placenamesSpencer Harbour
Caladh Spencer
A surviving chimney recalls the clay works and boat traffic that briefly made this Lough Allen landing an industrial centre.
The name
A reliable full-name meaning has not been established here. The recorded Irish and English forms are given without an unsupported translation.
Recorded forms
- Caladh Spencer · Irish · main form
- Spencer Harbour · English · main form
Place & story
A short-lived clay industry
Spencer Harbour was the lakeside base of the Lough Allen Clay Company in the 1870s and early 1880s. Dromahair Heritage Group’s documentary account identifies George Arthur Waller as its managing director. Evidence he gave to the Monck Commission in 1881 describes production of firebricks and drainage pipes, with customers including Dublin industrial firms. Local coal supported manufacture, linking the works with mining in the hills around Lough Allen. [2]
Steamers, barges and canal restrictions
By 1881 Waller’s transport operation used three steamers and three barges, sometimes supplemented by hired craft. Boats brought goods north from Limerick as well as carrying the works’ products away. The narrower locks of the Lough Allen Canal restricted their loads. Toll records examined in the heritage account show a sharp contraction during 1882, providing documentary evidence of the enterprise’s decline alongside the more optimistic claims made shortly beforehand. [2]
Industrial traces on the lakeshore
The old brick chimney remains a conspicuous reminder of the harbour’s manufacturing past. Leitrim Tourism now presents the lakeside setting as a place for picnics and views across Lough Allen. The contrast between that recreational use and the surviving industrial structure gives Spencer Harbour a distinctive character among the lake’s landing places. [3]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Leitrim
- Barony
- Drumahaire
- Civil parish
- Inishmagrath
- Within
- Derrynahinch
- Coordinates
- 54.14183, -8.09950
- Logainm ID
- 131560 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Spencer Harbour. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Lough Allen Clay Company · Dromahair Heritage Group
- Spencer Harbour, Drumkeeran · Leitrim Tourism
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2026-05-06. How this page was prepared.