Carrowmore, County Cavan
Carrowmore, County Cavan is a townland in the Parish of Tomregan, Barony of Tullyhaw, County Cavan, Ireland. The townland name is an anglicisation of the Gaelic placename “Ceathrú Mhór” which means ‘The Great Quarter’. It derives its name from the large size of the townland which in medieval times comprised a quarter of the ballybethagh of Calvagh, as it originally consisted of the present-day townlands of Carrowmore, Mullinacre Lower, Mullinacre Upper and Moher, a total of 2,066 statute acres. The oldest surviving mention of the name is in the 1609 Ulster Plantation grant where it is spelled ‘Carraghmore’.
It is bounded on the north by Legavreagra & Aghnacally townlands and the international border with Fermanagh and Northern Ireland, on the east by Snugborough & Derryginny townlands, on the south by Lecharrownahone townland and on the west by Mullinacre Upper, Mullinacre Lower & Drumane townlands. Its chief geographical features are Loughan Macmartin mountain lake, the Crooked River, some mountain streams, forestry plantations and Slieve Rushen mountain, on whose southern slope it lies, reaching an altitude of 1,294 feet (394 m) above sea-level.
The townland is traversed by the Bawnboy Road, the Laher Road, Carrowmore Lane and other minor lanes.
The townland covers 981 statute acres, including 1-acre (4,000 m2) of water. It formed part of the Manor of Calva which was granted to Walter Talbot in 1610 as part of the Plantation of Ulster. The Hearth Money Rolls of 1664 list the occupiers of Carrowmore as John O’Flynn, Tirle Maguire, Philip Brady, Edmond Reilly, Donoghy O’Finnegan, William Borke, Cormucke O’Dany, Tirlagh O’Catany, Shane McKernan, Shane McLanery and Philip O’Reilly. Griffith's Valuation of 1857 lists the landlords of the townland as the Annesley Estate, Harper, Benson, Reilly and McNally & the tenants as McTeague, Reilly, Maguire, Freehill, McGovern, Brady, Donohoe, Benson, Shannon, Kelly, Flynn, Veitch, Emo, Gregg, Biggins, Halliday, McKnight, McNally, Gwynne, Henderson, Netterville, Graham, Bannan and Cairnes. The 1841 Census of Ireland gives a population of 280 in Carrowmore, of which 137 were males and 143 were females, with 54 houses. The 1851 Census of Ireland gives a population of 218, a decrease of 62 on the 1841 figure, due to the intervening Irish Famine of 1845–47, of which 109 were males and 109 were females, with 41 houses, of which 1 was uninhabited. The decrease was larger in the female population. In the 1911 census of Ireland, there are twenty-four families listed in the townland.[1]
The historic sites in the townland are several old quarries and gravelpits.