Jamestown (Baile Shéamais in Irish) is a village on the banks of the River Shannon in County Leitrim, Ireland. It lies some 5 km east-south-east of the county town, Carrick-on-Shannon. Jamestown used to be on the main Sligo to Dublin road (N4) and was known for the chicane formed by the pillars of the arch of the old town gate that straddles the road in the centre of the village. There is a legend that back in the 1960s it was decided to modify the gate to allow two cars to pass; so the arch on the top was removed. In the 1980s a bypass was built and the N4 no longer passes through the village. Two pubs and a church mark the centre of the town, surrounded by the remains of the boundary walls.
History
The present village of Jamestown was once a place of considerable importance.It was created by Royal Charter of James I in 1621, and was founded in 1622 as a plantation town carrying into action the decision of 1620 to plant Leitrim with loyal English settlers.It was granted to Sir Charles Coote, a Devonshire Planter, who fortified it with walls twenty feet high and six feet in thickness, enclosing an area of about four acres which contained a castle. It had an area of 200 acres under its liberty. The Borough returned two members to the Irish Parliament, but was disfranchised at the Union. Among its parliamentary representatives were Sir Charles Coote (1634-1660), John Fitzgibbons (later Lord Clare), (1776) and (Humanity Dick) Martin.
See also
