County Sligo
| County Sligo Contae Shligigh
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| Motto: Land of Heart's Desire | |||
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| Country | Ireland | ||
| Province | Connacht | ||
| Dáil Éireann | Sligo-North Leitrim | ||
| EU Parliament | North-West | ||
| County seat | Sligo | ||
| Government | |||
| • Type | County Council | ||
| Area | |||
| • Total | 1,837 km2 (709 sq mi) | ||
| Area rank | 22nd | ||
| Population (2011) | 65,270 | ||
| • Rank | 26th | ||
| Car plates | SO | ||
| Website | www.sligococo.ie | ||
County Sligo (Irish: Contae Shligigh) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the Border Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the town of Sligo. Sligo County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county is 65,270 according to the 2011 census. An archaeological recovery suggests the county may have been one of the earliest places of human settlement in Ireland.[1]
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[edit] Geography and political subdivisions
Sligo is the 22nd largest of Ireland's 32 counties in area and 26th largest in terms of population.[2] It is the fourth largest of Connacht's 5 counties in size and third largest in terms of population.
[edit] Towns and villages
- Achonry
- Aclare
- Ballaghnatrillick
- Ballinafad
- Ballintogher
- Ballymote
- Ballysadare
- Beltra
- Bunninadden
- Carney
- Castlebaldwin
- Cliffony
- Cloonacool
- Collooney
- Coolaney
- Culfadda
- Dromore West
- Drumcliffe
- Easky
- Enniscrone
- Geevagh
- Grange
- Gurteen/Gorteen
- Kilglass
- Keash
- Monasteraden
- Mullaghmore
- Riverstown
- Rosses Point
- Skreen
- Strandhill
- Toorlestraun
- Tubbercurry
[edit] Local government and politics
Sligo County Council is the governing body for the county. It is divided into five Local Electoral Areas (LEAs) Ballymote, Dromore, Sligo-Drumcliffe, Sligo-Strandhill and Tubbercurry. There are 25 members elected to Sligo County Council.
Sligo is part of the Sligo-North Leitrim constituency and has three representatives (TD's) in Dáil Éireann, Tony McLoughlin (FG), John Perry (FG) and Michael Colreavy (SF). It also has two representatives to Seanad Éireann, Marc MacSharry and Geraldine Feeney.
[edit] History
The county was formed in 1585. Its boundaries broadly reflect the contemporary Ó Conchobhair Sligigh lordship of Irish: Íochtar Connacht (Lower Connacht). The megalithic cemetery of Carrowmore is located in County Sligo. It forms part of a huge complex of Stone Age remains connecting Carrowkeel in South Sligo to the Ox Mountains, to the Cuil Irra Peninsula, where Queen Maeve's tomb dominates the skyline from the crest of Knocknarea Mountain.
[edit] Culture
The poet and Nobel laureate William Butler Yeats (1865–1939) spent much of his childhood in northern Sligo and the county's landscapes (particularly the Isle of Innisfree, in Lough Gill) were the inspiration for much of his poetry. Yeats said, "the place that has really influenced my life most is Sligo." He is buried in North County Sligo, "Under Ben Bulben", in Drumcliffe.
[edit] Music
County Sligo has a long history of traditional music. The south of the county is particularly noted with such musical luminaries as James Morrison, Michael Coleman, Paddy Killoran, Fred Finn , Peter Horan, Joe O'Dowd, Jim Donoghue, Martin Wynne, Oisín Mac Diarmada (of Téada), tin-whistle player Carmel Gunning and the band Dervish. The county has many traditional music festivals and one of the most well known is the Queen Maeve International Summer School, a traditional Irish Music summer school of music and dance which is held annually in August in Sligo Town. On the more contemporary music scene there are Westlife, Tabby Callaghan and The Conway Sisters who are from Sligo. Strandhill, about 9 km west of Sligo, hosts the Strandhill Guitar Festival [1] each year, featuring a wide variety of guitar music and musicians.
[edit] People
- Ambrosio O'Higgins, 1st Marqués de Osorno – Spanish colonial administrator.
- Brother Walfrid – founder of Celtic FC.
- Chris O'Dowd – actor.
- Constance Markievicz – revolutionary Irish nationalist.
- George Stokes – mathematician, physicist.
- Lola Montez – dancer, actress.
- Marian Harkin – MEP.
- Martin Savage – Irish republican.
- Mary O'Hara – singer.
- Neil Jordan – film director.
- Ray McSharry – former Tánaiste.
- Tommy Fleming – singer.
- Westlife – pop band.
- William Butler Yeats – poet.
[edit] See also
| Historical populations | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
| 1659 | 6,877 | — |
| 1821 | 146,229 | +2026.3% |
| 1831 | 171,765 | +17.5% |
| 1841 | 180,886 | +5.3% |
| 1851 | 128,515 | −29.0% |
| 1861 | 124,845 | −2.9% |
| 1871 | 115,493 | −7.5% |
| 1881 | 111,578 | −3.4% |
| 1891 | 98,013 | −12.2% |
| 1901 | 84,083 | −14.2% |
| 1911 | 79,045 | −6.0% |
| 1926 | 71,388 | −9.7% |
| 1936 | 67,447 | −5.5% |
| 1946 | 62,375 | −7.5% |
| 1951 | 60,513 | −3.0% |
| 1956 | 56,850 | −6.1% |
| 1961 | 53,561 | −5.8% |
| 1966 | 51,263 | −4.3% |
| 1971 | 50,275 | −1.9% |
| 1979 | 54,610 | +8.6% |
| 1981 | 55,474 | +1.6% |
| 1986 | 56,046 | +1.0% |
| 1991 | 54,756 | −2.3% |
| 1996 | 55,821 | +1.9% |
| 2002 | 58,200 | +4.3% |
| 2006 | 60,894 | +4.6% |
| 2011 | 65,270 | +7.2% |
| [3][4][5][6][7][8] | ||
- List of abbeys and priories in the Republic of Ireland (County Sligo)
- List of Sligo people
- Sligo GAA
- Sligo Rovers F.C.
- High Sheriff of Sligo
[edit] References
- ^ C.Michael Hogan. 2011. Celtic Sea. Encyclopedia of Earth. Eds. P.Saundry & C.J.Cleveland. National Council for Science and the Environment. Washington DC
- ^ Corry, Eoghan (2005). The GAA Book of Lists. Hodder Headline Ireland. pp. 186–191. ISBN 0340896957.
- ^ For 1653 and 1659 figures from Civil Survey Census of those years, Paper of Mr Hardinge to Royal Irish Academy March 14, 1865.
- ^ Census for post 1821 figures.
- ^ http://www.histpop.org
- ^ http://www.nisranew.nisra.gov.uk/census
- ^ Lee, JJ (1981). "On the accuracy of the Pre-famine Irish censuses". In Goldstrom, J. M.; Clarkson, L. A.. Irish Population, Economy, and Society: Essays in Honour of the Late K. H. Connell. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press.
- ^ Mokyr, Joel; O Grada, Cormac (November 1984). "New Developments in Irish Population History, 1700-1850". The Economic History Review 37 (4): 473–488. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0289.1984.tb00344.x. http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/120035880/abstract
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: County Sligo |
- Collection of Sligo Landscape Photographs
- Sligo County Council
- Sligo Borough Council
- Map of Sligo
- Sligoheritage.com
- County Sligo travel guide from Wikitravel
- History of Sligo, County and Town By William Gregory Wood-Martin
- Song, "Beautiful Sligo" sung by Michael McGloin,YouTube Video, with images.
Texts on Wikisource:
- "Sligo. A maritime county of the Province of Connaught, Ireland". New International Encyclopedia. 1905.
- "Sligo, a county of Ireland". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.
- "Sligo". Collier's New Encyclopedia. 1921.
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