placenamesLackan
An Leacain
Three earthworks in Lackan townland preserve different traces of enclosed settlement on Slieve Bawn’s lower slopes.
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 Leacain · Irish · main form · validated name
- Lackan · English · main form
Place & story
The northern enclosure
The Archaeological Survey records a ringfort on Slieve Bawn’s lower western slope in Lackan, about thirty-five metres long and thirty-two metres wide. An earthen bank survives around much of the rush-covered interior, with a shallow ditch outside it. The survey could not identify an original entrance. [2]
The larger ringfort
About two hundred metres south stands a larger ringfort, its interior roughly sixty-two metres across. It was already mapped as an embanked enclosure in 1837. The survey records a bank partly incorporated into a hedge, while part of the outer ditch had been enlarged into a pond. [3]
A third site
A further ringfort lies to the south-southeast. The survey describes it as used for a paddock, with an entrance altered in more recent times and additional spoil piled onto the northern bank. These details show how the earthworks became incorporated into later fields, drainage and farming. [4]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Roscommon
- Barony
- Roscommon
- Civil parish
- Cloonfinlough
- Within
- Kilgefin
- Coordinates
- 53.72461, -8.09091 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 1414412 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Lackan. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Sites and Monuments Record RO029-127:Lackan ringfort · Michael Moore; Archaeological Survey of Ireland,2010
- Sites and Monuments Record RO029-128:Lackan ringfort · Michael Moore; Archaeological Survey of Ireland,2010
- Sites and Monuments Record RO029-129:Lackan ringfort · Michael Moore; Archaeological Survey of Ireland,2010
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.