----- Original Message ----- From: Ted Meehan To: [email protected] Sent: Friday, March 01, 2002 10:27 AM Subject: Leitrim - Some History A chairde, Some history on our current chosen County... Leitrim came into "official" existence in the mid-1580s, when the English authorities carved up Breifne O'Rourke. At that time, O'Rourke was probably feared as much as Hugh O'Neill or Hugh O'Donnell - and he was closer to the English. Breifne had historically been divided between Breifne O'Rourke (West) and Breifne O'Reilly. The modern counties which had been part of Breifne O'Rourke would be Leitrim, Sligo, Roscommon, part of Mayo, and part of Galway. For the most part, the O'Rourkes were traditional allies of the O'Donnells. The O'Rourke was the last Gaelic Chief to submit to the English in the early 1600s. Breifne O'Reilly would consist mainly of Cavan and Meath. The O'Reillys had submitted early on to the English, but had been double-crossed. There had been two townlands which had always been under dispute between O'Rourke and O'reilly. They were Tullyhaw and Tullyhunco. When O'Reilly made his "surrender and regrant", under Elizabeth, he was awarded the rights to these townlands. Yet, later, when O'Rourke was being recruited in the Composition of Connaught in 1585, the documents stated that those townlands would be under the authority of O'Rourke. The Land in Leitrim is considered to be the least profitable in ireland for farming. Yet it is also placed in a very strategic location, which makes it a very important area to control. It is the key to transportation between Leinster, Connaught, and Ulster. Because of is central location, it has also - over the ages - led to alliances between its leaders and the most admired figures in irish History. Leitrim was targeted for plantation by the English - in large part because of these considerations. Yet, its poor farming potential made plantation a difficult proposition to sell to English and Scottish planters. Perhaps the most infamous of the planters of Leitrim was Sir Frederick Hamilton, who built his fortified castle in the town that today bears his name - Manorhamilton. Sir Frederick's immediate ancestors had been Scottish Catholics allied to the Catholic Queen Mary. After her death, they experienced some difficult times, but many became Protestant and their fortunes improved. It was fairly common for younger sons of affluent families to be given estates in Ireland, as happened with Sir Frederick. (Frederick had spent some of his youth in the army serving in Europe.) He is believed to have built his castle in the early 1630s. His tenure in Leitrim was filled with the most blood-curdling examples of terror and cruelty. His custom was to hang at least one local in front of his castle each day "preferably a popish priest or a local chief"! His commemoration of Christmas one year consisted of invading a convent of nuns and burning it to the ground - while hanging the survivors in front of his castle on Christmas day. He made a similar example of a monastery of Franciscans in another year. During the Rising of 1641, the locals received support from the army of Owen Roe O'Neill, and the legendary Myles "The Slasher" O'Reilly. They stormed his castle and sought to capture the miscreant and his underlings. Owen Roe O'Neill gave an order that women and children were to be released unharmed. Sir Frederick, who was apparently small in stature, disguised himself as a woman and slipped out of the castle, escaping eventually back to Scotland. Many of the local families lost their lands several times in the 1600s. The first such losses occured during the confiscations which took place under Elizabeth and James I. However, many of these were offered back - especially those which were difficult to sell to planters - in exchange for money given to assist Charles I in his financial crises. The return of these lands to Catholics were called his "Graces". After the defeat of the Confederation of Kilkenny, the lands of those who had opposed the Puritans of Cromwell were again seized and given mostly to Cromwell's soldiers, or to foreign English investors called "adventurers". But, after Cromwell's death and restoration of Charles II, the lands could be reclaimed with a simple oath of loyalty to Charles II. This was mostly an acknowledgement by Charles II of gratitude to the Irish Catholics who had taken the side of his father against Cromwell (his father's executioner). While many of these lands were again becoming consolidated under the returning chieftains, Charles II died leaving a Catholic heir - James II in 1685. The English, who were now solidly Protestant, feared any new religious upheaval. The Anglicans were much less extreme in their fear of Catholics than the remaining Puritans, but they feared the potential sectarian problems that could result from renewed religious discord. Some decided to back the husband of James II's daughter Mary, William of Orange, a Dutch Prince. The result was the War between Kings, which again dispossessed the Irish people of Leitrim. Men from Leitrim have continued to play prominent roles in Irish history. Some of the prominent families which trace their origins to this county are: O'Rourke, Reynolds, Johnston, McDermott, Meehan, O'Duignean. Phillip Meehan is recognized as the first martyr of Land Reform. Sean McDiarmada was ahero of the Easter Rising. The first election in which Sinn Fein competed was in North Leitrim in 1908. In that election, Francis Edward Meehan (Irish Parliamentary Party) defeated Charles Dolan (Sinn Fein). I hope some of the above will be of interest. Siochain, Ted Meehan