Lawrencetown

The village of Lawrencetown was first erected by Walter Lawrence about 1700 as an organised settlement on their estate about the townland of Oghilmore. It was enlarged by his son Rear Admiral Peter Lawrence in 1750 and rebuilt by his grandson Col. Walter Lawrence in 1765, to promote the linen industry in the west of Ireland.

Entry under Lawrencetown in Lewis’s Topographical Dictionary (1837)

Lawrencetiown is a village in the parish of Clonfert, six miles from Ballinasloe on the road to Eyrecourt, to which places it has a penny post. It has a chief constabulary police station and petty sessions are held weekly on Thursday. A considerable quantity of wooden ware and furniture are manufactured here and fairs are held on May 8th, Aug. 22nd, and Dec, 15th, for cattle sheep and pigs. The Roman Catholic 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 Lisreaghan, the residence of Walter Lawrence Esq., Gortnamona, the elegant seat of P.Blake Esq., Somerset House, of Simeon Seymour Esq. Somerset Glebe, of the Rev. J. Hannigan and Ballymore Castle, of Thomas Seymour Esq. Near the town are the ruins of the castle of O’Hill from which it formerly took the name Oghilmore. It also had a market house, octagonal in shape, supported by arches, through which carts of produce could pass to be weighed.

Ordnance Survey of Ireland 6 inch series maps (c.1840) marks the following buildings in the village of Lawrencetown:

Methodist Chapel:

School House:

Market House:

R.C Chapel:

Police Barrack:

Post Office: