Lanesborough — Aghamore (ardagh By.),commons North,knock,lanesborough

At a crossing point on the river Shannon where it enters Lough Ree. Lanesborough was formerly known as Athleague or Ballyleague (AFM vol. 1, 1063, 1109; vol. 3, 200) and Joyce (1871, 343) translates Béal Átha Liag as the mouth of the ford of the stones. It occupied a strategic border location on the river Shannon between the early medieval kingdoms of Connacht and Midhe and the modern counties of Longford and Roscommon. Records indicate that a causeway (LF017-003003-) was constructed across the river in 1000 (AFM, sub 1000; Ann. Clon., sub 994), while bridges (cliathdroichid) (LF017-003001-) were built in the mid-12th century (AFM, sub 1140 and 1154; Ann. Clon., sub 1132). In 1172 Walter de Lacy began to build a castle but it was not completed because Cathal Crobderg O Conncobair, King of Connacht, forced him to abandon it (AFM; ALC; Ann. Clon., sub 1220). The castle (LF017-003002-) built in 1227 by the Irish Justiciar Geoffrey de Marisco (Ann. Conn.; AFM) may have been built on or close to its site. The latter castle appears to have been the spur to the development of a vill, for a charter of borough status was granted before 1235 (MacNiocaill 1977, 55). Upon Walter de Lacy's death in 1241, Lanesborough was inherited by John de Verdon (Otway-Ruthven 1968b, 411-13). Its situation made it vulnerable and in 1271 Aedh O Conncobair attacked and destroyed the castle (Ann. Conn.; AFM; AU). In 1284 Theobald de Verdon was granted a charter to hold a weekly market (Cal. doc. Ire. vol. ii, 532). Whatever urban developments occurred probably fell victim to the political and economic difficulties of the early 14th century. The failure of the Anglo-Norman settlement is recorded in the 1332 partition of the lands of Theobald de Verdon. After his death Henry Ferrers, husband of Isabella de Verdon, was granted '18 carucates of land in the town of Ballilegge alias Beallalegge, now extended at no value because the land is waste and uncultivated for lack of tenants' (Othway-Ruthven 1968, 435). The next references date to the late 16th and early 17th centuries: in 1572 Athleague was attacked by a rebellious faction of the Clanrickard Burkes, suggesting that the area was under the control of the English (Bradley et al. 1985, 26). Sir Patrick Barnewell, who built a ‘fair and strong fort [LF017-003011-] and house’ in the late 16th or early 17th century (Cal. S.P. Ire., 1611-14, 51), probably on the site of the levelled castle, was granted a licence in 1616 to hold a market and two fairs (Cal. pat. rolls Ire., Jas I, 304). In 1617/8 Thomas Rotherham was granted the 'castle and fort of Ballyleigg otherwise Bealaleig, and 300a … lying about said castle, and next adjoining to the river Shannon' (ibid., 360). Gerald Murtagh received a grant of the lands of Ballyleague in 1620 as part of the plantation of Longford and he was also granted a licence to hold a market and a fair (ibid., 482). In 1664 the lands of Ballyleague, then held by Sir George Lane, were erected into the manor of Lanesborough and the town was constituted a free borough (Bradley et al., 1985, 26). The Down Survey (1655-6) map of Rathcline barony (NLI MS 716) depicts a small clustered settlement around the ‘Fort of Ballyleage’ and a church (LF017-003004-) on the E side of the Shannon and ‘Ballyleag Castle’ (RO037-004----), in county Roscommon, on the W bank. In 1682 Nicholas Dowdall noted that the town had 'fine stonehouses and very fair Church stately beautified within and with a Tall Steeple and Church Yard walled about' (Gillespie and Moran 1991, 208). A late-17th-century map of the town (NLI MS 8646/8) depicts the church, annotated 'old church', castle, an enclosed orchard and a cluster of low houses with centrally placed chimneystacks on the S side of a road leading down to a bridge (LF017-003001-). A large stone building on the SE side of the town is named the 'Lime house’ and there is a mill to the NE of the bridge. The extent of the 13th-century Anglo-Norman borough and its exact whereabouts are unknown. The 17th-century plantation settlement may overlie it but there is there is also a possibility that a formal medieval settlement was never established at this location. It may have been on the W bank of the Shannon, in the vicinity of Ballyleague castle (RO037-004----) in county Roscommon (Bradley et al. 1985, 29). The 17th-century borough appears to have been quite small, it consisted of one main street aligned NNW-SSE with long property plots extending off both sides of it. It may have functioned as a garrison town controlling the bridge (ibid., 26, 29). No traces of any 17th-century buildings are evident in the modern streetscape, and the castle (LF017-003002-) and fort (LF017-003011-) have been levelled. Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 31 July 2013