Lanesborough-Ballyleague

Lanesborough and Ballyleague ( _ga. Béal Átha Liag) (more commonly known simply as "Lanesborough or Lanesboro") is a town composed of two villages in the midlands of Ireland. Lanesborough is on the County Longford (east) side and Ballyleague on the County Roscommon (west) side of the River Shannon. They are located at the northern tip of Lough Ree on the N63 national secondary road at its junction with the R371 (at Ballyleague) and R392 (at Lanesborough). The town of Longford is 16km north-east on the N63, the town of Roscommon is 15km south-west on the N63, the town of Ballymahon is south-east on the R392 and the town of Strokestown is 15km north-west on the R371.

History

The village is in a strategic position on the Shannon at the northern end of Lough Ree. Lanesborough's name is derived from the family name Lane who once owned large tracts of land in the surrounding area.

Ballyleague contains the monastery founded by Saint Faithleach,in the year 520. He was the brother of Saint Brendan the Navigator.

Lanesborough is the site of one of Ireland's first turf-fired generating stations ("c."1957), operated by the ESB with the fuel being supplied by Bord na Móna. The original generating station burned sod-turf while later generating stations at the site burned milled-peat. The turf/peat fuel was harvested from the surrounding peatlands using specially adapted large industrial machinery. The building of the generating station and the development of the surrounding peatlands in the 1950s brought profound social changes to the local area.

Geography

The river Shannon divides the two towns. So the two towns are in two separate provinces (Leinster on the east and Connacht on the west); two separate counties (Longford on the east and Roscommon on the west); two separate Roman Catholic Dioceses (Ardagh and Clonmacnoise on the east and Elphin on the west) ; and two separate Roman Catholic parishes (Rathcline on the east and, Kilgefin which consists of Ballyleague, Ballagh and Curraghroe on the west).

The original name of the town, Athliag, means Ford of Stones derived from the flagstones placed across the river to assist the crossing.

The first real bridge was built around 1000AD by Malachy, High King of Meath with Cathal O'Connor, King of Connacht - built to link in the middle in their joint effort to defend against the Vikings. The first more permanent bridge was built in 1140 by Turlough O'Connor, High King of Ireland. [Lanesborough Public Library]

A further bridge was built in 1667 and survived till 1690 when it was destroyed by "Col O'Reilly" to stop the Williamite army under "General Kirk".

In 1701 a ferry carrying 46 people to the fair capsized and 35 drowned. Parliament was petitioned for a new bridge, and a stone bridge was erected in 1706, 300' long, 15' wide with 9 arches. Demolished to provide a new bridge in 1844 which contained a swivel arch to allow large boats to pass through. This was removed in the 1960's and replaced by a concrete span in 1971.

Amenities

The Lanesborough-Ballyleague area is well known for its sports fishing, with many tourists coming to fish for bream, tench, rudd, pike etc. on the Shannon. The annual Regatta and the horse fair are very important for the local economy. Lanesborough-Ballyleague is also a popular stop-over for pleasure boats on the River Shannon navigation system. Beautiful island-studded Lough Ree is just to the south and stretches almost 30km to Athlone: while upstream the Shannon meanders 40km to Carrick on Shannon and beyond to the Shannon-Erne Waterway.

port

The two towns have separate Gaelic Athletic Association football teams: Rathcline and St Faithleach's.

ee also

*List of towns and villages in Ireland

References