Baile Ghib

Last updated

Baile Ghib
Gibbstown
Community
Giving way to Irish in the Baile Ghib Gaeltacht - geograph.org.uk - 704757.jpg
Irish-language road sign on a road junction in Baile Ghib
Ireland adm location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Baile Ghib
Coordinates: 53°42′36″N6°45′00″W / 53.71000°N 6.75000°W / 53.71000; -6.75000
Country Ireland
Province Leinster
County County Meath
Population
 (2016)
  Total142
Time zone UTC+0 (WET)
  Summer (DST) UTC-1 (IST (WEST))

Baile Ghib (anglicised as Gibbstown or Gibstown) [1] is a small village and Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking area) in County Meath, Ireland. It is about 70km northwest of Dublin city. Local Link bus route 186 was introduced in October 2024 and links the area several times daily to Kells and other villages in Meath & Cavan. [2]

Contents

The Baile Ghib Gaeltacht was founded in 1937 when 52 families were settled on land previously acquired by the Irish Land Commission, followed by a further 9 families in 1939 who settled in Clongill. In all 373 people moved to the area. [3] [4]

Baile Ghib has since grown into a village with a GAA club (Bhulf Tón CLG), a village hall, a shop, a church, and a gaelscoil (primary school).

Today, it and the nearby area of Ráth Chairn make up the Meath Gaeltacht. At the 2022 census the villages of Ráth Chairn and Baile Ghib had a combined population of 420. [5] The Meath Gaeltacht had a population of 1,857 in 2016, representing 1.9% of the total population of Ireland's Gaeltacht . [6] According to the 2016 census 15.9% of the population of Baile Ghib and Ráth Chairn spoke Irish on a daily basis outside the education system. [7]

History

Establishment of the Meath Gaeltacht

The Meath Gaeltacht was formed when the Irish Land Commission redistributed the large estates of absentee landlords and farmers from the Gaeltacht areas of the western seaboard were resettled in Meath in the 1930s. The migrants were from Cork, Kerry, Connemara, Mayo and Donegal. The government's goals were to relieve overcrowding and poverty in the western counties and to spread the Irish language. This "colony" was also a social experiment to redress the 17th-century ethnic cleansing of Ireland by Oliver Cromwell’s draconian action ‘To hell or Connaught’. However due to the limited size of the Gaeltacht the difficulty of providing a wide range of services through Irish led to bilingualism becoming necessary. [8] [9] [10]

Foundation of the Baile Ghib Gaeltacht

The Baile Ghib Gaeltacht was founded in 1937, when Irish-speaking families from Mayo, Kerry, Donegal and Cork Gaeltachtaí settled in the area. This diversity is reflected in the local street names, including Donegal Road, and Mayo Road. Baile Ailin (English: Allenstown) was established nearby at the same time as Baile Ghib, but proved less successful, with most of its inhabitants moving away. Each family received a house, 22 acres, farm animals and farm implements in exchange for land and property in their native county. Baile Ghib was eventually given official Gaeltacht status, along with Ráth Chairn, in 1967. [11]

New History of the Baile Ghib Gaeltacht

A new history Ceann Scríbe Baile Ghib - Destination Gibbstown was published in 2024. [12]

Related Research Articles

<i>Gaeltacht</i> Primarily Irish-speaking regions in Ireland

A Gaeltacht is a district of Ireland, either individually or collectively, where the Irish government recognises that the Irish language is the predominant vernacular, or language of the home. The Gaeltacht districts were first officially recognised during the 1920s in the early years of the Irish Free State, following the Gaelic revival, as part of a government policy aimed at restoring the Irish language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">County Meath</span> County in Ireland

County Meath is a county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. It is bordered by County Dublin to the southeast, Louth to the northeast, Kildare to the south, Offaly to the southwest, Westmeath to the west, Cavan to the northwest, and Monaghan to the north. To the east, Meath also borders the Irish Sea along a narrow strip between the rivers Boyne and Delvin, giving it the second shortest coastline of any county. Meath County Council is the local authority for the county.

The vast majority of placenames in Ireland are anglicisations of Irish language names; that is, adaptations of the Irish names to English phonology and spelling. However, some names come directly from the English language, and a handful come from Old Norse and Scots. The study of placenames in Ireland unveils features of the country's history and geography and the development of the Irish language. The name of Ireland itself comes from the Irish name Éire, added to the Germanic word land. In mythology, Éire was an Irish goddess of the land and of sovereignty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Máirtín Ó Cadhain</span> Irish writer (1906–1970)

Máirtín Ó Cadhain was one of the most prominent Irish language writers of the twentieth century. Perhaps best known for his 1949 novel Cré na Cille, Ó Cadhain played a key role in reintroducing literary modernism into modern literature in Irish, where it had been dormant since the 1916 execution of Patrick Pearse. Politically, Ó Cadhain was an Irish republican and anti-clerical Marxist, who promoted the Athghabháil na hÉireann, . Ó Cadhain was also a member of the post-Civil War Irish Republican Army and was interned by the Irish Army in the Curragh Camp with Brendan Behan and many other IRA members during the Emergency.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ráth Chairn</span> Village and Gaeltacht in County Meath, Ireland

Ráth Chairn is a small village and Gaeltacht in County Meath, Ireland. It is about 55 km northwest of Dublin. Ráth Chairn Gaeltacht was founded in 1935 when 27 families from Connemara, mostly from Ceantar na nOileán, were settled on land previously acquired by the Irish Land Commission, followed by a further 11 families in 1937. In all 443 people moved to the area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regional road (Ireland)</span> Class of road in Ireland

A regional road in the Republic of Ireland is a class of road not forming a major route, but nevertheless forming a link in the national route network. There are over 11,600 kilometres of regional roads. Regional roads are numbered with three-digit route numbers, prefixed by "R". The equivalent road category in Northern Ireland are B roads.

A registration district in the United Kingdom is a type of administrative region which exists for the purpose of civil registration of births, marriages, and deaths and civil partnerships. It has also been used as the basis for the collation of census information.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ballyjamesduff</span> Town in County Cavan, Ireland

Ballyjamesduff is a town in County Cavan, Ireland. A former market town, it was the winner of the 1966 and 1967 Irish Tidy Towns Competition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ranafast</span> Gaeltacht village in County Donegal, Ireland

Ranafast or Rinnafarset, officially only known by its Irish name Rann na Feirste, is a Gaeltacht village and townland in the Rosses district in the west of County Donegal in Ulster, the northern province in Ireland.

Coláiste na bhFiann (CnabhF) is an Irish language summer course for students aged 10–18 years. The company was founded by Domhnall Ó Lubhlaí and the first course was in Rosmuc, County Galway, Ireland in 1968. Since then, fifty thousand students have studied on their summer courses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Parish</span> Village in County Waterford, Ireland

Old Parish is a village in west County Waterford, Ireland. It is part of the Gaeltacht in Waterford Gaeltacht na nDéise.

Comórtas Peile na Gaeltachta is an annual All Ireland Gaelic football competition contested by clubs from the Irish language-speaking Gaeltacht areas of Ireland. Clubs compete on a county-basis at first, in order to qualify for the tournament that is hosted by a different club from the Gaeltacht each year. The first competition was held in Gweedore, County Donegal in 1969 and was won by the local club CLG Ghaoth Dobhair. RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta provides radio coverage of both the regional qualifiers and the national finals, held over the June Bank Holiday. TG4 provides live television coverage of the men's semi-finals and finals on the June Bank Holiday Sunday and Monday, and these are also broadcast online.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mid-East Region, Ireland</span> Region of the Republic of Ireland

The Mid-East Region is a NUTS Level III statistical region of Ireland. It consists of the territory of the counties of Kildare, Louth, Meath and Wicklow. The Mid-East spans 6,891 km2, 9.8% of the total area of the state and, according to the 2022 census, had a population of 764,154, roughly 14.84% of the national population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Border Region</span> NUTS 3 statistical region of the Republic of Ireland

The Border Region is a NUTS Level III statistical region of Ireland. The name of the region refers to its location along the Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border. It is not a cross-border region. It comprises the Irish counties of Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, Monaghan and Sligo. The Border Region spans 11,516 km2, 16.4% of the total area of the state, and has a population of 419,473 persons as of the 2022 census, 8.14% of the state total.

Conamara Theas is a predominantly Irish-speaking district in the West of County Galway. There are around 7,000 people living in the area. Between 60% and 80% of residents are native Irish speakers. It is the part of the Gaeltacht that is west of Cois Fharraige. The Conamara Theas variety of Connacht Irish is different from that of Cois Fharraige.

The Gaeltacht Corca Dhuibhne is located on the western end of the Dingle peninsula in County Kerry, Ireland. It's a predominantly Irish-speaking area. It stretches from Abhainn an Scáil to Dún Chaoin and An Clochán to An Daingean. The villages in the area are Abhainn an Scáil, Lios Póil, Daingean Uí Chúis, Ceann Trá, Dún Chaoin, Baile an Fheirtéaraigh, Baile na nGall and An Clochán. There are between 6,000–7,000 people living in the region and over 3,000 are Irish speaking.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gaeltacht na nDéise</span> Gaeltacht district in Munster, Ireland

Gaeltacht na nDéise is a Gaeltacht area in County Waterford consisting of the areas of Ring and Old Parish. It is located 10 km from the town of Dungarvan. Gaeltacht na nDéise has a population of 1,816 people and encompasses a geographical area of 62 km2. This represents 1% of total Gaeltacht area.

Muintir na Gaeltachta was a lobby-group representing Irish-speaking inhabitants of the Gaeltacht. It was founded in the winter of 1933–34, with Seán Ó Coisdeala, a national school teacher from Tully in Connemara, as President and Pádraig Seoige as secretary. Other founders included Peadar Duignan, Seán Tubridy, and Máirtín Ó Cadhain. In 1935, in conjunction with the Land Commission, it helped to establish the Meath Gaeltacht by transplanting Irish-speaking families from Connacht. Its office was in Kells, County Meath. It was a registered nominating body for the Cultural and Educational Panel of Seanad Éireann through the 1997 election.

Glór na nGael is an Irish-language lead organisation funded by Foras na Gaeilge which promotes and supports Irish in three sectors: the family, community development, and business. It was established as an Irish language community group competition in 1961, and Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich and Monsignor Pádraig Ó Fiannachta were among its founders.

References

  1. "Baile Ghib / Gibstown". logainm.ie. Placenames Database of Ireland. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  2. https://www.meathchronicle.ie/2024/10/21/new-bus-service-between-cavan-and-kells-launched/
  3. "Meath's Gaeltacht Regions". Meath County Council. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
  4. "'The Forgotten Gaeltacht' – Meath's "colonists" feature in new film". Meath Chronicle. 22 March 2019. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
  5. "Background Notes - CSO - Central Statistics Office". www.cso.ie. 29 June 2023. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
  6. "Meath | The Gaeltacht | Our Language & the Ghaeltacht". Údarás na Gaeltachta. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
  7. "Irish Language and the Gaeltacht - CSO - Central Statistics Office". www.cso.ie. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
  8. Coimisiún na Gaeltachta Report (Report). The Stationery Office. 1925.
  9. "Colonised: the making of Meath's Gaeltacht". Independent.ie. 17 June 2018. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
  10. M. Pegley, Suzanne (2007). The Development and Consolidation of the Gaeltacht Colony Ráth Cairn, Co. Meath (1935-1948) (PDF). Maynooth: NUI Maynooth. p. 18.
  11. "Baile Ghib (Gibbstown) | Meath County Council Online Consultation Portal". consult.meath.ie. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
  12. Ceann Scríbe Baile Ghib - Destination Gibbstown. 2024.