A study of the history of the village of Dunlavin as viewed through the diary of a parish priest, Canon Frederick Donovan. This study also utilizes other sources to build up a picture of a village suffering from the religious and political divisions of the Irish conflict.

Canon Frederick Donovan served as a parish priest in the village of Dunlavin between 1884 and 1896. He recorded many of the changes in his diary, used here to portray life as experienced by the locals as well as how Canon Donovan perceived it himself. Other sources are also used to reveal political, religious and social divisions within the community. Such divisions were particularly evident with religion and politics.