The O'Neills' of the Fews and Johnston of the Fews

THE O'NEILLS OF THE FEWS

The conquest of the Fews by a branch of the O'Neills of Tyrone dated from the mid 15th Century. Hugh O'Neill, son of Owen moved South and conquered the territory, thus establishing a new line of the family, henceforth known as O'Neills of the Fews.

By the early sixteenth century this branch was a separate family from the main line in Dungannon and no descendant of Hugh attained the Chieftainship of Tyrone after 1513.

The new Chieftains soon became aware of their vulnerability on the edge of the Pale and they began to co-operate with successive Viceroys against their Tyrone kinsmen. This policy seemed to be paying off, for Turlough McHenry was knighted in 1604. He was granted ownership of over 9,000 acres by James I. Tradition has it that he built the imposing castle at Glassdrummond on a rock overlooking the lake.

His was a difficult tenure for, while pledging loyalty to the crown he, on occasion, sided with his half-brother Hugh against crown forces. He managed however to retain his lands at the Cromwellian plantation and he died about 1640. The title passed to his son Sir Henry, whose tenure was much more precarious. Sir Henry tried to avoid participation in the Rising of 1641, but his sons, together with other Northern Chieftains, played a prominent part. Father L. P. Murray, writing in the County Louth Archaeological Journal ( 1934 ) says :
" Carte tells us that the original plan of the Rebellion was decided at a secret meeting at Loughross in the house of Turlough O'Neill son to Sir Henry of the Fews."

Despite Sir Henry's protestation of loyalty, he was transplanted to Co. Mayo by the order of ' The Court of Transplantation', held in Athlone in 1655. His lands were divided up among a number of Cromwellian settlers ; the chief beneficiary was Thomas Ball whose various grants totalled more than 6,000 acres.

The family was dispersed, some remained in the area while some joined the armies of Europe and earned themselves laurels of valour in a foreign land. A direct descendant of Sir Henry, Red Henry O'Neill emigrated from Mayo to Spain and founded a family who rendered distinguished service in the Spanish army during the last half of the 18th Century. The present Marques de la Granja, Don Carlos O'Neill, is a direct descendant of this line.

The O'Neills of the Fews will, forever, be associated with Creggan mainly because of their patronage of the medieval Church known as the 'O'Neill Church'. Recent studies indicate that the Church may have been there when the O'Neills arrived and that they became its patrons. The Chieftains buried their dead in the vault beneath this Church. Art McCooey, in his best known poem, 'Urchill an Chreagáin', immortalised this, their last earthly resting place, for the poem was written after he had spent a night there. In this poem and many others McCooey was echoing a sad lament for the overthrow of this noble clan, and of the despair and hopelessness of his people. Art McCooey's poetry has ensured that this once great family has passed into myth and legend of South Armagh and beyond.

The O'Neill Vault 1480-1820, situated beneath the sanctuary area of the Pre-reformation Parish Church, contains over seventy skulls, the remains of this princely family, The O'Neill's of the Fews. Daniel O'Neill who died c.1773 and his son Art Óg O'Neill who died 1769 marked the end of the local line. The family went into exile after the failure of the 1641 rebellion. Don Carlos O'Neill of Seville, is the present head of the local clan.

JOHNSTON OF THE FEWS d. 1759

His activities gave rise to the prayer: "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews save us from Johnston, king of the Fews." As Chief Constable for 49 years, he gained the reputation of being an energetic, if ruthless, upholder of the law.

"...John Johnston the Younger, of the ilk of Annadale in Scotland, bred in the College of Aberdeen, an officer of service in Flanders and Holland, was well and duly sworn Constable of the Fews...". Co.Armagh Crown Book of Assize 1710.

"...A company of the late Colonel Henry Cornwall's Regiment of Foot in quarter at Blackbank Barracks in the wildes of the Fews in Armaghe.. Captain John Johnston, posted late an invalid of the Highland Corps, who converses in the native Irish, the same tongue as his native Scotch..." Audited Abstracts of Muster Rolls, March, 1701.

"...Ardmagh. Sergeant Wilde of this Corps stood for duty with six men at the redoubt of Blackbank, in the Fews...and, at the command of Mr. Johnston, the Constable of that wild country, struck fear in the natives, who call for the Popish Pretender...We razed their cabins to the ground and whipped the curs, who cursed us in their Irish jargon..." Service Book of Colonel Nassau's Regiment of Foot, dated 28th April, 1716.

In 1716, John Johnston captured and killed two tories (outlaws), Henry Roe McArdle, and Bryan Crummey. He collected a reward of £20 and had the outlaws' heads spiked on the gates of Dundalk Jail, as a warning to others.

In 1723, the Revenue Commisioners wrote:

"...Johnston has a certificate, signed by the Justices of Meath, Louth, Monaghan, Armagh and Tyrone, of his service in suppressing tories and robbers...Between Dundalk and Armagh, there are 20 miles of mountain road, and no security for travellers but what Johnston affords them."

In 1743 John Johnston built a new house at Cavanahanlon, which is named "Roxborough", after the Scottish ancestral home of the Johnston family. However, despite Johnston's undoubted prowess as a tory-hunter, the Fews of 1750 was still "bandit country" and a journey through it for the foreigner a perilous undertaking.

"...When love of gain stimulated any man to so desperate a venture, he first made his will, and piously commended his soul to God. Then, having collected his friends around him, he proceeded under their protection, on horseback, through the dreaded defiles of Armaghbrague and Blackbank... lest the merciless tories be upon him... In this state of trepidation, he proceeded, until he arrived at the residence of Johnston of the Fews, who was the terror of robbers and the safeguard of travellers..."