Leitrim Genealogy Tours
My Ireland Heritage find your Ancestors and exact house location from the 1700’s to the late 1800’s, and all available records in Ireland. We are an Irish family business dedicated to assisting you in your Irish Genealogy research for your roots and records of your family history of past generations in Leitrim, as well as providing you with a once in a lifetime Irish Genealogy tour experience to visit your families original family house and Walk in the Footsteps of your Irish Ancestors.
Sean and the Team at My Ireland Heritage are a Government certified & approved Genealogy & Touring Company, and will personally guide you on the journey into your Irish ancestry to any County in Ireland.
Many companies are genealogy research only, many companies are touring companies only, we at My Ireland Family Heritage are proud to be able to encompass your research and tour together enabling us to work with you throughout the process to customize your tour with you and for you. To achieve a full genealogy tour experience consider adding one of our one-day historical tours.
Our Tours
Our Ancestral Townland Experience Tours
County Leitrim is Ireland’s least populated county today, a fact that speaks directly to its family history: few counties saw such a sustained, long-term decline in population through emigration, stretching from the Famine year’s right through the 20th century. For descendants researching Leitrim roots, this often means the townland your family left is quiet countryside today, with far fewer people living there now than in your ancestors’ time, but the physical landscape, and often the family homestead itself, can still be identified and visited.
Leitrim’s parishes are generally small and rural, centred around its many lakes, with farming communities that knew each other well across generations. This closeness can help research, since local memory and gravestone records often preserve detail that’s been lost from official documents elsewhere. We work through whatever record trail survives for your family, confirming the actual parish and graveyard, before identifying the specific townland itself.
A Leitrim tour brings you through genuinely quiet, lake-dotted countryside around towns like Carrick-on-Shannon, out to the family homestead itself. For many visiting descendants, there’s something powerful about seeing just how rural and depopulated this landscape has become, and understanding firsthand why their ancestors chose to leave it.
- Leitrim has 5 Baronies
- Leitrim has 17 Civil Parish
- Leitrim has 77 Electoral Divisions
- Leitrim has 1488 Townlands
- Leitrim has 39 sub Townlands
County Leitrim is in the province of Connacht and is part of the Border Region. It is named after the village of Leitrim.
Leitrim is the 26th largest of the 32 counties by area and the smallest by population on the island of Ireland. It is the smallest of Connacht’s 5 counties in both size and population. In ancient times Leitrim formed the western half of the Kingdom of Breifne. This region was long influenced by the O’Rourke family of Dromahair, whose heraldic lion occupies the official county shield to this day. Close ties initially existed with the O’Reilly clan in the eastern half of the kingdom, however a split occurred in the 13th century and the kingdom was divided into East Breifne, now County Cavan, and West Breifne, now County Leitrim. The Normans invaded in the 13th century and occupied the south of Breifne.
Family Dynasties 1500-1600 AD
- Irish – McGovern, McRannell, O’Rourke,
- Norman – Mortimer, Nugent, Sherlock
- Scottish – None
- Viking – None
County Leitrim – Things to do and may be possible to include within your Ancestral Townland Experience Tour
- Glencar Waterfall
- Parke’s Castle
- Irelands Ancient East
- Creevelea Friary
- Corracloona Megalithic Tomb
- Wild Atlantic Crusades
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it true Leitrim has Ireland's smallest population?
Yes, Leitrim has the lowest population of any Irish county today, largely due to sustained emigration from the 19th century onward.
Will my family's original homestead still be recognisable in Leitrim?
Often, yes, though the surrounding area may be much less populated than in your ancestors’ time. We identify what remains and what’s changed before your visit.
Are Leitrim's records harder to find because of the population decline?
Not necessarily. Church and graveyard records generally survive regardless of later population changes, though local knowledge is especially valuable for confirming exact locations.
