Town Clock and Market Yard, Carrick on Shannon.

Properly known as the McCann Memorial Monument, the town clock was erected in 1905 in memory of Owen McCann, (1851-1901) a prominent citizen of the town and first chairman of Leitrim County Council. It stood further out in the roadway and for several years the clock was removed and only the shaft of the monument remained. Fortunately when the monument was moved to its present site the clock was restored to working order and the monument is a fine piece of street furniture of which Carrick people are very proud. The restored stonework at the rear of the monument has enhanced Carrick's town centre.

Near this place stood the Old Courthouse which was the scene of many historic happenings, non more dramatic nor tragic than in 1798. Following the defeat of the United Irishmen and the French Army under General Humbert by Cornwallis and Lake at Ballinamuck, the French were treated as prisoners of war, but the Irish were given no quarter.

An English Officer writes:
"After the action in Ballinamuch, the regiment was marched to Carrick-on-Shannon, where in the Courthouse there were a couple of hundred rebel prisoners taken in arms. An order arrived from Lord Cornwallis directing a certain number of them to be hanged without further ceremony, and a number of bits of paper were rolled up, the word 'death' being written on the number ordered. And with these in his hat, the Adjutant, Captain Kay (on whom devolved the management of the wretched lottery) entered the Courthouse and the drawing began. As fast as the wretch drew the fatal ticket he was handed out and hanged at the door. In all, it is believed that 17 were actually hanged in this way."

American visitors may like to know that the noble lord who ordered the killing of the prisoners was the same Cornwallis whose surrender to George Washington at Yorktown in 1781 effectively ended the American war of Independence.

In 1830 Charles Manners St.George, the proprietor of the town erected the Market House and shambles now know as the Market Yard. IN the first half of the 19th Century there was a trade in
"coarse linen druggets, frieze and coarse flannel",
but the main market was butter and other farm produce. The fact that it was called a "shambles" indicates there was a trade in meat. Close examination of the lintels of many of the doors in the Market Yard reaveals faint outlines of the names of traders of a century ago. Following the establishment of Kiltoghert Co-Operative Creamery the butter market came to an end.