Statistical Survey of the County Leitrim, 1802

What is inside?

The Irish Statistical Survey was carried out under the direction of the Royal Dublin Society. Each county was surveyed with the aim of determining the 'actual state, capabilities and defects of agriculture, manufactures and rural economy'. In practice the surveys contained a vast quantity of local information on almost every aspect of the county surveyed. Because these studies were carried out under central direction the quality of the information provided is good, and given their early date, they remain an invaluable source for the study of each county. They record many details about conditions in pre-Famine Ireland, including social and economic conditions, the growth of population and poverty, education, religion, history, the Irish language and local customs. McParlan's study of Leitrim paints a very bleak and desperate picture of the county, a county that had its population exhausted by banishment, expatriation, misery and death. Those remaining were crippled by ignorance, despondency and suffering. The landlords, it is argued, would simply pursue their own agenda and that, in order for Leitrim and its people to be able to improve their circumstances, government intervention would be required.

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