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County Roscommon

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County Roscommon
Contae Ros Comáin
County
Coat of arms of County Roscommon
Coat of arms
Motto: 
Latin: Constans Hiberniae Cor
"Steadfast Irish heart"
Map
Interactive map of County Roscommon
CountryIreland
ProvinceConnacht
RegionNorthern and Western
Establishedc. 1569[1][2]
County townRoscommon
Government
 • Local authorityRoscommon County Council
 • Dáil constituencyRoscommon–Galway
 • EP constituencyMidlands–North-West
Area
[3]
 • Total
2,548 km2 (984 sq mi)
 • Rank11th
Highest elevation
(Seltannasaggart)
428 m (1,404 ft)
Population
 (2022)[4]
 • Total
70,259
 • Rank26th
 • Density27.57/km2 (71.42/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC±0 (WET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+1 (IST)
Eircode routing keys
F42, F45, F52 (primarily)
Telephone area codes071, 090 (primarily)
ISO 3166 codeIE-RN
Vehicle index
mark code		RN
WebsiteOfficial website Edit this at Wikidata

County Roscommon (Irish: Contae Ros Comáin) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the province of Connacht and the Northern and Western Region. It is the 11th largest Irish county by area and 26th most populous. Its county town and largest town is Roscommon. Roscommon County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county was 70,259 as of the 2022 census.[4]

Etymology

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County Roscommon is named after the county town of Roscommon. Roscommon comes from the Irish Ros meaning a wooded, gentle height and Comán, the first abbot and bishop of Roscommon who founded the first monastery there in 550 AD.[5]

Geography

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County Roscommon has an area of 2,548 square kilometres (984 sq mi).[3] Lough Key in north Roscommon is noted for having thirty-two islands. The geographical centre of Ireland is located on the western shore of Lough Ree in the south of the county.[6]

Roscommon is the third largest of Connacht's five counties by size and the second-smallest in terms of population. It ranks 11th in size of Ireland's 32 counties, but 26th in terms of population, making it the 3rd most sparsely populated county after Leitrim and Mayo. The county borders every other Connacht county: Galway, Mayo, Sligo, and Leitrim, as well as three Leinster counties: Longford, Westmeath, and Offaly. In 2008, a news report said that statistically, people from Roscommon have the longest life expectancy of any county on the island of Ireland.[7]

Seltannasaggart, which is located along the northern border with County Leitrim, is the tallest point in County Roscommon, measuring to a height of 428 m (1,404.20 ft).[8]

Largest towns by population

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According to the 2022 census:[3]

  1. Roscommon 6,555
  2. Athlone* 4,595 (Part of Athlone (Monksland) is in Co. Roscommon)
  3. Boyle 2,915
  4. Ballaghaderreen 2,387
  5. Castlerea 2,348
  6. Ballyleague* 1,733 (includes Lanesborough, County Longford)
  7. Strokestown 850
  8. Roosky* 787 (A small part of Roosky is in County Leitrim)

*Not all of the population resides within County Roscommon

Baronies

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There are nine historical baronies in County Roscommon.

North Roscommon

South Roscommon

History

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River Suck at Athleague.

Rathcroghan (Irish: Rath Cruachán), near Tulsk, a complex of archaeological sites, the home of Queen Medb (Irish: Méadhbh, anglicised Maeve), was the seat of Kings of Connacht and then to the High Kings of Ireland. This was the starting point of the Táin Bó Cúailnge, or Cattle Raid of Cooley, an epic tale in Irish mythology. The county is home to prehistoric ringforts such as Carnagh West Ringfort and Drummin fort.

Roscommon was first defined as a county (or shired) 1292,[9] just over 100 years after the Anglo Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169. County Roscommon as an administrative division has its roots in the Middle Ages. With the conquest and division of the Kingdom of Connacht, those districts in the east retained by King John as "The King's Cantreds" covered County Roscommon, and parts of East Galway. These districts were leased to the native kings of Connacht and eventually became the county. In 1585 during the Tudor re-establishment of counties under the Composition of Connacht, Roscommon was established with the South-west boundary now alongside the River Suck.

Medieval art

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A "well defined" and "original" fine metal workshop was active in County Roscommon in the 12th century. The Cross of Cong, the Aghadoe crosier, Shrine of the Book of Dimma and Shrine of Manchan of Mohill' are grouped together as having been created by Mael Isu Bratain Ui Echach et al., at the same Roscommon workshop.[10][11][12][13] The workshop has been linked to St. Assicus of Elphin.[14]

Ordnance Survey

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Roscommon Castle

John O'Donovan (1806–1861), historian and scholar, visited County Roscommon in 1837, while compiling information for the Ordnance Survey. Entering St Peter's parish in Athlone in June 1837, he wrote, "I have now entered upon a region totally different from Longford, and am very much pleased with the intelligence of the people." However, he had major problems with place-names. He later wrote, "I am sick to death's door of lochawns, and it pains me to the very soul to have to make these remarks, but what can I do when I cannot make the usual progress? Here I am stuck in the mud in the middle of Loughs, Turlaghs, Lahaghs and Curraghs, the names of many of which are only known to a few old men in their immediate neighbourhood and I cannot give many of them utterance from the manner in which they are spelled."[15][16]

The River Shannon running through Athlone town.
Lough Key

Places of interest

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A greenway is planned connecting Athlone to Ballyleague.[17][18]

Government and politics

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Roscommon County Hall in 2024
The island of Ireland, showing location of County Roscommon.

Roscommon is governed locally by the 18-member Roscommon County Council, a body created under the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898.

The 1898 Act also divided the county into the rural districts of Athlone No. 2, Ballinasloe No. 2, Boyle No. 1, Carrick-on-Shannon No. 2, Castlerea, Roscommon, and Strokestown.[19] The rural districts were abolished in 1925.[20] Boyle and Roscommon were administered locally by town commissioners.[21] Roscommon town commissioners were abolished in 1927. After becoming a town council in 2002,[22] in common with all other town councils in Ireland, Boyle Town Council was abolished under the Local Government Reform Act 2014.[23]

For general elections, Roscommon is completely within the three-seat Dáil constituency of Roscommon–Galway. For European elections, the county is part of the Midlands–North-West constituency.

Rail transport

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There are railway stations located in Boyle (Dublin–Sligo line), Carrick-on-Shannon (Dublin–Sligo line), Roscommon (Dublin–Westport line), Castlerea (Dublin-Westport line), Ballinasloe (Dublin-Galway line) and Athlone (Dublin–Galway and Dublin–Westport lines).

Sport

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Gaelic football is the dominant sport in Roscommon. Roscommon won the All-Ireland Senior Football Championships in 1943 and 1944 and the National Football League Division 1 in 1979, as well as Division 2 in 2015 and 2018. Roscommon have captured the Connacht Senior Football Championship on 25 occasions, the most recent being in 2026, beating Galway in Dr. Hyde Park. In March 2025 Roscommon won back promotion to Division 1.[24]

Roscommon's main hurling title was the 2007 Nicky Rackard Cup.

Association football and rugby are also popular sports in the county.

Notable events

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The last known fatal duel to take place on the island of Ireland involved 2 young Roscommon men. [25] The duel, using pistols, took place not long after dawn, before 6am, at Ballygill Bridge in the south of the county, a bridge which crosses over the River Suck on the border between the counties of Roscommon and Galway about 2 miles north of the town of Ballinasloe. Malachy Kelly, an accomplished jockey from Tonalig in the Parish of Creagh, Roscommon, and Owen Lynch, a gentleman farmer from Rathpeak in the Parish of Moore also in Roscommon had a disagreement at a recent horse race meeting. For whatever reason Kelly objected to riding Lynch's horse in a race, words were exchanged, and when Lynch refused to give Kelly the written apology he demanded Kelly challenged Lynch to the duel which he accepted. Both men were in their early 30s, were well acquainted with each other, and both were the sons of local affluent Landlords, who owned large estates neighboring one another about 3 miles east of Ballinasloe. The duel took place on the morning of Friday 28th of May 1841. Dueling, though outlawed, was still a socially acceptable form of settling disputes well into the 19th century, but by the 1840s was confined to the western seaboard of Ireland and was now considered unacceptable and even barbaric and becoming a rare event. Both men fired off their shot. Kelly got hit and the lead ball lodged deep in his groin. He was badly wounded, but Lynch was not hit and so he escaped injury and he then fled the scene. Kelly was taken back to his home at Woodmount House in Tonalig about 5 miles away and a local doctor, Dr Colohan, was summoned to treat his injury. The location of the lead ball was found to be inoperable. Malachy Kelly died at his home in Tonalig six days later on the Thursday 3rd of June 1841.[26] He left a wife and at least 3 children behind. Owen Lynch eventually handed himself up to police in Galway a year later, and he was brought to trail in Galway City courthouse on a charge of willful murder in July of 1842. The jury found Lynch not guilty of the charge, and the Judge acquitted him finding that there was no malice on Lynch's part in how Malachy Kelly came about his death. Lynch continued in farming after this and eventually moved to the Loughrea area of County Galway. He married in 1865, had a family and died at home in 1894 aged 83. The duel itself, its tragic consequences, and the trial a year later was widely reported on in most local and regional newspapers in both Ireland and Britain, and possibly because of this, the practice of dueling died out considerably afterwards and this event was significant as it marked the last known fatal duel in Ireland.

Notable people

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See also

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References

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  1. ↑ Mannion, Joseph (20 June 2019). "Elizabethan County Galway: The Origin and Evolution of an Administrative Unit of Tudor Local Government". Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society. 64: 64–89. JSTOR 24612855.
  2. ↑ "County Galway, Ireland Genealogy Genealogy – FamilySearch Wiki". familysearch.org. Archived from the original on 28 July 2020. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 "County Profiles – Roscommon". Western Development Commission. Archived from the original on 2 June 2021. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  4. 1 2 "Census of Population 2022 – Preliminary Results". Central Statistics Office. 23 June 2022.
  5. ↑ Walsh, Jane (9 September 2016). "What do Ireland's county names mean?". IrishCentral.com. Archived from the original on 10 November 2016. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
  6. ↑ "Ordnance Survey Ireland: FAQs". Archived from the original on 28 February 2012. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
  7. ↑ "Roscommon tops life expectancy study". RTÉ News. Dublin: RTÉ Commercial Enterprises. 12 August 2008. Archived from the original on 4 September 2008. Retrieved 19 August 2009.
  8. ↑ "Seltannasaggart 428m hill, Arigna Mountains Ireland at MountainViews.ie". mountainviews.ie. Archived from the original on 10 November 2016. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  9. ↑ n.a. (September 2013). "'Geographical loyalty'? Counties, palatinates, boroughs and ridings'". History Ireland. 21 (5). Retrieved 6 October 2026.
  10. ↑ Ó Floinn 1987, pp. 179–187.
  11. ↑ Hourihane 2012, pp. 225.
  12. ↑ Edwards 2013, pp. 147.
  13. ↑ Karkov, Ryan & Farrell 1997, pp. 269.
  14. ↑ Kelly 1902, pp. 291–292.
  15. ↑ Hunt, Roy (2010). Painful progress: the slow evolution of County Roscommon society, 1850–1914 (Thesis). National University of Ireland Galway. p. 8.
  16. ↑ John O' Donovan, "Letters containing information relative to the antiquities of the County of Roscommon, collected during the progress of the Ordnance Survey, 1837". p. 5. Special collections section, National University of Ireland, Galway, 2009, reproduced by Rev. Michael O'Flanagan, Bray 1927.
  17. ↑ "Plans for new Athlone to Ballyleague greenway take step forward". WestmeathIndependent.ie. 14 April 2025. Retrieved 9 June 2025.
  18. ↑ "Closing date approaches for public to have their say on Lough Ree Greenway". Shannonside.ie. Retrieved 9 June 2025.
  19. ↑ Clancy, John Joseph (1899). A handbook of local government in Ireland: containing an explanatory introduction to the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898: together with the text of the act, the orders in Council, and the rules made thereunder relating to county council, rural district council, and guardian's elections: with an index. Dublin: Sealy, Bryers and Walker. p. 424.
  20. ↑ Local Government Act 1925, s. 3: Abolition of rural district councils (No. 5 of 1925, s. 3). Enacted on 26 March 1925. Act of the Oireachtas. Retrieved from Irish Statute Book on 22 December 2021.
  21. ↑ "1926 Census: Table 9: Population, Area and Valuation of urban and rural districts and of all towns with a population of 1,500 inhabitants or over, showing particulars of town and village population and of the number of persons per 100 acres" (PDF). Central Statistics Office. p. 28. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 April 2016. Retrieved 30 October 2022.
  22. ↑ Local Government Act 2001, 6th Sch.: Local Government Areas (Towns) (No. 37 of 2001, 6th Sch.). Enacted on 21 July 2001. Act of the Oireachtas. Retrieved from Irish Statute Book on 3 August 2022.
  23. ↑ Local Government Reform Act 2014, s. 24: Dissolution of town councils and transfer date (No. 1 of 2014, s. 24). Enacted on 27 January 2014. Act of the Oireachtas. Retrieved from Irish Statute Book on 21 May 2022.
  24. ↑ "Mayo and Kerry to meet in final as Tyrone are relegated following dramatic day in Allianz League". 23 March 2025.
  25. ↑ Bergin, K. (31 January 2021). ""Bellagill Bridge, scene of the last known fatal duel in Ireland"". Our Irish Heritage. Archived from the original on 31 January 2021. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  26. ↑ The Freemans Journal (7 June 1841). "" A Fatal duel at Ballygill Bridge"". Freemans Journal, Dublin, Ireland. pp. 3–3.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

Secondary references

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53°45′N 8°15′W / 53.750°N 8.250°W / 53.750; -8.250

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