Sligo

County of the Republic of Ireland, in the province of Connacht, situated on the Atlantic coast of northwest Ireland; county town Sligo; area 1,800 sq km/695 sq mi; population (2002) 58,200. Limestone mountains rise behind a boggy coastal plain. There is some mineral wealth, including barytes, coal, lead, and copper. Agricultural activity includes cattle farming and dairy farming. The other principal town is Ballymote.

Sligo is notable for its important megalithic remains, including the cemetery site at Carrowmore Hill. W B Yeats wrote much of his poetry about Sligo, where he lived for many years.

Topography Sligo is bounded on the north by the Atlantic, on the southwest and west by County Mayo, on the east by Leitrim, and on the southeast by Roscommon. The bays of Killala and Sligo indent the shore, and the mountains behind the coastal plain are the Slieve Gamph or Ox Mountains, the highest point of which is is Mount Knockalongy (545 m/1,788 ft), and the Dartry Mountains, the highest point of which is Mount Truskmore (641 m/2,103 ft) on the eastern border. The principal rivers are the Garavogue and the Owenmore. The lakes include loughs Arrow, Easky, Gara, Gill, Glencar, Talt, and Templehouse.

Sligo

Seaport and county town of County Sligo, Republic of Ireland; population (2002) 18,500. It is situated on the River Garavogue, between Lough Gill and the Atlantic. Health-care products, pharmaceuticals, animal vaccines, rubber, and videotape are manufactured, and Sligo has engineering, food-processing, and service industries. The town contains the 15th-century ruins of a Dominican abbey founded in 1252; 5 km/3 mi away at Carrowmore is a collection of megalithic remains.

Sligo is a popular centre for tours of the ‘Yeats Country’. In Lough Gill (8 km/5 mi by 2 km/1 mi) lies the islet of Innisfree, made famous by W B Yeats's poem ‘The Lake Isle of Innisfree’ (1893). Drumcliff, the poet's burial place, is 8 km/5 mi to the north of Sligo. The art gallery in the Yeats Memorial Building contains a collection of drawings and paintings by Jack Yeats, J B Yeats, and other 20th-century artists.

History and archaeology Sligo was a strategic site as a ford for the River Garavogue and was the site of conflict between English and Irish forces from the 13th century onwards.

On Cairns Hill, 4 km/2 mi south of Sligo, are the remains of two stone ring forts and a stone circle; nearby is a stone altar known as Tobernalt, which was used for Mass during the period in which Catholicism was prohibited. At Magherannish, 6 km/4 mi to the east, are the remains of a large court tomb, a ring fort, and a souterrain (underground dwelling). Carrowmore is the site of an extensive Neolithic cemetery. There is also a group of dolmens, stone circles, and ring forts. There is a visitor centre here. Nearby is a horseshoe-shaped tomb, Cloverhill, with Bronze Age carvings. On the summit of Knocknarea (330 m/1,083 ft), 6 km/4 mi from Sligo, is Miscaun Meadhbh, a large cairn 24 m/80 ft high, and the remains of other tombs. Also 6 km/4 mi from Sligo, near Fermoyle, is Leacht Con Mhic Ruis, a large megalithic chambered tomb.