A visit to Edgeworthstown, Co. Longford in 2019

A slideshow of photos I took during my second visit to Edgeworthstown in County Longford on Monday 3rd June 2019.

Edgeworthstown or Mostrim (Irish: Meathas Troim, meaning "frontier of the elder tree") is a town in County Longford, Ireland. The town is in the east of the county, near the border with County Westmeath. Nearby towns are Longford 12 km to the west, Mullingar 26 km to the east, Athlone 40 km to the south and Cavan 42 km to the north. In the 2016 Census, Edgeworthstown had a population of 2,072 people.

Edgeworthstown has 2 churches: St.Mary’s Catholic Church and St. John’s Church of Ireland. The name of the parish for both churches is Mostrim. The Catholic Parish of Mostrim is in the Diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise.

Name
The area was named Edgeworthstown in the 19th century after the Anglo-Irish Edgeworth family. An estate was built there by Richard Lovell Edgeworth. His family—which includes novelist Maria Edgeworth, botanist Michael Pakenham Edgeworth, economist Francis Ysidro Edgeworth, and priest Henry Essex Edgeworth—lived at the estate.
The area's original name was the Irish Meathas Troim or Meathas Truim. This was anglicized as Mastrim, Mostrim, and so forth. These names continued to be used by the locals. In 1935, at the behest of the local Town Tenants' Association, Longford County Council officially changed the town's name to Mostrim. However, in 1974, a local government order reverted the name to Edgeworthstown. Today, both names are in use.

Infrastructure
The town is built where the N4 Dublin-Sligo/ N5 Dublin-Castlebar road crosses the N55 Cavan-Athlone road. The town also has a railway station on the Dublin–Sligo railway line. Edgeworthstown railway station opened on 8 November 1855. Edgeworthstown has expanded significantly the early 2000's with many new housing developments and updated transport infrastructure including a bypass. The N4 National primary route formerly ran along the Main Street, but the town centre was by-passed in July 2006. The N55 route from Athlone to Cavan still passes through the town centre.

Industry
Industries include animal feed processing and pet food manufacturing. Both Paul&Vincent Ltd. and C&D Foods Ltd. employ hundreds of people from the surrounding locality. In 2006, the town's biggest employer, C&D Foods Ltd., was damaged by fire and over half of the factory was destroyed. Production was planned to increase again in 2009.
Sport
• The local G.A.A. club is named Mostrim, while the minor section of the club are called Wolfe Tones. The club has won three Longford Senior Football Championships, in 1974, 1985 and 1992. Mostrim won an u-21 championship 2002 and the minor team Wolfe Tones won Minor A Championships in 2002 and in 2006. The club colours are green and red.
• Gaelic Football is by far the dominant sport in the County, however Edgeworthstown is one of the strongholds of Hurling in the county. The Hurling club in the town is called Wolfe Tones and has won a record 13 County Hurling Titles. The hurling strip is also green and red. Hugh Devine Park is the homepitch for both Mostrim and Wolfe Tones. Many underage inter-county competitive games and senior inter-county challenges are held in the park as well.
There is also a soccer club in Edgeworthstown, called Mostrim United. The club caters for all age groups of boys and girls soccer teams from u-8 right up to u-15. The teams compete in the Longford & District Schoolboy League. The colours of the soccer club are green and black.