Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It had a population of 10,952 at the 2022 census.
The area came under the sway of the local clan which controlled the south and middle of the County of Longford (historically called or ) and hence, the town was known as (fort/stronghold of O'Farrell).
A Dominican priory was founded there in 1400. St. John's Church of Ireland (formerly known as Templemichael Parish Church) was built on the site of the priory in 1710.
In 1605, King James I granted Baron Delvin (Sir Richard Nugent) the right to hold a Thursday market, a fair in August, and the related baronial courts in Longford/Annaly.
In 1815, the Longford Cavalry Barracks was established by the British Army in the town.
A spur of the Royal Canal, linking the main canal to Longford town was completed in 1831. Construction on the Royal Canal had begun in May 1790 and concluded in 1817 with the successful joining of Dublin with the River Shannon at Cloondara, County Longford, but had bypassed Longford town itself.
From at least the 1830s, The Royal Canal Company offered cheap fares on night boats along the canal for passengers wishing to get from Longford to Dublin, and vice versa. The Irish Waterways History website describes the conditions under which the night boat service operated in the late 1830s: "From 1838 the night boat from Dublin left at two o'clock each afternoon; the boat from Longford left at half-past two. The night boat schedule was arranged to allow links with Charles Bianconi's cars, which linked Longford with Carrick-on-Shannon, Boyle and Sligo". The journey from Dublin to Longford by boat took 17 hours.
In February 1922, following Irish independence, the Cavalry Barracks in Longford were handed over to the Irish Free State and renamed Connolly Barracks after Sean Connolly, an Irish republican.
Places of interest
Located to the south of Longford, in Keenagh, is the visitor centre of the Corlea Trackway. It houses a preserved 18-metre stretch of Iron Age bog road, which was built in . There are also a number of portal dolmens located around Longford.
The town serves as the cathedral town of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise. St Mel's Cathedral, dedicated to Saint Mel, the founder of the diocese of Ardagh, was built between 1840 and 1856. It was designed by architect John Benjamin Keane, who also designed St Francis Xavier's Church on Gardiner Street in Dublin. St Mel's Cathedral features several stained glass windows by Harry Clarke studios. These include one of Clarke's earliest works, The consecration of St. Mel as Bishop of Longford, which was exhibited at the RDS Annual Art Industries Exhibition in 1910, where it received second prize. The cathedral was extensively damaged in a fire on Christmas Day 2009. It remained closed for five years after the fire, while it was the centre of one of the largest restoration projects undertaken in Europe. It reopened for services at midnight mass on Christmas Eve 2014 and has since become a tourist attraction. Two of the intricate stained-glass windows in the transepts of the cathedral, depicting St Anne and the Resurrection, have been restored.
Longford town has a 212-seat theatre called Backstage Theatre just outside of the town, and a four-screen multiplex cinema, with restaurants. The Irish Prison Service HQ, which is in the Lisnamuck area of the town, has a sculpture by artist Remco de Fouw, which is one of the largest pieces of sculpture in Ireland.
In a 2003 Guardian article about Patrick McCabe, Longford's "features of distinction" are described as including "a hulking cathedral, a rash of fast-food joints, a grubby cinema and a shopping mall".