Longford

Longford grew beside the River Camlin around a stronghold of the O'Farrells, the Gaelic family that ruled Annaly. Its Irish name, Longphort Uí Fhearghail, recalls their fortified place on the riverbank. In the early seventeenth century the plantation brought a new family of landowners, the Aungiers, to the district. They refurbished the old castle as a manor house and developed Longford as a market town. The settlement that emerged around the stronghold would become the principal centre for the surrounding county.