Home to

Books - Local History, Novels, Videos, Music etc.

Factual Books and Novels with a local interest (see also Music below)

Click on the books/video illustrations for more information (where available).

-
"By Hereditary Values, a history of Lough Rynn", Published September 2006, 204pages, hard back - You can get a flavour of the book and also order a copy on-line at the Lough Rynn history web site)
Recipes and Remedies from Lough Rynn (40pp, softback, B5)
Contact: Tina Slevin by email or Tel: (+353) 7196 31033
(more details here)
"The Blue Stone - Memoir of a Childhood in Co. Leitrim'

This book is now out of print - only available from your local library. The Blue Stone is a first hand account of life growing up in a close knit rural community near Mohill from the late 1930s to the mid-1950s.

Set in the years before electricity and tractors reached the farm, it recounts the final days of the smithy, steam trains, cattle fairs, thresher and so much more. Interspersed with school poems, fireside stories and personal recollections, it is a story of the ups and downs of country life as one young family lived it.

The Blue Stone chronicles a vibrant community undergoing enormous change and modestly records for future generations a way of life that has now passed

Maothail Manachain - Mohill Remembered - A celebration of memories for the Jubilee year 2000.
St. Michael's Boys national school - (90pp, softback, A4) -
Contact:
Luke Early - 07196 31081
A VIDEO of the day's celebrations is/was also available.

The Parish of Aughavas, Co. Leitrim : Its History and Its People
Author: Michael Whelan
Published: 1998
ISBN: 0953397203

They Laughed at This Man's Funeral

Andy McGovern from Aughavas Co. Leitrim recounts stories and anecdotes from his father, Jimmy and the local communty in the 1940's and 50's. The book is currently out of print.

click here for more info.

The Cavan & Leitrim Railway - The Last Decade - An Irish Railway Pictorial
by Tom Ferris and Patrick Flanagan
Large Format, 64 pages, soft back, over 150 b/w photographs.
ISBN: 1-85780-073-7
Product Code: TFPF-02-CLR

Contact CLR

Cavan & Leitrim Revival
Midland Publishing/Online Video
VHS Video, running time 30 minutes.
Product Code: MPV-07-CALR

Contact CLR

The Cavan & Leitrim Railway. Patrick J Flanagan.
published: David & Charles Newton Abbott ISBN 0-7153-8167-9 (1966).
published: Pan Books ISBN 0-330-02942-8 Comprehensive history containing lots of background information, trackplans, gradient profiles, timetables etc
Lough Rynn: Lives and Times (50pp, softback, B5)
(out of print - this book has been superceded by "By Heriditary Virtues", listed above.

Other books we're aware of include:

Kiltubrid, a parish history, - Author Liam Kelly 1984.

A Flame Now Quenched: Rebels and Frenchmen in Leitrim 1793-1798 (1998).

The Face of Time: Photographs of County Leitrim Author: Duncan, Leland Lewis 1862 - 1923. Text by Liam Kelly. Foreword by John McGahern (published by Lilliput Press)

From Rosclogher to Rooskey : the Leitrim story - Author Lorcan O'Runai published by Cumann Seanchais Ros Inbhir; ASIN: 0952970503

Leitrim and the croppies, 1776-1804 by Gerard MacAtasney published by Carrick-on-Shannon & District Historical Society; ASIN: 0953048519

Leitrim and the great hunger, 1845-50 : a temporary inconvenience--? by Gerard MacAtasney published by Carrick on Shannon & District Historical Society; ASIN: 0953048500
NOTE: Many of the books mentioned here will be hard to get. You can always try "Trinity Rare Books" in Carrick-on-Shannon - try (+353) 7196 22144 - email: nickk@indigo.ie

Novels:

The works of John McGahern (1934-2006) are highly recommended to get a flavour of life in South Leitrim. John lived near Mohill and was widely regarded as Ireland's greatest contemporary author.

His latest is "That they may face the rising sun" (in UK and Ireland) and published with the title "By the Lake" in the USA - read reviews from the Guardian, Washington Post, Sunday Tribute and Read Ireland. I really enjoyed it and also "Amongst Women" and "The Collected Stories". Amongst Women won the GPA Book Award and the Irish Times Award, was short-listed for the Booker Prize, and was made into a four-part BBC television series.

Some information on John McGahern is available here. An excellent profile was published in the Guardian.

For those of you who remember studying literature at school with fondness, "History, Myth, and Ritual in the Fiction of John McGahern: Strategies of Transcendence" (Studies in Irish Literature (Lewiston, N.Y.), V. 8.) by James G. Whyte was published in December 2002.
Articles en Français: ici et ici. John McGahern est Chevalier d'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (1989).
Deutsch: hier.

Music

The locally based Rynn Singers have issued a CD (in November 2002) - read more here.

A tape is available of Thomas Moran, recorded by Seamus Ennis in Mohill in 1954 - I love it, but this is not everyone's cup of tea - I managed to find a copy in Galway many years ago. Here's a song sung by Thomas Moran of Mohill on that tape.

The McNamara Family from Aughavas have issued a number of CDs. Click on the two album covers below for more information.

The McNamara Family

Brian McNamara

- "By Hereditary Values, a history of Lough Rynn", Published September 2006, 204pages, hard back - You can get a flavour of the book and also order a copy on-line at the Lough Rynn history web site)	Recipes and Remedies from Lough Rynn (40pp, softback, B5) Contact: Tina Slevin by email or Tel: (+353) 7196 31033 (more details here)	"The Blue Stone - Memoir of a Childhood in Co. Leitrim' This book is now out of print - only available from your local library.	The Blue Stone is a first hand account of life growing up in a close knit rural community near Mohill from the late 1930s to the mid-1950s. Set in the years before electricity and tractors reached the farm, it recounts the final days of the smithy, steam trains, cattle fairs, thresher and so much more. Interspersed with school poems, fireside stories and personal recollections, it is a story of the ups and downs of country life as one young family lived it. The Blue Stone chronicles a vibrant community undergoing enormous change and modestly records for future generations a way of life that has now passed
Maothail Manachain - Mohill Remembered - A celebration of memories for the Jubilee year 2000.	St. Michael's Boys national school - (90pp, softback, A4) - Contact: Luke Early - 07196 31081 A VIDEO of the day's celebrations is/was also available.	The Parish of Aughavas, Co. Leitrim : Its History and Its People Author: Michael Whelan Published: 1998 ISBN: 0953397203	They Laughed at This Man's Funeral Andy McGovern from Aughavas Co. Leitrim recounts stories and anecdotes from his father, Jimmy and the local communty in the 1940's and 50's. The book is currently out of print. click here for more info.
The Cavan & Leitrim Railway - The Last Decade - An Irish Railway Pictorial by Tom Ferris and Patrick Flanagan Large Format, 64 pages, soft back, over 150 b/w photographs. ISBN: 1-85780-073-7 Product Code: TFPF-02-CLR Contact CLR	Cavan & Leitrim Revival Midland Publishing/Online Video VHS Video, running time 30 minutes. Product Code: MPV-07-CALR Contact CLR	The Cavan & Leitrim Railway. Patrick J Flanagan. published: David & Charles Newton Abbott ISBN 0-7153-8167-9 (1966). published: Pan Books ISBN 0-330-02942-8 Comprehensive history containing lots of background information, trackplans, gradient profiles, timetables etc	Lough Rynn: Lives and Times (50pp, softback, B5) (out of print - this book has been superceded by "By Heriditary Virtues", listed above.
Other books we're aware of include: Kiltubrid, a parish history, - Author Liam Kelly 1984. A Flame Now Quenched: Rebels and Frenchmen in Leitrim 1793-1798 (1998). The Face of Time: Photographs of County Leitrim Author: Duncan, Leland Lewis 1862 - 1923. Text by Liam Kelly. Foreword by John McGahern (published by Lilliput Press) From Rosclogher to Rooskey : the Leitrim story - Author Lorcan O'Runai published by Cumann Seanchais Ros Inbhir; ASIN: 0952970503 Leitrim and the croppies, 1776-1804 by Gerard MacAtasney published by Carrick-on-Shannon & District Historical Society; ASIN: 0953048519 Leitrim and the great hunger, 1845-50 : a temporary inconvenience--? by Gerard MacAtasney published by Carrick on Shannon & District Historical Society; ASIN: 0953048500 NOTE: Many of the books mentioned here will be hard to get. You can always try "Trinity Rare Books" in Carrick-on-Shannon - try (+353) 7196 22144 - email: nickk@indigo.ie
Novels: The works of John McGahern (1934-2006) are highly recommended to get a flavour of life in South Leitrim. John lived near Mohill and was widely regarded as Ireland's greatest contemporary author. His latest is "That they may face the rising sun" (in UK and Ireland) and published with the title "By the Lake" in the USA - read reviews from the Guardian, Washington Post, Sunday Tribute and Read Ireland. I really enjoyed it and also "Amongst Women" and "The Collected Stories". Amongst Women won the GPA Book Award and the Irish Times Award, was short-listed for the Booker Prize, and was made into a four-part BBC television series. Some information on John McGahern is available here. An excellent profile was published in the Guardian. For those of you who remember studying literature at school with fondness, "History, Myth, and Ritual in the Fiction of John McGahern: Strategies of Transcendence" (Studies in Irish Literature (Lewiston, N.Y.), V. 8.) by James G. Whyte was published in December 2002. Articles en Français: ici et ici. John McGahern est Chevalier d'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (1989). Deutsch: hier.