Name and formation Killeshandra's name derives from the Irish
Cill na Seanrátha, meaning "church of the old
rath" (ringfort). The church was first noted in Papal registers during the medieval 14th century when installed John McKiernan a cleric from the Augustinian St Mary's
Drumlane Priory. The early Killeshandra town began during the seventeenth century
Ulster Plantation period, when Sir Alexander Hamilton of
Innerwick Castle,
East Lothian,
Scotland, was granted lands by
the Crown in July 1610 to build a strong bawn and create a Protestant community around the barony of
Tullyhunco. The
1641 rising led to the burning of the township followed by the surrender of the Hamilton's together with their Scottish Craigie neighbours, forced out of their settled lands by the Cavan O'Reilly rebel army.
17th century In the 17th century, following the
Restoration after the civil war, Sir Francis Hamilton (1st Baron of Castle Hamilton) regained control of the area. He set about building a new market town of Killeshandra with Scottish settlers and migrant French
Huguenot exiles who were especially noted for their industry linen skills and thrift. The new settlers and their families quickly adapted to the local conditions, beginning to grow flax and process
linen in the Cavan region. During the early Plantation part of the 17th century the 'church of the old rath' was "reformed" for Protestant
Scottish Episcopalian use and included glebe lands allocated to the parish, part of Anglican Kilmore diocese. An initial survey of Cavan parish churches initiated by
William Bedell Bishop of Kilmore, reported that the medieval Killeshandra church was already newly repaired with a new roof and east window added. The sum of £20 Sterling was therefore imposed in 1634 for further re-edifying works. Later in the 17th century, the church was remodeled by Sir Francis Hamilton (3rd Baron Hamilton of Castle Hamilton) after the death in 1688 of his father Sir Charles Hamilton (2nd Baron Hamilton of Castle Hamilton) and his wife Catherine Semple. A transept was added with a crypt as a memorial to his parents Sir Charles and his wife, members of (the original) Scottish Hamilton patentee family. Today, this church form part of the ruined protected structure along with the graveyard, enclosure wall and gate piers, (situated at the lower end of the town). When Sir Francis Hamilton (3rd Baron Hamilton of Castle Hamilton) died in 1713, his body was brought to Comber in County Down to be interred together with his (first) wife the Lady Catherine (nee Montgomery) who died 1692 in her Montgomery family vault. A large marble memorial plaque exists in the present Killeshandra Church of Ireland church detailing the life of Sir Francis Hamilton (3rd Baron of Castle Hamilton). It was subscribed to by Sir Francis surviving (2nd) wife Lady Anna Hamilton. She later remarried
Lord Archibald Hamilton (no relation to the previous Hamilton's). Lay Anna died in 1719 and was laid to rest in Westminster Abbey, London. The historic rath church displays some unusual architectural characteristics; it is T-shaped, with a south-facing transept created in the Renaissance neo-classical style, described in the Pevsner Guide to South Ulster as "arguably the finest Restoration building in Ulster, a handsome evocation of the improving architectural eloquence of the age". The east-facing window, dated from the late 17th century re-build is in the more traditional
Gothic style. The heraldic coat of arms on the south facing transept belongs to Sir Charles Hamilton and his wife Catherine Semple (2nd Baron of Castle Hamilton), died in 1688 and the Hamilton family motto: signifying the oak tree and wood cutters cross-saw with the word 'THROUGH' is also on the gate piers/pillars. it is believed that Sir Charles and his wife are buried beneath the crypt.
19th century A new Anglican church was built, circa 1842, further up the main street from the earlier church. At this time, some of the earlier Hamilton family memorials (attributed to the Irish sculptor William Kidwell) were brought from the old church and placed inside the new building. The graveyard continued in "mixed" denomination community use for well over a century after the church was closed and unroofed. Since Church of Ireland dis-establishment in 1869, the old church was abandoned in a ruinous state and left into the care of the local authority. The 'Rath Church' is now recognised as a protected structure and included in the
Record of Protected Structures maintained by
Cavan County Council. The graveyard includes some finely carved stone grave slabs, mausoleums and heraldic memorials from prominent local families dating from the early 18th century.
Flax and linen Killeshandra, from the early 18th century, earned a reputation for becoming a
Linen Town when the local cottage flax growing and linen industry expanded considerably following an incentive from the Ulster Board of Trustees of Linen Manufacturers. Killeshandra was later described in Pigot's 1824 Directory as - "The greatest linen market in the county, and the inhabitants of the town and neighbourhood are principally employed in its manufacture". However, failure to gain support from the major local landlords including Lord Farnham and the
Earl Annesley to capitalise on industrial methods of linen production when market sales approached their peak meant that Killeshandra would inevitably lose in the race to compete with the bigger Ulster linen-exporting towns further north, eventually causing hardship and destitution for many local flax growers and linen producers. As local industry peaked in 1790 the "Erection of a Market House for the benefit of the Town and Vicinity, by Nichola Ann ( 1724–1804) the widow of Richard Jackson from Forkhill, County Armagh, co-heiress daughter of Arthur Cecil Hamilton of Castle Hamilton". The market-house was also once used as a district courthouse, demolished during the late 1960s to make way for widening of the Main street. A stone plaque describing the erection of the Market House is still visible on the wall of a Main Street shop premises. Possibly the earliest market house built in County Cavan. Unrelated to the above - for around forty years
Missionary Sisters of the Holy Rosary founded since 1924 in Killeshandra, and are sometimes referred to as the "Killeshandra Nuns". The convent has now been demolished and lands occupied by Lakeland Dairies Limited. ==Demographics==