The Story of the Kinlough Name

Kinlough takes its name from its position at the northern end of Lough Melvin. Its Irish name, Cionn Locha, means “Head of the Lake,” from cionn, meaning head or end, and loch, meaning lake. The name is a simple description of the place — a settlement standing where the road meets the great lake.

Lough Melvin has been central to life here since prehistoric times. The surrounding landscape contains evidence of early settlement, while the lake itself provided fish, water, and a natural route through the region. Its position near the borderlands of Leitrim, Fermanagh, and Donegal also gave the area strategic importance.

In the medieval period, Kinlough formed part of the territory of the O'Rourkes of Breifne. Gaelic families controlled the surrounding lands, while churches and settlements developed around the lake and nearby rivers. The landscape remained firmly within the Gaelic world until the political changes of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

The Plantation of Leitrim brought new landowners into the district. Kinlough later became closely associated with the Clements family, who developed an estate in the area. Their influence helped shape the village during the eighteenth century, when roads, houses, and local industries expanded.

The nearby Manorhamilton–Sligo road brought increasing traffic through Kinlough, while agriculture remained the foundation of the local economy. Mills and small industries took advantage of the waterways, and the village developed into a service centre for the surrounding farms.

The nineteenth century brought both growth and hardship. The Great Famine severely affected the district, leading to hunger, disease, emigration, and population decline. Later improvements in transport and communications helped reconnect the village with the wider region.

Yet it is Lough Melvin that remains the defining feature of Kinlough. The lake is renowned for its distinctive native fish, including the famous Gillaroo trout, and has supported local communities for generations.

Cionn Locha is therefore exactly what it appears to be: the head of the lake. The name captures the geography that has shaped Kinlough from the beginning — a village at the meeting point of land and water, where the great lake has always been part of daily life and local identity.