Ballaghaderreen

Ballaghaderreen sits near the meeting of the Mayo, Roscommon and Sligo borders, just off the old Dublin road toward Ballina. The Irish name means “the way of the little oak grove,” a reminder of the wooded route landscape from which the town grew. In this period the town and parish belonged to County Mayo. Its position on a major road made Ballaghaderreen a market and service centre. By 1837 it had about two hundred houses and was described as a rising post-town on the new mail coach route between Ballina and Longford. Friday markets and several annual fairs brought people from the countryside, while a courthouse, market house, and infantry barracks reinforced its local importance.