Roscommon (county)

Roscommon , county (1991 pop. 51,876), 951 sq mi (2,463 sq km), central Republic of Ireland. The county seat is Roscommon . A part of the central plain of Ireland, the region is low-lying and contains many lakes (Lough Allen and Lough Ree) and bogs. The Shannon , which forms the eastern border, and the Suck, which borders the county on the west, are the principal rivers. The economy is primarily dependent on agriculture; cattle and sheep are also raised. Industries and trade have developed. Several coal mines are operated in the northeast.

Civil Survey. Together with the earlier Gross Survey and the later Down Survey, the Civil Survey (1654–6) was one of the inquiries into Irish land and land ownership that were intended as preliminaries to the Cromwellian confiscation. It covered property belonging to forfeiting persons, the church, and the state in every county except Clare, Galway, Mayo, Roscommon, and Sligo. It also inquired into all lands claimed by English and Protestants, and was therefore more comprehensive than the Down Survey, which was concerned only with forfeited land. Commissioners were appointed in each county who, with the aid of local juries, collected a great mass of information relating to the boundaries, acreage, value, and ownership of baronies, parishes, and townlands, and the endowment of these areas in woods, buildings, mills, minerals, fisheries, and other resources. It was a survey by inquisition, not by mapped measurement, and was available only in tabular form.

During the period after the Restoration the Civil Survey was one of the principal records of land tenure. It was used in addition to the Down Survey for the compilation of the books of Survey and Distribution. The records survive for all or part of fourteen counties and were published in nine volumes (1931–53) under the editorship of R. C. Simington.

Paul Ferguson

Lough Ree. Formed by the waters of the River Shannon above Athlone, Lough Ree lies between counties Roscommon, Longford, and Westmeath, 16 miles long and from 1 to 7 miles wide. The story of Lough Ree's formation duplicates that of Lough Neagh, with some substitutions. Eochu mac Maireda (sometimes called Ecca) had fallen in love with his stepmother, Ébliu (2), and together with his brother Ríb planned to form a new kingdom. Midir killed their horses and then offered them another one, presumably otherworldly, as compensation. When this horse urinated, it formed Lough Ree. Ríb, ModIr. Ríbh, may be the eponym of the Lough. Furbaide Ferbend killed Medb on an island in Lough Ree. In oral tradition Lough Ree was thought to contain both a monster and a submerged city. According to the medieval biography of St Mochuda, the Lough Ree monster once devoured a man; it was sighted in the lake as late as 1960. As for the submerged city, a bishop hearing that it contained a cathedral went to visit it but never returned.

Bibliography

See Life of St. Declan of Ardmore and Life of St Mochuda of Lismore, trans. Patrick Power. Irish Texts Society, 16 (London, 1914), 74–147