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Oldcastle () is a town in County Meath, Ireland. It is located in the north-west of the county near the border with Cavan, approximately 13 miles (21 km) from Kells. The R154 and R195 regional roads cross in the town's market square. As of the 2006 census the town's population stood at 2,226.〔(CSO Census 2006 )〕 In recent years Oldcastle has grown mainly due to an influx of workers from Eastern Europe to work in the several industries, particularly furniture, bedding and victualling located in the area. ==History== The area was the birthplace of St Oliver Plunkett, the last Irish Catholic martyr to die in England. Oldcastle is the 18th century creation of the Naper family who had received parts of the Plunkett estate following the Cromwellian wars. St. Oliver Plunkett, who served as Lord Archbishop of Armagh in the seventeenth century, and who was hung, drawn and quartered at Tyburn in Middlesex (now in the Marble Arch area of the City of Westminster in London) in 1681 on false charges, was the most famous member of this family.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=oldcastlechamber.com )〕 It was also the birthplace of Isaac Jackson, son of Anthony Jackson III (who some say was a yeoman son in turn of the Charles II courtier, Sir Anthomy Jackson II, of Killingswold Grove, East Yorkshire, England) of Eccleston, Lancashire, England who died in nearby County Cavan after 1666. Isaac was an early Quaker in Ireland, as was his father. He moved to Ballitore, County Kildare, where he married and raised a large family, mostly all of whom emigrated with their parents to Chester County, Pennsylvania, USA in 1725. Oldcastle suffered quite badly during the Great Famine and subsequent emigration. Owing to the continuation of a Gaelic way of life in the north of the county, Oldcastle suffered far more than the richer more arable land in the southern part of County Meath. The poorest class lived where Irish culture was strongest and were obliterated by starvation and emigration. Nonetheless, land patterns visible today still reveal a strong attachment to the pastoral farming of Gaelic culture. Politically and culturally the area has a strong tradition of support for radical republicanism, the Gaelic Athletic Association and Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann; a local paper published in the town in the early 1900s gave its name to one of the Irish political parties, Sinn Féin. Oldcastle Workhouse was located on St. Oliver Plunkett Street (formerly Lennox Street), part of the R195 (the main road to Castlepollard), on the southern edge of the town. Designed by George Wilkinson in a neo-Tudor style, and probably built in the late 1830s or early 1840s, it was demolished in the late 1950s. St. Bridget's Terrace was built by Meath County Council on the site around 1960. Many Germans, Austrians and Hungarians were interned in the old workhouse by the British Government during the First World War. Fennor Upper and Lower in Oldcastle is said to be named after Queen Medb's daughter, Findabair (Fennor). In Irish Mythology, she was sent as an offering to Cú Chulainn in his fight against Medb and her army from Connacht. She was killed by Cú Chulainn and the area was named after the place where she was murdered and buried. A monument was erected in 1961 in Oldcastle Square by Meath Brigades Executive, Old IRA Federation, 1916-1921 to the memory of Commandant Seamus Coogan and Commandant Patrick McDonnell who were killed by British Crown Forces during the War of Independence. The monument in the form of a cross was unveiled by Seán Dowling, Chairman of the National Federation of the Old IRA.〔http://www.freewebs.com/duleekmonument/meathhistory19592008.htm〕 In November 1997 McKevitt and other IRA dissidents held a meeting in a farmhouse in Oldcastle, County Meath, and a new organisation styling itself Óglaigh na hÉireann was formed.〔Mooney & O'Toole, pp. 38-39.〕 The organisation attracted disaffected Provisional IRA members from the republican stronghold of South Armagh, as well as other areas including Dublin, Belfast, Limerick, Tipperary, County Louth, County Tyrone and County Monaghan. 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「Oldcastle, County Meath」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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