Virginia, County Cavan

Virginia is a small town of 3,939 inhabitants (according to census 2011) in County Cavan, Ireland. It was founded at Aghanure () during the Plantation of Ulster and was named Virginia after Queen Elizabeth I of England.

Situated close to Lough Ramor, Virginia is on the N3 route approximately 85 km northwest of Dublin city, where once it was a strategic staging and rest point for the coaches plying between Enniskillen and Dublin. In more recent times, Virginia is connected to the capital by an hourly bus service from Cavan town Bus Éireann. Regarded these days as a commuter town with its proximity to larger trading towns east and west, the local industry consists mainly of farming and milk processing at the local Glanbia factory, (formerly Virginia Milk Products) which produces skim milk powder and cream for the world renowned brand Baileys Irish Cream liqueur. Other local manufacturers include the Fleetwood brand of paint products. Virginia won the Irish Tidy Towns Competition in 1964 and 1965. It is also home to the popular annual Virginia Agricultural Show for over sixty years and Ireland's only Pumpkin Festival.

History

Virginia began as an Ulster Plantation project, where an English adventurer named John Ridgeway was granted the crown patent in August of 1612 to build a new town, situated upon the Great road, aproximately mid way between the towns of Kells and Cavan. The chosen site according to tradition existed a ruined O'Reilly...
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