placenamesCarrowmore
Ceathrú Mhór Leacan
A television report captured the struggle to retain the school, while a former resident preserved north Mayo’s sporting and Irish-language heritage.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- Ceathrú Mhór Leacan · Irish · main form · validated name
- Carrowmore · English · main form
- Carrowmore-Lacken · English · main form · local name
Place & story
The school campaign of 1999
Carrowmore Lacken National School became the subject of a community campaign in 1999 when the Minister for Education ordered its closure. RTÉ reporter Jim Fahy visited for a report broadcast on 21 July. The school, remembered as once having a hundred pupils, then had only three, with no new enrolment since 1997. Principal Pádraig Ó Laimhin and local parents sought another year of operation. [2]
Education and rural resettlement
The campaign connected the school’s future with efforts to sustain rural population. Fahy’s report described a family from Kerry offering to move to the area with two children, and local advocates asking that rural resettlement be considered. Councillor Brian Golden questioned the closure while eight houses were being built nearby. The scheduled closing date was 31 August 1999; the broadcast preserves the dispute before that deadline. [2]
John Cosgrove’s historical work
John Cosgrove, a former Carrowmore, Lacken resident, combined teaching, sport and local historical research. Later principal of Crossmolina Boys National School, he also refereed Gaelic football at club, county and inter-county levels. His publications included two histories of Crossmolina Deel Rovers and one of Lacken Sarsfields. His collection Seoda Muigheo Thuaidh brought together Irish proverbs from north Mayo, adding a language project to his record of sporting communities. [3]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Mayo
- Barony
- Tirawley
- Civil parish
- Lackan
- Within
- Lackan South
- Within
- Carrowmore
- Coordinates
- 54.24788, -9.28879 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 114454 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Carrowmore. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Keep School Open 1999: RTÉ News report, 21 July 1999 · RTÉ Archives; original report by Jim Fahy
- Tributes to retired Mayo school principal, GAA referee and historian, 14 January 2023 · The Connaught Telegraph
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.