On 14 January 1977, James Greer, a Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officer, was killed by the IRA via a booby trap bomb attached to the car outside his parents' home in Inishrush.^[8]

See also

• List of townlands of County Londonderry

References

1. Placenames NI Archived 2012-06-11 at the Wayback Machine
2. McKay, Patrick (2007). A Dictionary of Ulster Place-Names (2 ed.). Belfast: Cló Ollscoil na Banríona. p. 80. ISBN 0853898960.
3. Foy, Michael Thomas (1986). "The Ulster Volunteer Force: its domestic development and political importance in the period 1913 to 1920" (PDF). Queen's University Belfast. p. 176. Retrieved 2 December 2024.
4. McDermott, Jim (2001). Northern Divisions The Old IRA and the Belfast Pogroms, 1920-22. Beyond the Pale Publications. p. 28. ISBN 9781900960113.
5. Wallace Clark (1967). Guns in Ulster. Belfast: Constabulary Gazette. p. 79.
6. "Datelines". Fortnight (140): 18. 1977. Retrieved 2 December 2024.
7. Ken Wharton (2015). Wasted Years Wasted Lives, Volume 1: The British Army in Northern Ireland 1975-77. Helion & Company. p. 44. ISBN 9781910777411.
8. Malcolm Sutton. "Sutton Deaths Index: 1977". CAIN. Retrieved 2 December 2024.

External links

• NI Neighbourhood Information System