Plunket, Saint Oliver

Plunket, Saint Oliver, 1629-81, Irish Roman Catholic churchman and martyr, b. Co. Meath. He was educated at Rome and named Roman Catholic archbishop of Armagh and primate of all Ireland in 1669. He was on good terms with local Protestants and worked with much success. After the Test Act (1673) he kept mainly in hiding. In his fabrication of tales about the Popish Plot, Titus Oates accused him of planning a foreign invasion of Ireland. Plunket was tried and acquitted in Ireland; he was then taken to London, tried again, convicted, and hanged, drawn, and quartered. The accusations and the witnesses' testimony against him were manifestly false from beginning to end. Plunket was the last Roman Catholic to be executed at Tyburn on politico-religious grounds. He was beatified as a martyr in 1920 and canonized in 1975. Feast: July 11.

See A. Curtayne, The Trial of Oliver Plunkett (1953).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2004.
Licensed from Columbia University Press

(born 1629, Loughcrew, County Meath, Ire.—died July 1, 1681, London, Eng.; canonized 1975; feast day July 11) Irish prelate, the last man to suffer martyrdom for the Catholic faith in England. He was ordained in Rome, where he taught theology and represented the Irish bishops at the Holy See. In 1669 he was appointed archbishop of Armagh and primate of Ireland, and he worked to restore the disorganized church in Ireland. Renewed persecution forced him into hiding in 1673. In the anti-Catholic hysteria caused by the Titus Oates plot (1678), he was betrayed and imprisoned in Dublin in 1679. After a farcical trial in London, he was convicted of treason and was hanged, drawn, and quartered. His head, originally sent to Rome, is preserved at Drogheda, and his body is at Downside Abbey, near Bath.

Learn more about Plunket, Saint Oliver with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

Clogherhead

Name

In the nineteenth century the village was known simply as Clogher or Kilclogher while the headland was called Clogher Head. Today the village is called Clogherhead while the headland remains Clogher Head. The picturesque harbour is called Port Oriel (Poirt Oirialla) .

Economy

Clogherhead is a popular tourist destination. The village is also notable for its sandy beach which extends from near the lifeboat station and on to the Boyne estuary.
Port Oriel is a fishing port.
Port Oriel is also being used as a base for the construction of the offshore Oriel Wind Farm.

Film location

Clogherhead was used as a film location for:

The Devil's Own (Columbia Pictures, 1997) starring Harrison Ford and Brad Pitt
Captain Lightfoot (Universal Studios, 1955) starring Rock Hudson and Barbara Rush

Education

Callystown National School

Callystown National School has been in "official" existence since 1832. It has an interesting history . It now has over 460 pupils and has recently been extended.

Music

Songs featuring this town include "Is Clogherhead Like it Used to Be".

People

Albert Cashier (otherwise Jennie Irene Hodgers) - born in Clogherhead he/she was a soldier in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
At some point before his final incarceration, Saint Oliver Plunket took refuge in a church that once stood in the townland of Killartry in the parish of Clogherhead.