A combined courthouse and market house anchors Ballymahon’s main street, while Oliver Goldsmith and John Keegan Casey connect the town with very different kinds of writing.
Illustration, Converted former mill beside the River Inny, Ballymahon
⊕Recorded locationBallymahon53.56260° N · 7.76714° WInteractive map supplied by OpenStreetMap.
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
Baile Uí Mhatháin· Irish · main form · validated name
Ballymahon· English · main form
Place & story
Commerce below, justice above
Ballymahon's former market house was designed by Samuel Mullen for the Shuldham family and opened in 1826. Trading occupied the ground floor, with a courtroom and associated rooms upstairs. The large lower arches suited the movement of goods, while the upper storey gave the building a civic presence. A carved Shuldham coat of arms remains in the pediment. The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage records its later use as a library, carrying a prominent public building into another phase of service to the town.[2]
People & connections
Remembering nearby Goldsmith Country
Oliver Goldsmith was born at Pallas, near Ballymahon, rather than in the town itself. His connection with the surrounding countryside is celebrated by the Oliver Goldsmith Festival, founded in 1984. Longford County Library describes events across south Longford and neighbouring Westmeath, including literary tours, talks and readings. Ballymahon Library and the Pallas birthplace are among its venues. The festival connects the novelist, poet and playwright's work with the local landscape while also using his writing to explore questions relevant to later generations.[3]
People & connections
John Keegan Casey’s school years
John Keegan Casey moved to Ballymahon with his family and helped his schoolmaster father teach there while still in his teens. Born in County Westmeath in 1846, he joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood in Ballymahon before moving into other work. His poetry appeared under names including Leo, and The Rising of the Moon became his best-known ballad. The Dictionary of Irish Biography places both education and early political activity in Ballymahon. His local connection is therefore one of upbringing and work, distinct from his birthplace and later imprisonment in Dublin.[4]
Both counts use the 2016 settlement boundary, allowing like-for-like comparison. CSO supplies the 2022 count on this older boundary for comparison only. The official 2022 Built Up Area has different boundaries.
View population figures
Ballymahon — Census 2016 settlement footprint — census population
Ballymahon, Longford — Census town, CSO 2006 report
2002–2006: census town
963people · 2006
These are the historical areas published in the 2006 census report. Boundaries may differ between censuses and from modern settlements. Legal towns, environs and suburbs are shown separately; none has been combined into a modern settlement total.
View population figures
Ballymahon, Longford — Census town, CSO 2006 report — census population
Ballymahon, Longford — Census town, CSO 1996 report
1991–1996: census town
790people · 1996
These are the historical areas published in the 1996 census report. Boundaries may differ between censuses and from modern settlements. Legal towns, environs and suburbs are shown separately; none has been combined into a modern settlement total.
View population figures
Ballymahon, Longford — Census town, CSO 1996 report — census population
Ballymahon, Longford — Census town, CSO 1986 report
1981–1986: census town
859people · 1986
Figures cover the historical town area printed in the 1986 report. Boundaries may have changed between censuses. Legal town, environs and suburb totals remain separate and differ from modern settlement boundaries.
View population figures
Ballymahon, Longford — Census town, CSO 1986 report — census population
These figures use different area definitions. Read the boundary note before comparing them.
Ballymahon, Longford
Published census settlement populations
1,877people · 2016
Settlement boundaries changed during this period. Differences may reflect boundary changes as well as population change. Where a 2011 legal-town-and-environs count is shown, it has not been recalculated onto the 2016 settlement boundary.
placenames