Find your home county in our "What's your Irish County?" series here Irish Name: An Longfort, meaning "The Fortification" Nickname: The O'Farrell County, The Slashers Population: 40,873 (as of 2016) Area: 421 square miles Province: Leinster County Town: Longford GAA Colors: Blue and gold The Mall Walk, Longford Town, Co Longford. (Ireland's Content Pool) O'Farrell, Quinn, Kenny, Kiernan, Mulvey, Smith, Leavy, Kelly, Glennon, Keenan, Casey, Colum, and Murphy Mel Gibson; Oliver Goldsmith, born at Pallas, Abbeyshrule, County Longford; Maria Edgeworth of Edgeworthstown; Padraic Colum, born at Longford Workhouse where his father was master; Leo Casey, author of The Rising of the Moon; Michael Gomez, the champion professional boxer was born in an Irish Traveller family in Longford; Ray Flynn, Irish mile record holder, grew up in Longford; former Argentinean President Edel Miro O Farrell; and Kitty Kiernan from Granard, fiancee of Irish Leader Michael Collins. Sign up to IrishCentral's newsletter to stay up-to-date with everything Irish! Before the Norman invasion in the 12th century, the territory was known as Annaly (Anghaile in Irish), Tethbae or Teffia (Teabhtha in Irish) under the Farrell clan.
After the invasion, Annaly was granted to Hugh de Lacy as part of the Liberty of Meath. An English settlement was established at Granard, with Norman Cistercian monasteries being established at Abbeylara and Abbeyshrule, and Augustinian monasteries being established at Abbeyderg and at S.
