Leitrim, County Leitrim

This article is about the village in County Leitrim. For other uses, see Leitrim.

Leitrim Liatroim
Town
Leitrim Location in Ireland
Coordinates: 53°59′27″N 8°03′49″W
Country	Ireland
Province	Connacht
County	County Leitrim
Elevation	70 m (230 ft)
Population  (2016)
• Total	594
Time zone	UTC+0 (WET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-1 (IST (WEST))
Irish Grid Reference	G958046

Leitrim (Irish: Liatroim) is a village in County Leitrim, Ireland.

Access and transport

It is located on the River Shannon at the junction of the R280 and R284 regional roads and is connected to the River Erne via the Shannon-Erne Waterway. Leitrim village is the gateway to the Shannon-Erne Waterway and boasts a quay, several jetties and two marinas, with excellent facilities for the cruising traffic which regularly passes through. The village is just over 5 km from Carrick-on-Shannon and 155 km from Dublin.

Modern development

Leitrim village marina
2 May 2010

Successive Finance Acts during the 1990s encouraged the building of hotels and holiday houses in designated deprived rural areas. The village was a large beneficiary of these tax incentives. The resultant explosive growth in the period between 2002 and 2007 saw several large complexes of self-catering apartment blocks being erected around the marinas, one of which was funded by the International Fund for Ireland under the auspices of the Anglo-Irish Agreement. It is a well kept village with an excellent record in the Tidy Towns competition, and it once actually won the title. Leitrim village is well situated as a base from which to explore surrounding attractions such as the Arigna Mining Experience, Lough Rynn, Lough Key Forest Park, the Shannon-Erne Blueway and the nearby County Town of Carrick on Shannon.

For a relatively small village, Leitrim punches well above its weight in terms of facilities. There are five Bars, four restaurants, a 3star hotel and a first class takeaway. Its Mace convenience superstore also boasts a superb Deli Counter. Apart from supplying liquid and solid fuels, the garage runs an attended car wash and specialised valeting service. Tourism wise, the village offers a host of accommodation choices including the hotel, several upmarket Guesthouses, self catering options (including boat hire), and camping, glamping, campervan and caravan options in nearby Battlebridge. On the activities side, you can rent an electric bike or avail of indoor shooting gallery and archery facilities.

Education

• St Joseph's National School

Religion

• St Joseph's Catholic Church

Demographics

The village had 274 residents in 1834. In 2016, the population was 594.

History

From the Early modern period, County Leitrim is named after the village. Throughout at least the 19th and 20th centurys, numerous annual fairs were held at Leitrim village on- 22 January, 20 February, 25 March, 5 May, 16 June, 23 July, September 1 (or 3rd), 13 October, and 1 December. In 1925, Leitrim village comprised 30 houses with 5 being licensed to sell alcohol.

Liatroim was a strategically important ford of the River Shannon connecting Ulster and Connacht. The Irish Annals makes mention of Leitrim village (Template:Lang-ga) many times. In 1270 the Battle of Áth an Chip between Normans and Connacht probably occurred on Drumhierney townland beside Battle-bridge.

The county itself is named after the village of Leitrim near the River Shannon, which was an important stronghold during the Ó Ruairc (O'Rourke) family reign. The name 'Leitrim' itself is derived from the Irish Liath Druim, meaning 'grey ridge', and is a common place name throughout Ireland.

See also

• List of towns and villages in Ireland

References and notes

Secondary sources

Historical

• Wright, G. N. (George Newenham) (1834). A new and comprehensive gazetteer (PDF). Vol. vol. IV. London, T. Kelly. {{cite book}}: |volume= has extra text (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Longman (2011) [1819]. Traveller's New Guide Through Ireland, Containing a New and Accurate Description of the Roads (digitized from original in Lyon Public Library ed.). Longman. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• O'Clery, Lughaidh. The life of Hugh Roe O'Donnell (PDF). Dublin: Fallon and Co, 16 Lower Sackville Street. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Watsons (1830). The Gentleman's and citizen's almanack ... for the year (PDF). Dublin, Printed for S. Watson [etc.] {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Irish Free State (1925). Intoxicating Liquor Commission Report (Report). Vol. Reports of Committees. The Stationery Office. Retrieved 21 May 2017. {{cite report}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

Irish annals

• O'Donovan, John, ed. (1856). Annála Rioghachta Éireann. Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters ... with a Translation and Copious Notes. 7 vols. Translated by O'Donovan (2nd ed.). Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. CELT editions. Full scans at Internet Archive: Vol. 1; Vol. 2; Vol. 3; Vol. 4; Vol. 5; Vol. 6; Indices.
• Bambury, Pádraig; Beechinor, Stephen (2000). "The Annals of Ulster" (Electronic edition compiled by the CELT Team (2000) ed.). CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College Cork College Road, Cork, Ireland—http://www.ucc.ie/celt. {{cite web}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Walsh, Paul (2012). "Beatha Aodha Ruaidh Uí Dhomhnaill". CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of the Department of History, University College, Cork College Road, Cork, Ireland—http://www.ucc.ie/celt. {{cite web}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)