archaeological & built heritage assessment - The Heritage Council

Post-famine development
Irish towns as a whole entered a recessive phase in the troubled nineteenth century. A collapse of the
colonial underpinnings of many urban centres, especially the alliance between the landlords (economics),
the military (politics) and the established protestant church (religion). An indication of this unrest is
evident from the events that unfolded at Strokestown, which resulted in the assassination of the landlord,
Major Mahon, by evicted tenants. Meanwhile, the introduction of peasant proprietorship brought about
the nation-forming class of tenant farmers in rural areas (ibid.). As such, Ireland maintained its rural ethos,
and many Irish social commentators of the time reiterated the squalor of Irish towns.
The Catholic Church
At this time of urban gloom there was the late emergence of approximately 400 chapel villages which
continued into the twentieth century. Their nuclei were the cores of the newly-constructed Catholic
parish system; settlement then accreted around the chapel, generally built on a cross-roads, and attracting
other functions such as a public house, school, post office, barracks, dispensary and shops (ibid.). It was
also in these predominantly Catholic towns that became the centres of a new nationalist Ireland. Example
villages of the typical parish system are dotted all along the route of the waterways throughout the Irish
midlands.
A present day perspective
With the growth of the Irish economy since the 1960s, the towns have revived considerably. However in
the early stages of this new growth, development of bungalow suburbs on approach roads effectively
destroyed the historic integrity of many of the older centres. Only in the 1990s has a more focussed
approach emerged, mainly due to demands of the tourist industry and by increasing co-operation between
heritage specialists and local communities. The latter are increasingly active in preserving the identity and
integrity of their towns and villages. Irish towns are considerably more colourful and cheerful places and
occupy a more powerful place in the national life and imagination. This renewal is crucial not just to their
own vitality but to that of the Irish rural landscape as a whole (ibid.).
Within the study area there are fourteen important urban centres:
• Dowra
• Drumkeeran
• Arigna
• Drumshanbo
• Leitrim
• Carrick-on-Shannon
• Cootehall
• Knockvicar
• Boyle
• Jamestown
• Drumsna
26