Roscommon, market and co. town, township, and par. with ry. sta., South Ballintober bar., mid. co. Roscommon, 18 miles NW. of Athlone and 96 miles from Dublin - par., 9819 ac., pop. 3863; township, 372 ac., pop. 2117; P.O., T.O., 2 Banks, 1 newspaper. Market-day, Saturday. Roscommon has remains of a castle and an abbey. The trade in cattle for the Dublin and English markets is important.

(John Bartholomew, Gazetteer of the British Isles (1887))