Out On Our Own

“Out on Our Own” is a local history of the people of Longford, Leitrim and Cavan from earliest times through to the 20th Century, by author Benny Reid.

The book is a culmination of almost a decade of research, in which the author has uncovered new and revealing details about the people and places of this storied region, not least the story of a priest's death in 1916 and its likely cover up by the authorities.

The book covers a swathe of human history, including the ancient pre-history and the monunents that still dot the region today, the early Christian period, the Viking and Norman invasions, and the colonisation by English and Scottish settlers during the late medieval and early modern period. 
The often-bloody faction wars of the Medieval period are discussed before this entirely Gaelic and Connacht territory was split apart (1570-1584) and shired into our modern counties. The details of the plantations, 1556-1703, the impoverishment and sectarianism of the 1700’s, are covered in detail and the author shows how many thousands of people living in the region today are likely the descendants of the refugees from Ulster and Cromwell's "To Hell or to Connacht" campaign .

The critical role the people of the of Annaly and Breifne played in pursuing Irish independence is covered in detail from the 1798 Rebellion,  the Secret Societies of the 1800’s, and the War of Independence,

The author also follows the people of Longford, Cavan and Leitrim, as they set out from this small , making their mark in the political, religious and economic life across the globe.

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