Drumlish () is a village in
County Longford
County Longford ( gle, Contae an Longfoirt) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Longford. Longford County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county was 46,634 ...
,
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...
on the
R198 regional road north of
Longford Town.
History
Evidence of ancient settlement in the area includes a number of
ringfort
Ringforts, ring forts or ring fortresses are circular fortified settlements that were mostly built during the Bronze Age up to about the year 1000. They are found in Northern Europe, especially in Ireland. There are also many in South Wale ...
sites in Drumlish and its surrounding
townland
A townland ( ga, baile fearainn; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a small geographical division of land, historically and currently used in Ireland and in the Western Isles in Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of Gaelic orig ...
s. The remains of a
portal tomb, known as the Melkagh Dolmen, lie approximately 2 km north of the village.
In 1621, King
James I James I may refer to:
People
*James I of Aragon (1208–1276)
*James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327)
*James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu
*James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347)
*James I of Cyprus (1334–13 ...
granted
Sir George Calvert two tracts of land in the
plantation of Longford
Plantations in 16th- and 17th-century Ireland involved the confiscation of Irish-owned land by the English Crown and the colonisation of this land with settlers from Great Britain. The Crown saw the plantations as a means of controlling, ...
, one around "Ulfeed" (now Elfeet near
Newtowncashel
Newtowncashel () is a village located near Lough Ree in County Longford, Ireland. It is within the townland of Cornadowagh. Newtowncashel won the Irish Tidy Towns Competition in 1980.
History Name
Situated on the north-eastern shore of Lough ...
) and the other around "Dromlish" (corresponding to the modern townlands of Drumlish, Barragh Beg, Barragh More, Derawley, Greagh, Cartrongolan, Oghil, and Enybegs
). The tracts comprised the
manor of Ulfeed with Calvert as
lord of the manor
Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seig ...
.
In 1625 the Drumlish tract was separated from Ulfeed into the manor of Baltimore, and Calvert was promoted to the
Peerage of Ireland, taking the title
Baron Baltimore
Baron Baltimore, of Baltimore, County Longford, was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1625 and ended in 1771, upon the death of its sixth-generation male heir, aged 40. Holders of the title were usually known as Lord Baltimo ...
after the manor.
He later sold the land without having planted any English settlers there.
Close to the village of Drumlish is a late-18th to early-19th century mill complex, which operated as a corn milling business until the 1950s. Within the village is a monument to a local
Land War resistance movement which, in 1881, successfully prevented the forced eviction of a number local tenants.
The village has grown in population significantly from the late 20th to the early 21st century, with an increase from 275 inhabitants as of the 1991 census to 429 by the 2006 census, and doubling again to 931 people as of the 2016 census.
Amenities
Businesses in Drumlish serve the surrounding hinterland, and there are a number of shops, a
Garda station, post office, and other services. The local Roman Catholic church, St Mary's, was built in 1907. Drumlish
national (primary) school, also named St Mary's, had an enrollment of more than 200 pupils as of 2019.
A music festival, the "Marquee in Drumlish", has been held annually in the village since 2009 and has hosted acts such as
Nathan Carter
Nathan Kane Tyrone Carter (born 28 May 1990) is a British-born Irish country music singer based in the UK and Ireland. He has released thirteen studio albums and six live albums as of December 2022, five of which peaked at number one, and fou ...
,
Mundy
Edmond Enright (born 19 May 1975), known professionally as Mundy, is an Irish singer-songwriter and founder of the independent record label Camcor Records.
Biography
He released his debut album ''Jelly Legs'' in 1996 on the Epic Records label ...
,
Sharon Shannon, and
Damien Dempsey
Damien Dempsey (born 9 June 1975) is an Irish singer and songwriter who mixes traditional Irish folk contemporary lyrics that deliver social and political commentaries on Irish society. Damien sings in his native, working class accent in the Eng ...
.
Transport
Bus Éireann
Bus Éireann (; "Irish Bus") is a state-owned bus and coach operator providing services throughout Ireland, with the exception of Dublin and the Greater Dublin Area, where bus services are provided by sister company Dublin Bus. It is a subsidi ...
route 463 (
Carrigallen
Carrigallen () is a small village in County Leitrim, Ireland. It is located on the R201 and R203 roads in the east of the county. , the village had a population of 387.
Location
The village is set between the north and south shores of Town ...
–
Longford
Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It has a population of 10,008 according to the 2016 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the mee ...
) serves Drumlish on Mondays.
The nearest rail services are from
Longford railway station. There is a locallink service to Longford town.
Notable residents
*
Eddie Bohan, former senator
*
Declan Nerney
Declan Nerney (born c. 1959) is an Irish singer-songwriter. Born in Drumlish, County Longford, he started at the age of 16 in a local band, "The Hi-Lows". His big break came with his autobiographical song "''The Marquee in Drumlish''".
His ear ...
, singer-songwriter
See also
*
List of towns and villages in Ireland
References
{{County Longford
Towns and villages in County Longford