Introduction to Sligo
County Sligo is situated on the Atlantic coast in the north west of Ireland and is the gateway between Connaught and Ulster.
The county has a magnificent variety of mountain, lake, wood and coastline. Sligo Town is the largest town in the northwest.
To the north of Sligo is the magnificent Benbulben; where beneath its shadow is the grave of WB Yeats at Drumcliffe churchyard.
In north Sligo you can visit Mullaghmore, Grange or Rosses Point, the famous seaside resort.
To the west of Sligo is Europe's oldest Stone Age cemeteries at Carrowmore
Knocknarea mountain where Queen Maeve is buried under the cairn on the top, and Strandhill, a surfers paradise.
To the south is the seaside resort of Enniscrone, and Tubbercurry, an important centre for traditional Irish music and hosts the South Sligo summer school.
Sligo has many beautiful lakes, especially Lough Gill and Glencar.
This is WB Yeats' "Land of Hearts Desire", where he and his brother Jack, found inspiration.
A Brief History of Sligo
This Connaught county contains the towns of Sligo, Ballymote, Collooney, Ballysodare, and Enniscrone. Sligo was the ancestral territory of a branch of the O'Connors, called O'Connor Sligo. Other Gaelic families associated with the county include O'Dowd, O'Hara, O'Hart, McDonagh, Mac Firbis, and O'Colman. The site of the town of Sligo has been of strategic importance since ancient times as all traffic on the coastal route between South and North had to ford the river here. A fortress which guarded this ford was plundered by Norse pirates as early as A.D. 807.
After the Norman invasion of Connacht in 1235, Sligo was granted to Maurice Fitzgerald who effectively founded Sligo town by building a castle there in 1245 and making it his residence. The Taaffe family was among the Norman families who settled in the county. Further settlers were brought into the county at various periods, including weavers from the north of Ireland brought in by Lord Shelbourne in 1749.
As the native Irish and Norman population were predominantly Catholic, the Scottish usually Presbyterian, and the English of the Protestant faith, the proportions of these religions among the population can, in very general terms, be used to estimate the origins of the inhabitants of the county. When religious affiliation was first determined in the census of 1861, the respective proportions of Catholic, Presbyterian, and Protestant in Sligo were 90, 8, and 1 percent.
Apart from the weaving industry and some mining operations, Sligo is basically an agricultural county.
The town of Sligo was an important port in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, particularly as the River Erne and its lake systems facilitated inland trading and transport. It was also an important port of emigration.
The peak of population was reached in 1841 at 181,000. The Great Famine of 1845-47 badly affected the county and the population had dropped by 52,000 in ten years, including some 20,000 deaths. By 1901 the population had fallen to 84,000 and is currently 56,000.
The workhouses were part of the Poor Law Union system and, in 1838, Sligo was set up with three such Unions: Sligo; Dromore West and Tubbercurry.
Later, the Eastern and south-Eastern areas were joined to the Boyle Poor Union.The Sligo workhouse was completed in 1841. Dromore West and Tubbercurry were built about 1851-51.
Areas of Interest in Sligo
Nolans Castle
Enniscrone Castle is an example of an early 17th century semi fortified house. It is constructed on a raised level platform on top of a small ridge and consists of a rectangular gabled house with 3/4 round towers at the angles. The two western towers survive intact, but the other two towers have been destroyed since the last century. The house has two storeys with attics, and on the ground floor there was a centrally placed doorway with drawbar sockets.
Also on the ground floor was a large centrally placed fieplace with a small circular oven built in its south side.
On the first floor there is a smaller fireplace with a small circular over built in its south side.
Drumcliffe High Cross and Round Tower
St. Colmcille founded a monastery here about 575 on lands given by King Aedh Ainmire. Not far away, at Culderimne, the saint had been heavily involved in a battle in 561 in a dispute over the ownership of a book! The monastery seems to have been well known from the 9th to the 16th century, and was plundered by Maelseachlain O'Rourke in 1187. It was plundered again in 1267 and 1315, and the last known abbot died in 1503. The Church of Ireland church stands on the site of an older church of which nothing remains, and in front of this church the poet W.B. Yeats lies buried. Beside the road is the stump of a Round Tower which was struck by lightning in 1396. Tradition says that it will ultimately fall on the wisest man who passes it (so, if it falls on you, your wisdom will have been recognised - but too late!) To the right of the path leading from the road to the Church of Ireland church is a High Cross, consisting of what were two separate parts originally. On the east face are Adam and Eve, David slays Goliath, Daniel in the Lions' Den and Christ in Glory, while on the west face there is a Crucifixion. There is also a considerable amount of interlacing covering the surface of the cross, and there are also some imaginary animals.
Lissadell Woods
Lissadell Woods are situated by the Atlantic ocean near Drumcliffe, this area was originally part of the Lissadell estate, the home of the Gore-Booth family. The woods were a source of poetic inspiration to W.B.
Yeats was a frequent visitor to Lissadell.There is an abundance of flora and fauna. It is mainly a broadleaf woodland consisting of ash, sycamore and elm. Sitka spruce grows in areas sheltered by the broadleaf trees. Other flora include wood rush, briar, hazel, holly and whitethorn.
There is also a nature trail in the woods.
Dolly's Cottage
Dolly's Cottage is a 200-year-old traditional thatched cottage, the only one of its kind in the area, which is open to the public. It is a stone built cottage with two rooms and a loft with original walls, roof, roof beams, fireplace and pouch bed.
When you step through the little red door it''s like stepping into the past. Dolly''s Cottage has hardly changed in its 200 years and provides an experience of how people lived until the not so distant past.
The cottage is named after Dolly Higgins, the last person to live here. She was a genial soul, well loved by young and old in the district. When Dolly died in 1970 the cottage was purchased by the Strandhill guild of the Irish Countrywomen''s Association with a view to preserving it for future generations.
Country Markets sell handmade crafts and homemade produce at the cottage.
Knocknashee
An exciting archaeological discovery in recent years was the identification of a hillfort at Knocknashee during an archaeological survery of county Sligo by the OPW in 1988. Knocknashee means Hill of the Faries. It is a massive 700m long and 320m wide.
The site is located on a spectacular limestone table top plateau commanding a widespread view over the north Connacht plain. The area enclosed by the two earth and stone ramparts in 53 acres. The inner rampart skirts the edge of the plateau following the contour and is obscured somewhat by a modern stone wall built on top of it. The rampart now have a maximum height of 1.5m and a width of 3.8m and are associated with interrupted rock cut ditches from which they are built.
Knocknarea Mountain
Knocknarea Mountain (Cnoc na Rí) is situated 4 miles west of Sligo Town, in the area of the Strandhill Peninsula, this breathtaking mountain dominates the skyline of Sligo town it is 1078 feet high.
Take the neatly paved path from the car park. The walk to the summit of the mountain it takes an average of 40 - 45 minutes, once you reach the top there lies the cairn, of Queen Maeve of Connacht the cairn is about 10 meters high and is visible for miles around. It has not been excavated but it is thought to cover a passage tomb similar to that of Heapstown Cairn.
Queen Maeve and Knocknarea Mountain are mentioned in several of Yeats' poems and are of keen interest in Irish myth. There are spectacular views around County Sligo.
Moygara Castle
The Castle of Moygara was the principle fortress and dwelling of the O Gara family. The castle stands in a slight eminence with great views, particularly to the south.
The building consists of a plain rectangular tower set within a nearly square bawn withflanking angled tower at each corner. These commanded the adjacent curtain walls as well as the timber papapets that would have existed in the original building. The main entrance was on the western side where, at a later time, an entrance porch was added to the original arched opening.
Drumcliffe Church And Visitor Centre
Drumcliffe, final resting place of W.B.Yeats and site of a 6th century Columbian monastery. This beautiful site which nestles under Benbulben Mountain has an exciting range of activities for the visitor.
Traditional Music and Craic in Sligo