Lissananny and Lisaleen

Various place names around our parish suggest to us that Bronze Age and Celtic tribes inhabited this area. The word "Lios" is the Gaelic for a Celtic fort and we have two neighboring villages Lios an Aine And Lios an Lion. Lios an Eannaig means "Fort of Flax".

In Lisaleen the remains of the fort can still be seen across from Sweeneys house. A bank and ditch can still exist here. The fort overlooks the turlough at Lisananny and in Bronze Age times there is the possibility that a Crannog was situated here. Local tradition tells us that the area was named after Aine a famous lady chieftain.

Between the fort of Lisaleen and the Turlough lies another fort. This one contains a souterrain containing three chambers. Because of the coolness of the underground caves it was used to store food in later times.

Another interesting historical feature in the village is a sappers stone. Markings on this are Ogham Writing. In O`Niells field a benchmark was carved into a stone when the Ordinance Survey began mapping Ireland in 1825.

A number of years ago during land reclamation a large stone 7 feet long and 3 feet wide was unearthed in a field at the end of the village. Local tradition has it that during Penal Times mass was said in a hollow here and this large rock was probably the alter or Mass Rock.

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