Carrick-on-Shannon Town Map

Leitrim was established as a county in 1583, when the Lord Deputy, Sir John Perrott, marked out its boundaries. Historically, the county formed part of the old Gaelic Kingdom of Breffni, which was ruled by the O’Rourkes. The Normans invaded the county in the 13th century. Although they succeeded in taking the south of the county, they failed to conquer the northern portion, which remained under the control of the O’Rourkes until the 16th century. Large portions of the county were confiscated from their owners in 1620 and given to the English adventurers, including Villiers and Hamilton, who founded the town of Manorhamilton. The objective was to plant the county with English settlers but this was largely unsuccessful.  Carrick-on-Shannon became the chief town of the county, which had one other borough, Jamestown, built for settlers in the 17th century. There were three other market towns, Manorhamilton, Ballinamore and Mohill. The county was very badly affected by the Great Famine of 1845-52. The population was 155,000 in 1841 and by 1851 it had fallen to 112,000. Because of the poor agricultural productivity of the country, it has been a high emigration county ever since these times and the population is currently around 25,000. County Leitrim takes its name from the village of the same name situated close to the River Shannon. The village was an O’Rourke stronghold in olden times and was a place of some strategic importance as the river nearby is comparatively shallow and narrow. The Irish form of Leitrim – Liath Druim – means the grey ridge and is a common place name in Ireland as we find over forty “Leitrims”, either as townlands, villages or streets in the country. The County is all but landlocked, having a coastal outlet to the Atlantic only two miles in length on Donegal Bay between the boundaries of counties Sligo and Donegal. County Leitrim is hilly, ranging from shaggy brown hills to lofty mountains, and with deep valleys. There are several beautiful lakes of which the best known are Lough Gill, Lough Allen, Lough Garadice, Lough Glenade, Lough Rinn, Lough MacNean and Lough Melvin whose western shores is in the county of Leitrim and eastern in the county of Fermanagh. Many of the smaller lakes are also picturesque. The county, in the medieval period, was thickly forested and five great forests endured into the 17th century. The soil of Co. Leitrim is exceptionally retentive of water, which accounts, with its many lakes, for a standard joke that land in the county is sold by the gallon rather than by the acre. Leitrim, a land of lakes and legends, have  many historical stories to tell.