Shannon Waters Flow Songs, Stories & Cultural Change in 1920s Leitrim The Shannon has always carried more than water. It carried people, memory, music and ideas — flowing outwards from Leitrim to the wider world and back again. Shannon Waters Flow brings together songs, stories, people and moments from a […]
Location: Dromahair
Cumann na mBan & the Leitrim Connection
Cumann na mBan Cyclist Corp – date unknown Military Archives Cumann na mBan, founded in 1914, emerged at a defining moment in Irish history. Created as a women’s organisation aligned with the ideals of national self-determination, it became a vital force in the struggle for independence. Its members were fundraisers, […]
Seán Mac Diarmada
Picture courtesy of Leitrim Observer Seán Mac Diarmada (1883–1916) – A Leitrim Revolutionary Seán Mac Diarmada was born in Kiltyclogher, County Leitrim, a small village whose landscape, people and traditions shaped the values that would guide his life. Though much of his revolutionary work unfolded in Dublin and beyond, Mac […]
Paddy Sheridan & The Sheridan Family, Killargue
Centre photo – Rose Ann Sheridan nee Flynn (Great Grandmother), Back left – Paddy Sheridan, (Grandfather) Back right – Julia Sheridan (Grandmother), Baby Joeseph Sheridan (Dave’s Father) and siblings, Maureen, Packie, John, Julia & Eamonn Dave Sheridan is a flute player from Killargue in North Leitrim, immersed in the traditional […]
Rakes More Music, Song & Dance
Picture courtesy of Val Fitzpatrick, Mohill – taken at Leitrim Fleadh 1983. Back Row (l-r) Felix Gallagher (Drumshanbo), Tom Mulligan (Bornacoola), Barney McCormack (Drumshanbo), John Daly (Jamestown), Patricia Coffey aka Bangles (Dublin). Front Row (l-r) Packie Duignan (Arigna), Mick Clancy (Manorhamilton), Jack McGrath (Carrick-on-Shannon), Peter “Pee” Fitzpatrick (Aughavas/Mohill) Lilting Nobody […]
Sprees, Dances & Capers
When times were hard, good times were simpler – and whether an occasion was serious or not, wherever people gathered, there was a bit of craic. Here Charlie McTeague from the Ballinamore area remembers May Day customs and bonefire night. He also speaks about the pattern at St. Brigid’s […]
Pisreoga & Púcaí
The Good People “Long ago, there lived a lone girl in a house on the side of Clooncarne rock. Beside the house was a fairy tree where the fairies used to stay. So one day the girl had a very bad fire and she went out gathering sticks to put into the fire. When […]
Sweeney Family Drumnamore
William Sweeney (accordion), Eddie Sweeney (Flute), Sean Sweeney (boy, back centre), Anne Sweeney (girl, front centre) The Sweeney Family of Drumnamore are steeped in traditional music. Their father William, pictured here would fill the long winter nights with tunes, as his wife Katie sang a song or two from a […]
Pat “Phildy” McGowan & James Doherty – Musicians, Play-actors & Great Characters
Pat “Phildy” McGowan James Doherty Great Characters Described as “great characters” who are “in a class of their own when it comes to story-telling or entertaining… or play-acting”, Paddy McGowan and James Doherty are introduced in this radio programme which focuses on the pair who were from Geaglom, Drumkeeran and […]
Joe Mooney & the Joe Mooney Summer School
The name “Joe Mooney” is probably best associated today with the renowned traditional Irish music summer school that takes place in Drumshanbo each July, but the man behind the name was involved with many other organisations that furthered the cause of traditional arts in Leitrim at a time when the […]

