Editing County Roscommon (section)

===Ordnance Survey===
[[File:Roscommon Castle view.jpg|220px|thumb|Roscommon Castle]]
[[John O'Donovan (scholar)|John O'Donovan]] (1806–1861), historian and scholar, visited County Roscommon in 1837, while compiling information for the [[Ordnance Survey]]. Entering St Peter's parish in Athlone in June 1837, he wrote, "I have now entered upon a region totally different from Longford, and am very much pleased with the intelligence of the people." However, he had major problems with place-names. He later wrote, "I am sick to death's door of lochawns, and it pains me to the very soul to have to make these remarks, but what can I do when I cannot make the usual progress? Here I am stuck in the mud in the middle of Loughs, Turlaghs, Lahaghs and Curraghs, the names of many of which are only known to a few old men in their immediate neighbourhood and I cannot give many of them utterance from the manner in which they are spelled."<ref>{{cite thesis|last=Hunt |first=Roy |title=Painful progress: the slow evolution of County Roscommon society, 1850–1914 |publisher=[[National University of Ireland Galway]] |year=2010 |page=8}}</ref><ref>John O' Donovan, "Letters containing information relative to the antiquities of the County of Roscommon, collected during the progress of the Ordnance Survey, 1837". p. 5. Special collections section, National University of Ireland, Galway, 2009, reproduced by Rev. Michael O'Flanagan, Bray 1927.</ref>
[[File:River Shannon, Athlone, Co. Westmeath, Ireland - geograph.org.uk - 345361.jpg|220px|thumbnail|The [[River Shannon]] running through [[Athlone]] town.]]
[[File:Lough Key from Above 2010.jpg|220px|thumb|[[Lough Key]]]]