the hamlet of old leighlin, county carlow was a corporation borough, one of the creations of james i. the elective franchise was in the portreeve and twelve free burgesses. when the irish municipal commissioners made their visit to old leighlin there were only twenty houses and not more than one hundred inhabitants. it must have been an easy borough for the bishop of ferns and leighlin to manage: easier than ever after the newtown act of 1747. from the journals little can be learned of its history; for election petitions were infrequent from any of the boroughs created by james i. these were never easy of attack ; and old leighlin was doubtless managed, as was the borough of armagh, with the corporation largely composed of the clergymen of the diocese.