Old Map of County Leitrim in 1844 by Samuel Lewis - Carrick-on-Shannon, Manorhamilton, Drumshanbo

This map of County Leitrim was engraved in 1844 as part of the county atlas accompanying Samuel Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, first published in 1837. Lewis set out to document every county, barony and parish in the country, and the matching maps let readers locate the towns and townlands his text described. The Leitrim sheet shows one of Ireland's smaller and more sparsely settled counties just a year before the onset of the Great Famine, a decade that would go on to empty much of its countryside through death and emigration.

Carrick-on-Shannon, the county town since 1607, sits on the River Shannon, Ireland's longest river, at the heart of the sheet. Manorhamilton, dating from 1622 and built around its castle, lies to the north, while Drumshanbo, established in 1619 close to Lough Allen, and Dromahair, dating from 1609 near the shores of Lough Gill, mark the county's lake-studded landscape. Mohill, recorded from 1620, appears near the ruins of Mohill Abbey, and smaller settlements including Ballinamore, Kinlough, Cloone and Fenagh fill out the rest of the sheet. To the north, the map traces the slopes of Sliabh an Iarainn, the Iron Mountain, and the quieter Glenade Valley, both rising above Leitrim's network of loughs and rivers.

For anyone researching family history in County Leitrim, a county that lost a disproportionate share of its population to death and emigration during the Great Famine of the 1840s, this map makes a considered gift, offering a rare look at the townlands their ancestors would have known just before that upheaval. It also suits a relative planning a first visit back to Carrick-on-Shannon or Manorhamilton to trace where their family once lived. The print is sold unframed and available in a full range of sizes, from a small keepsake print to a larger piece for a family room.