text: 19th century In 1859, Fraser's Ireland described Boyle as including a "sessions-house [courthouse], hospitals, schools, the houses and offices for the agents of the Lorton Estate, the police barracks, Church, Methodist chapel, public garden". The entry also noted the "preservation of the fine ruins of the Abbey of Boyle, one of the most interesting of all our ecclesiastical structures", and that the town was "one of the principal towns of County Roscommon, and carries on a considerable retail trade in the supply of necessaries for the surrounding district".
  By 1881 Slater's directory reported the town had a dispensary, three banks, three hotels and two newspapers. Boyle also had a post office, 40 grocery shops, 25 pubs (sixteen of which were also groceries), 12 bakeries and an assortment of businesses including fire insurance companies, booksellers, ironmongers and hardware stores, butchers, an auctioneer and churches for both Protestants and Catholics.
  20th century
  In 1917, Sinn Féin won their first ever seat in parliament for the constituency of Roscommon North, centred on Boyle, with the election of George Noble Plunkett. Plunkett's son, Joseph Mary Plunkett, had been executed by the British in May 1916 for his association with the 1916 Rising. Michael Collins campaigned on the candidate's behalf, as did Michael O'Flanagan, later to become President of Sinn Féin. A plaque on the courthouse, on The Crescent in Boyle, commemorates this. This was the first by-election following the Easter Rising of 1916 and it was crucial that the democratic mandate be obtained by Sinn Féin.
  Landmarks