Sligo. a maritime county of the province of Connaught, Ireland, is bounded on the N. by the Atlantic and the Bay of Donegal, S. by Roscommon and Mayo, E. by Roscommon and Leitrim, and W. by Mayo. It is 41 miles from E. to W., and 38 from N. to S.; the total area is 461,796 acres. Pop. (1841) 180,886; (1861) 124,845; (1881) 111,578; (1891) 98,338—a decrease of 11.9 per cent. About 91 per cent. are Roman Catholics. The coast-line is indented with bays, the largest being Killala Bay and the Bay of Sligo. The surface rises gradually from the coast as far as the Slieve Gamph and the Ox Mountains (1778 feet). Sligo contains some picturesque lakes, especially Lough Arrow and Lough Gill. The streams are inconsiderable; but three—the Moy, Owenmore, and Garvogue—are to some extent navigable. Iron is abundant and copper occurs, but neither is worked. The climate is moist, mild, and healthy. The soil is in part sandy loam, in part a deep rich loam. The chief occupation is agriculture; until some years back the people were chiefly engaged in tillage, but now they devote most attention to pasturage, especially the feeding of cattle. Close upon one-half of the total area is under grass; 27½ per cent. is uncultivable; and only about 80,000 acres are under crops, including some 19,000 acres of oats, 18,000 acres potatoes, and 32,000 acres of meadow-land. The bulk of the holdings range between 5 and 30 acres each. Coarse woollens and linens are manufactured. A considerable number of the population engage wholly or partially in fishing. The county forms two parliamentary divisions. The principal towns are Sligo, Ballina (1442; also 4318 in Mayo), Ballynote (1145), and Tobercurry (1081). Sligo was anciently the seat of the O'Connors. It contains a group of cromlechs near Sligo, a round tower at Drumcliffe, ruins of an ancient abbey at Ballysadare, and numerous other ratls, cromlechs, and ancient caverns.
SLIGO, chief town of the county, stands at the mouth of the Garvogue, 137 miles NW. of Dublin by rail. Pop. (1861) 13,361; (1881) 10,808; (1891) 10,110. Sligo had its origin in a Dominican abbey, built in the middle of the 13th century by Maurice Fitzgerald, Earl of Kildare, and now in ruins, and was formerly surrounded with walls and defended by a castle (1242), of which no vestiges are now left. There are a Roman Catholic cathedral, a modern town-hall, a lunatic asylum, &c. The town has some trade, exporting cattle, corn, butter, and provisions. Steamers ply regularly between Sligo and Glasgow, Liverpool, and Londonderry. Sligo was besieged by the parliamentarians in 1641, and was captured and lost again by the adherents of William III. It formerly returned a member to parliament, but was disfranchised in 1870.
See county histories by T. O'Rorke (1889) and W. G. Wood-Martin (3 vols. 1890-93).