In the middle of an old fort, over a thousand years ago a small church was built. It was called in Irish Cill a’ sean ratha which means church of the old ring fort. This is how the town got its name. A very small church of late 17th century still occupies the site near the lake, and the ditches of the fort can also be seen. Hamiltons, a planter family from Scotland developed the town of Killeshandra in the early 17th century. To the northern outskirts of the town, they built a fort and in the next century this was replaced by a house. It is still called Castle Hamilton. In 1911 the house was destroyed by fire. John Heney who was a leading figure in the development of the city of Ottawa in Canada was born in Killeshandra in 1820. The first Catholic archbishop of Perth in Western Australia, Matthew Gibney, was born five miles from Killeshandra in 1836. Also was Colonel Patrick Henry O’Rourke, a hero of the battle of Gettysburg in America’s Civil War.
