Strokestown

Strokestown, historically called Bellanamullia and Bellanamully (Irish: Béal na mBuillí), is a town in County Roscommon, Ireland. It is located at the junction of the N5 National primary route and the R386 in the north of the county.

Notable features include the second widest street in Ireland and the Strokestown Park House, an 18th-century mansion with the longest herbaceous border in Ireland.

History

Strokestown was the site of the estate of the Anglo-Irish Mahon family from about 1671 until 1982. On 2 November 1847 the patriarch of the family and landlord of the surrounding estate, Major Denis Mahon, was assassinated by several local men in an incident that became infamous across Ireland and Britain at the time. The killing was motivated by the removal of starving tenant farmers from the estate lands during the Irish Potato Famine of 1845. The killing of Denis Mahon did not halt the evictions, and eventually over 11,000 tenants were removed from the Mahon estate during that period.