The ruined church at Lacken.

The ruined building pictured above was the church where the Rev. James Little, Rector of the Parish of Lacken, held services for the local Protestant population during his time in the area 1776 - 1827.

He was educated in Edgeworthstown and entered Trinity College in 1767, from where he graduated in 1771 with a B.A. Degree .

Reverend Little is remembered today mainly because he kept two diaries of the events surrounding the landing of the French Expeditionary Force at Killala in August, 1798. The diaries “Two Diaries of the French Expedition, 1798” edited by Nuala Costello, were published by The Irish Manuscripts Commission in Analecta Hibernica No.11, July 1941.  The writings give a detailed account of each day’s happenings and are invaluable to students of that period of Irish history.

The originals are in the care of the Royal Irish Academy, Dublin.