Place-Name Series: Edgeworthstown/Mostrim

“People cling to their ancient names.” When John O’Donovan wrote those words in 1837, he had just walked the roads of Longford, listening to locals insist that their town was not just Edgeworthstown, the name imposed by a planter family, but Mostrim — Meathas Troim — the fertile ridge, the frontier of the elder tree. In this episode of The History and Heritage Podcast, Liam Blake explores the long, layered story of a town with two souls. From its Gaelic beginnings under the O’Farrells, through the arrival of the Edgeworth family in the 1580s, to the turbulence of rebellion, famine, and emigration, this is a history that mirrors Ireland itself. We meet Maria Edgeworth, the novelist whose Castle Rackrent shaped English literature, and Henry Essex Edgeworth, who whispered the last words to Louis XVI at the guillotine. We walk the market square where jewellery was sold to fund the town’s market house, and the railway station where generations said farewell. We stop at the grave of Isola Wilde, Oscar Wilde’s sister, whose tragic death here inspired one of his most poignant poems. And we trace the tug-of-war between the names Edgeworthstown and Mostrim, from nationalist revival to modern-day GAA pride. Two names, one town — a story of belonging, identity, and resilience.