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Glencar Lough, County Leitrim
Photograph: Nogwater · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Province of Connacht

County Leitrim

Liatroim

“LEE-a-trim” · grey ridge, from liath (grey) + droim (ridge)

Known as The Wild Rose County. For the dog roses in the hedges, in the county with the smallest population.

Did you know? Leitrim held 155,000 people before the Famine. By the 1990s it held barely 25,000.
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Leitrim by the numbers
Connacht province 35,199 people · 2022 census 1,589 km² · 26th of 32 by size County town Carrick-on-Shannon -28% in the Famine · 155,297 people in 1841, 112,000 in 1851 (approx.) 5 baronies · 1,489 townlands 1930s folklore · the Schools' Collection ↗ 16 surnames 4 towns on the site 309 daily Irish speakers Highest point Truskmore SE Cairn, 631 m 0 senior All-Irelands 30 notable people born here 391 historic buildings recorded Everything on the site about Leitrim ↓
Carlow Cavan Cork Donegal Dublin Clare Galway Kerry Kildare Kilkenny Laois Leitrim Limerick Longford Louth Mayo Meath Monaghan Offaly Roscommon Sligo Tipperary Waterford Westmeath Wexford Wicklow Antrim Armagh Down Fermanagh Londonderry Tyrone

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The history of Leitrim

Leitrim was the western half of the kingdom of Bréifne, the country of the O'Rourkes of Dromahair, whose lion is still on the county shield. When Bréifne split in the 13th century, the O'Rourkes kept the west — West Breifne, now Leitrim — and the O'Reillys the east. The Normans pushed into south Leitrim in the 13th century and were beaten at Áth an Chip in 1270.

Sir John Perrot ordered the county set up in 1565 and drew its borders around 1583. In 1620 much of it was confiscated and given to Villiers and Hamilton to plant with English settlers, but the plantation failed. The county's forests — tradition says there were five great ones — were cut for charcoal for the ironworks around Sliabh an Iarainn, worked from the 15th to the mid-18th century; coal was mined at Arigna until the last mine closed in July 1990.

Mechanised linen weaving hit Leitrim's cottage industry in the 1830s, and then the Famine took the county from 155,000 people in 1841 to 112,000 in 1851, and emigration kept it falling. Its population today, 35,199 at the 2022 census, is less than a quarter of what it was in 1841. The Book of Fenagh was written here, and Yeats knew Glencar Waterfall, which appears in "The Stolen Child".

Drawn from the History section of the Wikipedia article on County Leitrim ↗, rewritten here and adding nothing it does not say; licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. The chronology above is this site's own; where the two differ, the article is the one to check.

The land — from Wikipedia

Leitrim is the 26th in size of the 32 counties by area (21st of the 26 counties of the Republic) and the smallest by population. It is the smallest of Connacht's five counties in both size and population. Leitrim is bordered by the counties of Donegal to the north, Fermanagh to the north-east, Cavan to the east, Longford to the south, Roscommon to the south-west and Sligo to the west. Fermanagh is in Northern Ireland while all the other neighbouring counties are within the Republic of Ireland.

Leitrim has a hilly and mountainous landscape in its northwest and is relatively flat in the southeast, each separated from the other by Lough Allen in the middle of the county. Leitrim has the shortest length of coastline of any Irish county that touches the sea. At Tullaghan, the coastline is only long. The Shannon is linked to the Erne via the Shannon–Erne Waterway. Notable lakes include:

Read the full article ↗ · Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Clans & surnames of Leitrim
Clancy Mac Fhlannchaidh Gaelic learned family · “son of Flannchadh, 'the red warrior'” Curran Ó Corráin Gaelic septs (several) · “descendant of Corrán” Early Ó Maolmhochóirghe Gaelic learned family · “descendant of Maolmhocheirghe, ‘chief of early rising’” Forde Mac Conshnámha / Mac Giolla na Naomh / Ó Fuaráin Gaelic septs (several) & English settlers · “three Irish names all mistranslated as 'ford': 'son of the swimming-hound' (Leitrim), 'son of the devotee of the saints' (Galway), 'descendant of Fuarthán, the cold one' (Cork)” Ganley Mag Sheanlaoich Gaelic sept · “son of the old hero, from seanlaoch” Kilcoyne Mac Giolla Chaoine Gaelic sept · “son of the servant of St Caoine, or of 'the gentle youth'” McGoldrick Mag Ualghairg Gaelic sept · “son of Ualgharg, ‘proud-fierce’” McGovern Mág Shamhradháin Gaelic sept · “son of Samhradhán, 'summer's child'” Meehan Ó Miadhacháin Gaelic sept · “descendant of Miadhachán, 'the honourable'” Moran Ó Móráin Gaelic sept · “descendant of Mórán, 'the great one'” Mulvey Ó Maoilmhiadhaigh Gaelic sept · “descendant of Maolmiadhach, 'honourable chief'” O'Rourke Ó Ruairc Gaelic dynasty · “descendant of Ruarc (a Norse name)” Reynolds Mac Raghnaill Norse-Gaelic · “son of Raghnall — the Irish form of the Norse name Rögnvaldr” Roddy Ó Rodaigh Gaelic sept · “descendant of Rodach, 'strong'” Shanley Mac Seanlaoich Gaelic sept · “son of the old hero” Smith Mac Gabhann Gaelic sept · “son of the smith”

Tap a name for its full page — story, homeland map and neighbours. Or see all surnames from County Leitrim, with the other counties each name is tied to.

Towns, saints and legends of Leitrim

Towns. Carrick-on-Shannon Cora Droma Rúisc, Manorhamilton Cluainín Uí Ruairc, Drumshanbo Droim Seanbhó, Ballinamore Béal an Átha Móir. What every town name means →

Legends set here. Glencar — the stolen child. On the atlas →

First names that belong here. Tiarnán.

Irish in Leitrim today

At the 2022 census, 13,153 people in Leitrim said they could speak Irish. 309 speak it every day outside school, and 788 weekly.

2 primary schools here teach entirely through Irish (2025/26, 259 pupils).

CSO, Census 2022, table SAP2022T3T2CTY. Every county compared →

The top of Leitrim

Truskmore SE Cairn, 631 metres, in the Dartry Mountains.

Rivers and loughs: River Shannon, Lough Allen, Lough Melvin.

MountainViews, via Wikipedia. Every county's highest point → · Rivers and loughs →

Leitrim in the All-Ireland

Hurling: no senior title.
Football: no senior title.

Every county's All-Ireland titles →

Born in Leitrim

From Wikidata: people whose recorded birthplace is in the county, who have a Wikipedia article and are no longer living, with dates shown only where the article confirms them, ordered by how many languages Wikipedia covers them in. Traditional birthplaces of early saints are as Wikidata records them. Dates are left off where the sources disagree.

People in Leitrim, census by census

Leitrim had 155,297 people in 1841 and has 35,199 now (-77%). Its peak was 155,297 in 1841; its low point 25,057 in 1996, -84% of 1841. It has never regained the population it had before the Famine.

1821183118411851186118711881189119011911192619361946195119561961196619711979198119861991199620022006201120162022
124,783141,524155,297111,897104,74495,56290,37278,61869,34363,58255,90750,90844,59141,20937,05633,47030,57228,36027,84427,60927,03525,30125,05725,79928,95031,79832,04435,199

Census returns as tabulated in the county's Wikipedia article. All 32 counties, 1821 to today →

Hidden Leitrim — the places the buses miss
  • Creevelea Friary
    The last Franciscan house founded in Ireland before the suppression — 1508, by Eóghan O’Rourke of West Bréifne and his wife Margaret O’Brian. Burned by accident in 1536 and rebuilt, dissolved about 1598, reoccupied in 1642, cleared out by the Cromwellians, and lived in again after that until 1837. A cloister carving shows Francis preaching to the birds.
On the ground in Leitrim

Every pin is placed by its documented coordinates. All the monuments of Ireland →

Everything on the site about County Leitrim

The county

History

Monuments and heritage

Coast and country

People and culture

Quick answers
What is the Irish name for County Leitrim?

Liatroim. Leitrim is one of the 5 counties of Connacht (Cúige Chonnacht).

Who ruled County Leitrim in the Middle Ages?

Around 1014 it was held by Bréifne (O'Rourke); by 1450, West Bréifne (O'Rourke). The full era-by-era chronology is on this page.

What surnames come from County Leitrim?

Names historically associated with Leitrim include Clancy, Curran, Early, Forde, Ganley, Kilcoyne, McGoldrick, McGovern, among others.

What does Liatroim mean?

Liatroim, said “LEE-a-trim”, means grey ridge — from liath (grey) + droim (ridge). Named for the village of Leitrim on the Shannon.

What is the population of County Leitrim?

35,199 at the 2022 census, against 155,297 in 1841, before the Famine.

What is the county town of Leitrim?

Carrick-on-Shannon. County Leitrim covers about 1,589 km², which makes it the 26th largest of the 32 counties.

Who are famous people from County Leitrim?

Among the best-known people born in Leitrim are Seán Mac Diarmada, George Charles Beresford, Anthony Durnford, Louisa Martin, Eliza Pratt Greatorex, William Henry Drummond. The full list, with their birthplaces, is on this page.

What did the Famine do to County Leitrim?

The census counted 155,297 people in Leitrim in 1841 and 112,000 in 1851 (the 1851 figure is approximate): a change of -28% in ten years, through death and emigration.

Sources for this page

A clean copy for school projects or the family file; collapsed sections print in full.

The chronology of who held the county is this site's own reading of the standard histories onto today's county borders, and says so where the fit is rough. Quoted passages are marked and licensed. Spotted an error? Say so — corrections are credited.

Trace your ancestors in Leitrim

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