placenamesLack
An Leac
Trade-directory entries and architectural records preserve the working life of this small north Fermanagh settlement.
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
- An Leac · Irish · main form · validated name
- Lack · English · main form
Place & story
A village serving the surrounding hills
Local historian John B. Cunningham describes Lack as a small market centre for its hilly hinterland, whose development was encouraged by the Irvine family. His account records six houses and forty-one inhabitants in 1841, followed by twenty-eight houses and 153 people in 1851. These historical figures suggest growth during a period when many settlements were losing population. They describe the village counted at those dates, rather than a modern settlement boundary. [2]
Trades in 1870
The 1870 Slater directory extract preserved by Cunningham lists a baker, blacksmiths, a shoemaker, carpenters and cart-makers, a cooper and a flax-scutcher. Grocers also sold drink, and the village had a tailor and a posting house. A corn miller worked at nearby Stranadariff. The range of trades shows Lack providing practical services for households, farms and travellers, with flax processing and milling connecting the village to the surrounding agricultural economy. [2]
Work at the parish church
The Church of Ireland church associated with Lack and Coolaghty parish appears in nineteenth-century architectural records. Alexander Hardy prepared a plan and section for a proposed gallery in July 1861. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners also sought tenders for repairs, although the work was still outstanding in June 1864. A chancel restoration followed in 1913. These records distinguish proposed improvements from completed work and document successive efforts to maintain the parish building. [3]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Fermanagh
- Barony
- Lurg
- Civil parish
- Magheraculmoney
- Within
- Lack
- Coordinates
- 54.55054, -7.58270 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 1413430 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Lack. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- A Little History of Lack · John B. Cunningham, Fermanagh Gold; archived 2001
- Fermanagh, Lack, Church of Ireland, Coolaghty Parish, work 7697 · Irish Architectural Archive, Dictionary of Irish Architects
- Colaghty Parish Church, near Lack, County Fermanagh illustration: based on a Colaghty Parish Church of Ireland (5 August 2015) by Kenneth Allen. AI-assisted watercolour and ink adaptation; cream paper margins added, incidental clutter omitted and fine details simplified. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2012-01-11. How this page was prepared.