Town of SWANLINBAR

"Swanlinbar, a post-town, in the parish of Kinawley, barony of Tullaghagh, county of Cavan, and province of Ulster, 8 miles (N.W.) from Ballyconnell, to which it has a penny-post; containing 398 inhabitants. This town is supposed to have derived its origin from a rich iron mine in the neighbouring mountain of Cuilcagh, which was worked at a remote period to a very considerable extent. The ore was smelted into pig iron in furnaces about half a mile distant, and manufactured into bars at some works erected upon a powerful mountain stream which flows through the village : these works were continued till all the timber of the mountains was consumed in smelting the ore, when they were necessarily abandoned. In 1786 a considerable part of the town was destroyed by an accidental fire, which consumed 22 houses." [From Lewis' Topographical Dictionary (1837)]

"SWANLINBAR, a post town in the parish of Kinawley, barony of Tullyhaw, county Cavan, province of Ulster, Ireland, 8 miles N.W. of Ballyconnell. It is situated among the mountains, on the old road from Ballyconnell to Enniskillen, and is celebrated for its medicinal waters. It is a chief police station, and petty sessions are held occasionally. There were formerly extensive iron works here." [Transcribed from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland 1868 by Colin Hinson ©2018]