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County Sligo

Coordinates: 54°15′N 8°40′W / 54.250°N 8.667°W / 54.250; -8.667
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County Sligo
Contae Shligigh
Coat of arms of County Sligo
Coat of arms
Motto: 
Land of Heart's Desire  
Location of County Sligo
CountryIreland
ProvinceConnacht
Dáil ÉireannSligo-North Leitrim
EU ParliamentNorth-West
County townSligo
Government
 • TypeCounty Council
Area
 • Total1,837 km2 (709 sq mi)
 • Rank22nd
Population
 (2011)
65,393
 • Rank26th
Car platesSO
Websitewww.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 65,393 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]

Geography and political subdivisions

Sligo countryside and Ben Bulben seen in the background.

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. The County borders County Mayo to the west, County Roscommon to the south and south-east and County Leitrim to the north-east.

Largest Towns in County Sligo (2011 Census)

  1. Sligo, 19,452
  2. Tubbercurry, 1,747
  3. Strandhill, 1,596
  4. Ballymote, 1,539
  5. Collooney, 1,369

Towns and villages

Local government and politics

Main article: Sligo County Council

Sligo County Council is the governing body for the county. It is divided into five Local Electoral Areas (LEAs) Ballymote, Dromore, Sligo-Drumcliff, 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 one representative to Seanad Éireann, Marc MacSharry

History

The county was formed in 1585. Its boundaries broadly reflect the contemporary Ó Conchobhair Sligigh lordship of Lower Connacht (Irish: Íochtar 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.

Culture

The Sligo coastline at Mullaghmore, with Classiebawn Castle in the distance
Beezie's Island on Lough Gill

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 Drumcliff.

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.

Sport

The county is home to League of Ireland Premier Division club Sligo Rovers, who have played home matches at The Showgrounds since they were founded in 1928. Brother Walfrid the founder of Celtic Football Club was born in Ballymote.

The county is represented in Gaelic Games by Sligo GAA.

People

See also: Category:People from County Sligo

See also

References

  1. ^ C.Michael Hogan. 2011. Celtic Sea. Encyclopedia of Earth. Eds. P.Saundry & C.J.Cleveland. National Council for Science and the Environment. Washington DC
  2. ^ Corry, Eoghan (2005). The GAA Book of Lists. Hodder Headline Ireland. pp. 186–191. ISBN 0-340-89695-7.
  3. ^ For 1653 and 1659 figures from Civil Survey Census of those years, Paper of Mr Hardinge to Royal Irish Academy March 14, 1865.
  4. ^ Census for post 1821 figures.
  5. ^ http://www.histpop.org
  6. ^ NISRA - Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (c) 2013. Nisranew.nisra.gov.uk (2010-09-27). Retrieved on 2013-07-23.
  7. ^ Lee, JJ (1981). "On the accuracy of the Pre-famine Irish censuses". In Goldstrom, J. M.; Clarkson, L. A. (eds.). Irish Population, Economy, and Society: Essays in Honour of the Late K. H. Connell. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press.
  8. ^ 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.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to County Sligo.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for County Sligo.

54°15′N 8°40′W / 54.250°N 8.667°W / 54.250; -8.667

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