County Leitrim

County Leitrim
Area:	1,588 km²
Capital:	Carrick-on-Shannon
Code:	LM
Population:	25,799 (2002)
Province:	Connacht

Leitrim (Irish: Liatroim) is one of the counties in the west of Ireland, and is part of the province Connacht. The name comes from the Irish, which is derived from Liath Druim – meaning "grey ridge". In ancient times the western half of the kingdom of Breifne, Leitrim was long influenced by the O'Rourke family, centered in Dromahair. Close ties existed with East Breifne, now County Cavan, and the O'Reilly clan seated there. The Anglo-Normanss invaded in the thirteenth century and occupied the south of Breifne up through the 1620 exile of Irish landholders.

The land had officially become "Leitrim County" in 1565, on the orders of the British Lord Deputy, Sir John Perrott. Sir John demarked the current county borders in 1583. Inside were contained the grey mountains of the northwest and the glades of the southeast. The five forests of Leitrim stood until the seventeenth century; the loss of trees and topsoil transformed the southeast into a vast marsh. With land suitable only for cows and potatoes, Leitrim's 155,000 residents (1841 census) were devastated by the Potato Famine. Even so, William Butler Yeats was attracted to Lough Allen and the Sligo-march sixty years later.

Map from www.irelandstory.com

The county is one of the lowest population densities in the Republic, and one of the smallest counties by area. Leitrim also has Ireland's shortest coastline: just two miles of beach surround the town of Bundoran. The county town is Carrick-on-Shannon (1,868 inhabitants). In 2003 the first sets of traffic lights in the county were installed around Carrick-on-Shannon.

External link

• Tourism site with good history section