SLIGO, a county in the province of Connaught, Situation in Ireland, bounded by the ocean on the north-west and north, by Leitrim and Roscommon on the east and south-east, and by Mayo on the south and west. It extends about 40 miles from north to south, and from east to west 38, and contains 727 English square miles, or 465,280 English acres. The town of Sligo, which is about 13 miles from its northern extremity, is situated in west longitude 8° 26', and north latitude 54° 13'. The county is divided into six baronies and thirty-nine parishes.
Bogs, mountains, and waters, occupy more than a third of this district. The greater part of the waste land is found towards the north and west, though there are considerable tracts of the same description on the south; but except the range of the Ox and Foxford mountains, which begin on the
Sligo. confines of Mayo on the south-west, and occupy a considerable part of the western division, the waste grounds are everywhere intermixed with such as are productive, and in some parts very fertile. The better part of the district lies to the south of the town of Sligo; a few miles from which, along its whole breadth, the country is in general rich and beautiful, containing several gentlemen's seats, and presenting views of great variety and interest. For about 140 square miles in this quarter, the soil is equally fitted for tillage or grazing. In other parts much of it is shallow and moorish, incumbent on a close stratum, here called lealea, or grey flag, which, in its natural state, is unfavourable to vegetation, though it becomes friable on exposure to the atmosphere.
Minerals. Lead, iron, manganese, and copper, are known to exist in the mountains; of these iron only has ever been wrought, and that not for many years; and there is a variety of clays, some of them very fine, or fit for the pottery.
Waters. The principal fresh water lakes are Loughs Gill, Arrow or Arva, Talt, and Gara. The scenery around Lough Gill, which contains a number of wooded islands, is particularly striking. On Innismore, one of these islands, are the remains of a church and other ruins. On the north, the sea has formed several considerable inlets, particularly at the bays of Sligo and Killala, the former of which communicates with Lough Gill, near the town of Sligo. To the north of this bay is the small island of Innismurry. This district has also a great number of streams; of which the most considerable are the Sligo, Bonnet, Owenmore, Arrow or Arva, Cooloney, Esky, and Moy; the last of which is for some miles the boundary between this county and Mayo. The Sligo, which is merely the outlet of Lough Gill, is navigable from the lake to the town of that name; and the Moy for six or seven miles from the sea. On the Sligo and the Moy there are considerable salmon fisheries; trout are plentiful in the lakes, particularly in the Talt and Gara, and on the coast there is abundance of white fish. Herrings have not much frequented it for many years, yet a few are still caught in summer.
Estates and Farms. Sligo contains estates of almost every size. A few are worth from L. 5000 to L. 9000 a year; yet a considerable proportion of the county is divided into small properties. The principal proprietors are absentees. Farms vary in size from three acres Irish to 500; the larger farms, however, are not held by individual tenants, but in partnership. The leases are for 31 years and three lives, and in some instances for 61 years and three lives, being, in general, longer here than in other parts of Ireland. Tillage farming is still in a very backward state. The plough is worked by three or four horses yoked abreast, directed by a man who walks backward before them. Oats, barley, and potatoes, are the principal crops. Of the two former, a great proportion is consumed in illicit distillation, which, within these few years, was carried on in almost every of the county. It was to the sale of the spirits that many of the small tenants looked as the means of paying their rents. In some parts, both cattle and sheep are kept in considerable numbers, and a great
deal of butter is exported from the town of Sligo; but the land occupied in this way bears but a small proportion to the whole; to grow corn being the principal object. Limestone and limestone gravel, which are in abundance in most places, are in general use as manures; also marl, and on the coast seaweeds.
The manufactures for export are linen, salt, and Manufactures. There is a linen hall at Sligo, where a good deal of business is done in this line; and from this place, which is situated on the bay of that name, the cloth is sent in large quantities to the English market in a finished state; there being many bleaching-greens in the county. This being the only town of any extent, and having a harbour that admits vessels of 200 tons close to its quay, all its exports and imports centre here. Besides linen and butter, Sligo exports a great deal of corn. Its population, according to the author of the Agricultural Report, is about 10,000. The other places called towns, of which there are 21 in all, are inconsiderable hamlets at which fairs are held.
The cabins, food, fuel, and clothing, of the lower Condition of classes seem to be as uncomfortable as in any of the the Irish counties already described. About 20 years ago, the price of labour, near the town of Sligo, was about a shilling a day throughout the year. Cottiers who had a cabin, an acre of land, and grass for a cow, for L. 3 a year, got only 5d. or 6d. In 1815, the rate of common labour in the country parishes was only 10d., and 1s. 1d. in spring time and harvest. Beef and mutton were from 3d. to 5d. per pound; oatmeal 10s. to 12s., and potatoes 1s. to 1s. 4d. per cwt.
In 1790, the population of this county was about 60,000, and by the census of 1821, it was 127,879. According to Mr Wakefield, the Catholics are to the Protestants at least as 80 to 1. In one considerable landward parish, that of Kilmactige, there were, in 1815, 1200 Catholic and only 10 Protestant families. The Irish language is still very common, and in some places English is almost unknown. Within these few years, the London Hibernian Society has established several schools, which promise to effect a happy change among the lower classes, who seem to be very ignorant and superstitious, and of most irregular and improvident habits. Their marriages, which are generally contracted at an early age, and their christenings and funerals, are all conducted at a most unsuitable expence both of time and money. The numerous holidays of the Catholic Church, passed in sport or idleness rather than in religious observances, and their habit of attending fairs and markets without having any business at them, have also a very bad effect on the industry of the people; whose condition is still farther depressed by the payments that must be made to their clergy at baptisms, marriages, confessions, and on other occasions. Accordingly, while many of the men leave home in summer to find employment elsewhere, their wives and children set out at the same time and travel over the country as beggars till their return.
Sligo county sends two members to Parliament, Representatives and the town of Sligo, which has twelve self-elected burgesses, a third. Mr Wynne is patron of the
Somerset-shire. borough, and the political influence of the county is in possession of absentees.
See Mr Parlan's Statistical Survey of the County of Sligo (1802), and the general works quoted under the former Irish counties. (A.)