Leitrim's coastline is an intriguing concentration of Neolithic monuments - court, portal and wedge tombs and other unclassified megalithic structures abound. Recent evidence suggests that the deep blanket-bog which covers the Dartry mountains may also conceal many archaeological remains.

Ireland was once covered in woodland and five great forests are traditionally said to have stood in Leitrim. Many of these great forests were denuded for the making of charcoal for iron works.

The uplands of Leitrim were abandoned immediately after the Neolithic period, possibly because of soil erosion combined with climatic deterioration. It is not until the eighteenth-century A.D. that the marginal lands of these mountainsides attracted further settlement due to population pressure.

In ancient times Leitrim formed the western half of the Kingdom of Breifne.

This region was long influenced by the O'Rourke family of Dromahair.

Close ties initially existed with the O'Reilly clan in the eastern half of…