| Name | County Roscommon |
| Alt names | Co. Roscommon | | | Contae Ros Comáin | source: Wikipedia | | Ros Comáin | source: Encyclopædia Britannica (1988) X, 180 | | Roscommon | source: Getty Vocabulary Program |
| Type | County |
| Coordinates | 53.75°N 8.25°W |
| Located in | Republic of Ireland (1922 - ) |
| Also located in | Ireland ( - 1922) |
- source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
- source: Family History Library Catalog
- the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia
County Roscommon is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the town of Roscommon. Roscommon County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county is 64,065 according to the 2011 census.
For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article County Roscommon. especially the section "Geography and political subdivisions" and its subsection "Towns and villages", and the section "History"
Research Tips
The modern county was created in 1565, taking its name from its major town. The town was named for a little-known 5th Century saint, Comnan, who lived in the nearby woods. It is dominated by the ruins of a 13th Century Dominican abbey.(Ros Comáin is Gaelic for "St. Coman's wood.")
The county is bounded by the River Shannon to the south and east, and by the tributary River Suck to the west. Much of the land is very wet, with extensive winter flooding along the Shannon. Many turloughs, or "underground lakes," appear on the landscape between October and April.
The north of the county was anciently the lands of the McDermott clan, while the south was ruled by the O'Kelly clan.
Roscommon was little affected by the Norman and English invasions until the 17th Century. As a result, many of the traditional Irish folk traditions survived here longer than other parts of the country.
The county was devastated by the Potato Famine. From 1841 to 1851, its population dropped by about one-third, the single largest fall of any county in Ireland. And, it has never recovered. Most of the modern county consists of empty countryside.
Surnames associated with the history County Roscommon include Beirne, Dockery, Frain, Hanly, Hester, McDermott, McDuignan, O'Connor, O'Gara, O'Kelly, Regan, and Towey.
|
