Mohill has an active and ambitious historical society (formally Mohill & District Historical & Heritage Society) and runs frequent events, including walks, talks, and even a film or two.
In 2024, the society won the Leitrim Love Where You Live Community Achievement award.
In 2023, it co-produced the National Heritage Week 2023 County Winner award for Leitrim.
Do join me on Friday evening, 23 May 2025 at 19:30 in St George's Centre, Carrick-on-Shannon.
The talk is free and is one of many events being held during the
Leitrim Gathering 2025.
Ireland’s Famine of the late 1840s decimated Leitrim’s population, through death, disease, land clearance and emigration. Many of those who survived continued to live in poverty, and cash sent home by emigrant relatives was for many, an essential element of household income.
By using examples of emigrant letters from Leitrim and other primary sources, this talk will explore the expectations on those who left as well as those who remained behind, and will discuss the factors that embedded emigration as the norm for Irish families. It will assess the monetary and social value of emigrant remittances back to County Leitrim and will show how this foreign-earned cash was used to fund further emigration, pay rent or other debts, invest in the family farm, and how for some, made the difference between holding the homestead and eviction.
As well as giving new insights, I hope the talk will remind emigrants and those who remained in Ireland of the deep and beneficial bonds we share, and of the debt owed to those who left.
To continue the research on the emigrant experience and the value of remittances, please consider adding your or your ancestor's story by completing a
short questionnaire here >>>
The Leitrim Gathering celebrates place, connection, and heritage with Leitrim people at home and around the world. We welcome anyone with a connection to Leitrim to join us in spirit and in person for a series of events in Leitrim on 23-25 May 2025.
Keep up to date with the full programme at https://theleitrimgathering.com/whats-on/
A version of this talk was delivered as part of the 'Rippling Effects of The Great Famine' series run by Armagh City, Banbridge & Craigavon Borough Council.
A
video of the talk (and others in the series) can be seen on the Council's YouTube channel.
Read more here >>>
Read about Mohill's commemorative event to mark the 90th anniversary of the Anti-Jazz movement.
On 14 August 2023, a host of diverse and uniquely talented contributors performed for a large, appreciative crowd in Mohill. The event won the Heritage Week 2023 County Winner award for Leitrim and was supported by Leitrim County Library.
A walk through Mohill, uncovering the history and heritage of the town through song and story. Each stop is marked with a performance – song, recitation and music – that celebrate a range of topics and people including O'Carolan, the narrow gauge railway, the thriving shops that used to line Main Street, the workhouse, the GAA, ballads, St Patrick's church, the anti-Jazz movement, and John McGahern's Mohill. Songs and stories are interspersed with outstanding music on harps, pipes, saxophone as well as flute, guitar, concertina and fiddle.
Conceived and brilliantly executed by Fionnuala Maxwell and Kim Taylor. Contributors include, in order of appearance: Kim Taylor, John Reynolds, McNamara sisters, Mandi Frankham, Gerry Bohan, Fiona Slevin, Fionnuala Maxwell, Mary Taylor, Martin Prendergast, Matt Gaffey, Sarah Garden, John Tuohy, Aoife Bentout, Tiernan Kellegher, M-A Djeribi, Jarlath Gallagher, Kellegher Family.
So much of our history is written by and about men. But women, ordinary women, built families, businesses and created the town and countryside of Mohill that we know today.
In this walk and talk, I told the story of some of those women.
In this walk and talk, Fiona Slevin told the story of some of those women.
Click on the map below to download a pdf with snippets about some of the great women we remembered and celebrated on the evening. Also published in the Leitrim Guardian 2025.
This is in no way a complete list! One of the goals of this is to
create a new archive:
A Women's History of Mohill.
Do get in touch and tell your own story by using the
contact form here >>>
In summer 2024, a project was commissioned to scope how Mohill can best celebrate its rich history and heritage. Workshops and a questionnaire invited views on what we should focus on, and how it should be made available.
While this phase of the project is finished, you can still contribute. Do the short survey help us understand your connection to Mohill, and what elements of our past hold the most meaning for you.
Mohill Historical Society is entirely run by volunteers and events are often free. To enable the society to continue bringing Mohill history and heritage to life, please contribute at:
https://www.idonate.ie/cause/mohillhistory
Apart from a small admin fee, all money goes directly to the Society.
