LAURENCETOWN, a village, in the parish of CLONFERT,
barony of LONGFORD, county of GALWAY, and
province of CONNAUGHT, 6 miles (S.) from Ballinasloe,
on the road to Eyrecourt, to which places it has a penny
post: the population is returned with the parish. It is
a chief constabulary police station, and petty sessions
are held weekly on Thursday. A considerable quantity
of wooden ware and furniture is manufactured here,
and fairs are held on May 8th, Aug. 22nd, and Dec. 15th,
for cattle, sheep, and pigs. The R. C. chapel for this
part of the district is a good modern building; and the
Wesleyan Methodists also have a chapel here and support
a school. The seats in the vicinity are Bellevue,
or Liscreaghan, the residence of Walter Laurence, Esq.,
situated in an extensive and well-wooded demesne containing
a number of remarkably fine cedars of Lebanon
and evergreen oaks; Gortnamona, the elegant seat of
P. Blake, Esq.; Somerset House, of Simeon Seymour,
Esq. 5 Somerset Glebe, of the Rev. J. Hanigan; and
Ballymore Castle, of Thos. Seymour, Esq., a fortified
structure erected in 1620, and modernised at a considerable
expense in 1815. Near the town are the ruins
of the castle of O'Hill, from which it formerly took the
name of Ohillmore.