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heritage · Saturday 15 August 2026 · Various 
Walking Through History in Dromahair Village
At Dromahair Village and surroundings · Dromahair, Co. Leitrim
At Dromahair Village and surroundings · Dromahair, Co. Leitrim
Dromahair is one of those north Leitrim villages where the layers of history sit close to the surface. This free guided walk, organised by the Dromahair Heritage Group as part of National Heritage Week 2026, takes you through those layers in a couple of hours on foot - from a medieval Franciscan friary to the ghost of a narrow-gauge railway that once carried passengers between Sligo and Enniskillen. It suits anyone with a genuine interest in local history, families with older children, and visitors who want to understand a place rather than just photograph it.
The walk threads together four distinct chapters of Dromahair’s past. The first stop is Creevelea Abbey, the last Franciscan friary founded in Ireland before Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries. Built in 1508 by Eóghan O’Rourke and his wife Margaret O’Brien, it was accidentally burned in 1536 and later suppressed by Cromwellian forces in the 1650s - yet much of it survives. The cloister stonework is particularly fine, including a carving of Saint Francis preaching to birds. The guides will also take in O’Rourke’s Banqueting Hall, the remains of a 13th-century stone hall that served as the political and social heart of the O’Rourke lordship of West Bréifne - the family whose flight in 1605 helped trigger the broader Flight of the Earls. The walk picks up WB Yeats’s connections to the area (he spent time in Leitrim and wove its landscape and mythology into his early poetry), and closes with the story of the Sligo, Leitrim and North Cavan Railway, which opened in 1881 and finally closed in 1957, leaving behind a quiet trail of local memory. Local guides will draw in the history of the village’s buildings and businesses across the centuries, so there is texture here beyond the headline monuments.
Dromahair sits on the R286 in north County Leitrim, about 20 kilometres south-east of Sligo town and roughly 40 kilometres north of Carrick-on-Shannon. By car from Sligo, follow the N4 south and take the turn for Dromahair through Drumcliff or Manorhamilton direction - the drive takes around 25 minutes. From Carrick-on-Shannon, the R280 north brings you through Drumshanbo and on to Dromahair in about 45 minutes. There is no direct bus service to the village, so a car or a lift is the practical option for most visitors. Parking in the village centre is free and generally easy to find.
The village itself rewards an hour’s unhurried exploration before or after the walk - the riverside setting on the Bonet, the old stone bridge, and the ruins of Creevelea just a short stroll from the main street. There is more to see in Dromahair and across Co. Leitrim.
Heading to Dromahair Village and surroundings in Dromahair? Leitrim has plenty more to see. Read the Dromahair area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.