County Sligo

County Sligo Contae Shligigh
Coat of arms
Motto: Land of Heart's Desire
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 (709.3 sq mi)
Area rank	22nd
Population (2011)	65,270
– Rank	26th
Car plates	SO
Website	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]

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.

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

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-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.

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.

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.

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.

People

See also Category: People from County Sligo.

• Ambrosio O'Higgins – 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.

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

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 0340896957. 
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. ^ http://www.nisranew.nisra.gov.uk/census
7. ^ 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. 
8. ^ Mokyr, Joel; O Grada, Cormac (November). "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 

External links

• 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. 

Coordinates: 54°15′N 8°40′W / 54.25°N 8.667°W / 54.25; -8.667