Longford

Longford (Irish: an Longfort) is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It has a population of 9,601 according to the 2011 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the meeting of Ireland's N4 and N5 National Primary Route roads, which means that traffic travelling between Dublin and County Mayo or North County Roscommon passes through the town. The station in Longford on the Dublin-Sligo line is important for commuters.

History

The town is built on the banks of the River Camlin (from Irish: Camlinn, meaning "crooked pool"), which is a tributary of the River Shannon. The name Longford is an anglicisation of the Irish Longphort, from long (meaning "ship") and port (meaning "port" or "dock"). This name was applied to many Irish settlements of Viking origin and eventually came to mean fort or camp in the Irish language, and so Longfort the modern Irish spelling, is the name of this town, which was one of the only Gaelic Irish market towns to arise without first being founded by Vikings or Normans.

Longford Town F.C.

Longford Town Football Club (Irish: Cumann Peile Bhaile Longfort) is an Irish football club playing in the League of Ireland Premier Division. The club, founded in 1924 and elected to the league in 1984, is based in Longford, County Longford and play their home matches at Strokestown Road, which for sponsorship reasons is also known as 'City Calling Stadium'. Club colours are red and black, and the club goes by the nickname 'De Town'.

The club was promoted back to the Premier Division at the end of the 2014 season following a seven-year stint in the First Division.

History

Longford Town was founded in 1924 but had to wait 60 years for election to the League of Ireland in 1984. In their first season in the league they finished last in the Premier Division and were one of the four sides to be relegated to the newly created First Division for the following season. In their second season they finished bottom of the First Division with only 7 points. They finished in the bottom six of the ten team First Division in each of the next eleven seasons. In the 1998–99 season they missed out a place in the promotion/relegation playoff by just four points. The following season saw a further improvement when they finished 2nd in the First Division and as a result won promotion to the Premier Division. Longford had a decent season in the Premier Division in 2000–01 finishing in mid-table. That season also saw the club reach the FAI Cup final for the first time where they lost 1–0 to Bohemian. As Bohemian also won the League title that season, Longford Town FC qualified to play in the UEFA Cup in July 2001. A meeting over 2 games with Bulgarian club side PFC Litex Lovech ended in a 3–1 aggregate victory for the Bulgarians.

Longford (film)

Longford is a 2006 television drama film directed by Tom Hooper and written by Peter Morgan.

The film centres on Labour Party peer Lord Longford and his campaign for the parole of Moors Murderer Myra Hindley.

It was produced by Granada Productions for Channel 4, in association with HBO, and stars Jim Broadbent and Samantha Morton. The film was first broadcast on Channel 4 on 26 October 2006 and was an Official Selection at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. Broadbent won the British Academy Television Award for his role.

Longford and Hindley had both died by the time the film was made; Longford in August 2001 and Hindley in November 2002. Hindley's lover and accomplice Ian Brady, played by Andy Serkis, is still living.

Plot

The film begins during the late 1960s (during the first premiership of Harold Wilson) at the House of Lords, with Lord Longford, a regular prison visitor, presiding over a reception for a number of ex-convicts whom he had visited and corresponded with when they were incarcerated. He receives a letter from one of the most notorious criminals in Britain, the Moors Murderer Myra Hindley, who is several years into her life sentence for taking part in the murder of three children with her boyfriend, Ian Brady.

Longford (disambiguation)

Longford may refer to:

Places

England

Ireland

Australia

Canada

Wales

United States

Constituencies

Longford (UK Parliament constituency)

Longford was a parliamentary constituency in Ireland, which returned two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1885, and one MP from 1918–1922.

Boundaries

This constituency comprised the whole of County Longford.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1801–1885

MPs 1918–1922

Elections

Elections in the 1910s

Notes

References