SLIGO

'Sligo' () (pronounced "sly-go" ), is the county town of County Sligo in the Republic of Ireland. The town is a borough and has a charter and a town mayor. It is the second largest urban area in Connacht (after Galway)^[1]. Sligo's population dropped at the 2006 census to a little under 18,000 inhabitants. It is home to the Sligo Institute of Technology.

Contents

History

Transport

Development

Twin cities

Other items of interest

See also

Gallery

External links

References

History

Sligo's Irish name "Sligeach" - meaning shelly place - originates in the abundance of shellfish found in the river and its estuary, and from the extensive 'shell middens' or Stone Age food preparation areas in the vicinity. Irish Place Names, , Deirdre and Laurence, Flanagan and Flanagan, Gill & MacMillan, 1994, The Sligo Borough Council web site says ''Shelly place''. The river (now known as the Garavogue) was originally also called the Sligeach.
Irish Local Names Explained
The Ordnance Survey letters of 1836 state that "cart loads of shells were found underground in many places within the town where houses now stand". At that time shells were constantly being dug up during the construction of foundations for buildings. This whole area, from the river estuary at Sligo, around the coast to the river at Ballysadare Bay, was rich in marine resources which were utilised as far back as the Mesolithic period.
Sligo town's first roundabout was constructed around a megalithic tomb (Abbeyquarter North, in Garavogue Villas ^[2]).
In the medieval period Sligo was an important crossroads strategically and commercially. Sligo Abbey, the Dominican Friary, is the only medieval building left standing in the town. It was founded by the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, Maurice Fitzgerald in 1253 but accidentally destroyed by fire in 1414, and was rebuilt in its present form. When Frederick Hamilton’s soldiers sacked Sligo Town in 1642, the Abbey was burned and everything valuable in it was destroyed. Much of the structure, including the choir, carved altar and cloisters remain.
Between 1847 and 1851 over 30,000 people emigrated through the port of Sligo.^[3] On the Quays, overlooking the Garavogue River, is a memorial sculpture to those people. This is one of a suite of three sculptures commissioned by the Sligo Famine Commemoration Committee to honour the victims of the Great Famine. A plaque in the background, headed 'Letter to America, January 2, 1850' tells one family's sad story: "''I am now, I may say, alone in the world. All my brothers and sisters are dead and children but yourself... We are all ejected out of Mr. Enright's ground... The times was so bad and all Ireland in such a state of poverty that no person could pay rent. My only hope now rests with you, as I am without one shilling and as I said before I must either beg or go to the poorhouse... I remain your affectionate father, Owen Larkin. Be sure answer this by return of post.''"

Sligo, Ireland

It is said that the picturesque Coney Island in Sligo bay gives its name to Coney Island in New York City. The Dutch expression ''Konijn Eiland'', often cited as the source of the name for Coney Island NY, has the same Latin origin as the Irish placename ''Oilean na gCoiníní''. (''Coinín'' means ''rabbit'' in Irish. There are at least two Coney Islands in Ireland). The Latin word cuniculus means rabbit or underground passage. ^[4]. Quite a plethora of theories for the origin of the American Coney Island exist,but clearly the Sligo one comes from ‘the island of the rabbits’. John McTernan, the Sligo historian, relates that a Sligoman, Captain Peter O'Connor, named New York's Coney Island after the island that lay one mile from his Sligo home. Captain O'Connor was master of the schooner Arethusa, which plied between Sligo and New York 200 years ago.
The poet W. B. Yeats is associated with Sligo. Much of his writing is descriptive of the area around Sligo town. In particular "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" is a reference to a small, uninhabited island on Lough Gill, which is a lake adjacent to the town. (The poet was likely thinking of Beezies Island, a bigger island in the lake close to the mouth of the Garavogue and a popular place to row to in the nineteen hundreds.) Yeats, who spent much of his youth in Sligo and its environs, died in 1939 and is buried in the graveyard in Drumcliffe, County Sligo^[5].
Sligo town is encircled by two mountain ranges, namely Dartry Mountains to the north and the Ox Mountains to the south. The Dartry range includes the famous Ben Bulben which W. B. Yeats often wrote about and is said to be the resting place of Diarmuid and Grainne. Knocknarea Mountain, located 3 miles west of the town, on the Cuil Irra Peninsula, is famous for the (Neolithic) stone cairn at its summit. According to folklore the cairn is said to be the resting place of Queen Maeve (or ''Medb'' in Irish), who ruled Connacht.
Sligo town recently highlighted its connections with famous Goon Show star and writer Spike Milligan by unveiling a plaque at the former Milligan family home at Number 5 Holborn Street.^[6]

Transport

Sligo Hub & Gateway access

Sligo has a modern road network, being served by a dual-carriageway "Inner-Relief Road" and connected to Dublin through the N4 road, which is of dual-carriageway standard in Sligo (and outside Sligo) and motorway standard in some areas.
The Sligo County Council ‘Traffic & Transportation Plan’ identified the pedestrianisation of Sligo’s core streets as a priority following the opening of the Sligo Inner Relief Road.
Sligo acquired rail links to Dublin in 1862 (Sligo railway station opened on 3 December 1862)^[7], Enniskillen and the north in 1881 and Limerick and the south in 1895. The line to Enniskillen closed in 1957 and passenger services to Limerick closed in 1963. For many years CIE kept the latter line open for freight traffic, and although it is now disused, it forms part of the Western Rail Corridor redevelopment project. In 1966 Sligo railway station was renamed Mac Diarmada Station after Irish rebel Seán Mac Diarmada from County Leitrim
Restore name to Sligo rail station
. Iarnród Éireann, Ireland's national railway operator, runs inter-city rail services between Sligo and Dublin.
Sligo Town and County Sligo are served by Sligo Airport, 8 kilometres (5 miles) from Sligo town and close to Strandhill village, which operates flights to Dublin and to Manchester in the United Kingdom.
Sligo port handles relatively small ships up to 2,000 dwt. A Profile of County Sligo

Development

Sligo Borough Council

Like many urban areas in western areas of Ireland, Sligo suffered for many years from the lack of development. However this has improved in some sectors in the past decade.
A lot of new development has been situated along the small river, the Garavogue, most notably the regeneration of J.F.K. and Rockwood Parades, consisting of houses, bars and a number of apartments as well as a new footbridge over the river itself. The most recent addition to the riverside is the new Glasshouse Hotel, a seven storey four star hotel.
A large 9 story apartment development is underway further along the river, named Swan Point. A pedestrian bridge is to be built across the mouth of the Garavogue river at this point to help improve access to the apartment block.
O’Connell Street, the town's main street has been pedestrianised since 15th August 2006.
The new Johnston's Court mall, on O'Connell Street is nearing completion.
Plans are underway to build a large, new vehicle bridge across the river near Garavoge Villas in the east of the town to imrove access to the Sligo General Hospital and the Ash Lane Junction

Twin cities

★ Crozon, Brittany, France^[8]

★ Kempten im Allgäu, Bavaria, Germany^[9]

★ Tallahassee, Florida, United States^[10]

Other items of interest

★ There are three local newspapers in Sligo. The Sligo Weekender is published on Tuesday while The Sligo Champion and The Sligo Post are both published on Wednesday.

★ Sligo is the birthplace of Ronan & Keith Mulligan of Sligo / San Francisco band The Hooks.

★ Sligo is the home to three members of pop group Westlife: Shane Filan, Kian Egan and Mark Feehily.

See also

★ List of Sligo people

★ List of towns in the Republic of Ireland

Gallery

External links

★ Official site - Sligo Borough Council

★ Official site - Sligo Yeats Society

★ Sligo Heritage

★ Unofficial tourist guide to Sligo Town

★ Sligo Weekender Newspaper

★ The Sligo Champion Newspaper

★

References

1. Western Development Commission website http://www.wdc.ie/countyprofiles_sligo.html
2. Landscape of the monuments. A study of the passage tombs in the Cúil Irra region, Co. Sligo, Ireland: Stefan Bergh, 1995. Stockholm: Riksantikvarieämbetet Arkeologiska Undersökningar
3. Lord Palmerston and the Irish Famine Emigration: A Rejoinder, Desmond Norton, Cambridge University Press, The Historical Journal (2003), 46: 155-165
4. http://www.mithridates.com/?p=94
5. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Yeats_Grave_Drumcliffe_Sligo.jpg
6. Spike_Milligan. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved December 08, 2006, from Reference.com website: http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Spike_Milligan
7. Sligo station
8. Crozon on French Wikipedia page
9. Kempten im Allgäu on German Wikipedia page
10. irishtallahassee.org