Creggs

Creggs, is an old village at the foot of Mount-Mary, It lies between the forks of the Derryhippo River which is a tributary of the River Suck. Being in the central position to seven other villages, it was a thriving market town famous for its fairs and dances. Creggs was in the territory of the Glinsk-Burkes and they sold their estate to Alan Pollock in 1854

Because of its proximity to the rivers and lakes it once had a flourishing iron works industry. The renowned Luke Kelly continued the blacksmiths trade until the 1960s. A clay pipe industry existed in the village of Kilbegnet just outside Creggs

An interesting statistic about the village is that the population increased during the famine going from 163 in 1841 to 173 in 1851

The Devastation of the famine and the policy of Pollock to make his estate viable, led to unprecedented evictions in the area-1,200 families. This led to an active land league in the area. During the general election of 1891 the chairman of the local branch invited CS Parnell to address a rally in Creggs on September 26th 1891. This was his last rally, after the rally he had supper with twelve members of the organising committee, considering Parnell’s superstitious nature, the omen of thirteen at the table was significant- he died on October 13th 1891. On the centenary of Parnell’s birth December 26th 1946 Eamon De Valera unveiled a monument to Parnell. The Parnell Heritage Centre in the village was officially opened on 26th June 2002 by the then President Mary Mc Aleese. The Heritage society have published a number of magazines named “Links” which feature the history of the parish in prose, poetry and photographs forming links with our past.

Fr Luke Concannon was born in Creggs on December 27th 1747 and was ordained in Rome in 1770. He was elected prior of the Irish Dominican college in Rome in 1781. At the personal wish of the Pope Fr Concannon was consecrated Bishop of New York on April 24th 1808 unfortunately he died in Naples having completed just the first stage of his journey to New York. Another descendant of Creggs became a US Senator. Senator Manton whose father was from Donamon went to school in Kilbegnet and subsequently worked with the U.S.peace team.

Creggs National School was established in the 1850’s and a new school was built in the 1980’s.In 2009 an extension was added which includes the “Sunshine” room for children with special needs and also includes a Hydrotherapy pool and an Astro turf pitch.

Creggs Rural Development work hard to keep the town looking well and year in year out have improved their marks in the “Tidy Towns” competition and last year received a national award for their “Rustic Ramble” walk.

Creggs has always been known for its welcome of the passer by and will always be the village of a thousand welcomes.

“Fáilte”

                                                         Creggs GAA Club

 The club is situated on Milford Road,has been in existence for over 100 years,and has enjoyed a successful history at all levels of competition in Roscommon. The current team plays at Intermediate level, having won the County Junior title in 2016.Several players have been honoured with selection for Roscommon Senior team.

The club's grounds are ideally located,and there are development plans in place to extend and improve the current facilities.

                                                            Creggs Rugby Club 

This club is also a thriving sporting organisation, going from strength to strength since it's formation in 1974.

The club has approximately 250 underage and adult members, and field teams at all age groups from Mini(under8) to adult level. 

There is a major development programme at the club at present which will see the first full-sized artificial rugby pitch in Connacht together with two extra grass pitches to cater for the ever increasing numbers.

A lot of players play both Gaelic football and Rugby and  this is testimony to the great community spirit which exists in Creggs and surrounding areas.

The Rugby club has also been very successful on the playing fields,winning many Senior and underage trophies in Connacht,while the Creggs ladies were All-Ireland champions on two occasions.