Sligo, from the Irish meaning ‘abounding in shells’, is a coastal seaport and the county town of County Sligo.
The importance of Sligo’s location in prehistory is demonstrated by the abundance of ancient sites within the town. Sligo town’s first roundabout was constructed around a megalithic passage tomb.
Sligo bay is an ancient natural harbour, being known to Greek, Phoenician and Roman traders.
The town is unique in Ireland in that it is the only Norman-founded Irish town to have been under almost continuous native Irish control throughout the Medieval period.
Sligo Abbey, a ruined abbey in the town, officially called the Dominican Friary of Sligo, was originally built in 1253.
It was destroyed in 1414 by a fire, ravaged during the Nine Years’ War in 1595 and once more in 1642 during the Irish Confederate Wars.
The friars moved out in the 18th century, but Lord Palmerston restored the Abbey in the 1850s. It is now open to the public.
During the Civil war, Sligo railway station was blown up by Anti-Treaty forces on 10 January 1923.
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