| County Sligo Contae Shligigh |
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| Motto: Land of Heart's Desire | ||
| Location | ||
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| Statistics | ||
| Province: | Connacht | |
| County seat: | Sligo | |
| Code: | SO | |
| Area: | 1,837 km2 (709 sq mi) | |
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Population (2006) |
60,894[1] | |
| Website: www.sligococo.ie | ||
County Sligo (Irish: Contae Shligigh) is one of the traditional counties of Ireland and is located within the province of Connacht. It was named after the town of Sligo (Irish: Sligeach).
Sligo is the 22nd largest of Ireland’s 32 counties in area and 25th 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.
Contents |
Geography
Sligo is bordered to the west by Mayo, to the south by Roscommon, and the east by Leitrim.
Towns and villages in County Sligo
| 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% |
| [3][4][5][6][7][8] | ||
The county town is Sligo (population: 17,892 [9]), which is home to the Institute of Technology, Sligo.
- Achonry, Aclare
- Ballaghnatrillick, Ballinafad, Ballintogher, Ballymote, Ballysadare, Beltra
- Carney, Castlebaldwin, Cliffony, Cloonacool
- Collooney, Coolaney,
- Dromore West, Drumcliffe
- Easky, Enniscrone
- Geevagh, Grange, Gurteen/Gorteen
- Kilglass, Keash
- Monasteraden, Mullaghmore
- Riverstown, Rosses Point
- Skreen, Strandhill
- Tourlestrane, Tubbercurry
Music tradition
County Sligo has a long history of traditional music. The south of the county is particularly noted with such musical luminaries as Mary O'Hara, 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 9km west of Sligo, hosts the Strandhill Guitar Festival[1] each year, featuring a wide variety of guitar music and musicians.
Cultural riches/Literary inspiration
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. 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.
See also
- List of abbeys and priories in the Republic of Ireland (County Sligo)
- List of Sligo people
- Sligo Rovers F.C.
External links
- Collection of Sligo Landscape Photographs
- Sligo County Council
- Sligo Borough Council
- Map of Sligo
- Sligoheritage.com
- Sligo Rovers F.C.
- County Sligo travel guide from Wikitravel
- History of Sligo, County and Town By William Gregory Wood-Martin
References
- ^ "Population of each Province, County and City, 2006". CSO Ireland, Principal Statistics. http://www.cso.ie/statistics/popofeachprovcountycity2006.htm. Retrieved 2007-05-31.
- ^ Corry, Eoghan (2005). The GAA Book of Lists. Hodder Headline Ireland. pp. 186-191.
- ^ 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), "New Developments in Irish Population History, 1700-1850", The Economic History Review Volume 37 (Issue 4): pp. 473-488, doi:, http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/120035880/abstract
- ^ "Report 06. Population and area of each Province, County, City, urban area, rural area and Electoral Division, 2002 and 2006". CSO, Ireland, Volume 1 - Population classified by Area. http://beyond2020.cso.ie/Census/TableViewer/tableView.aspx?ReportId=1765. Retrieved 2007-05-31.
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