County Sligo Tourist Attractions List of sites and attractions in County Sligo

These two megalithic cities of the dead (Europe's largest) on the Coolera Peninsula may have once contained more than 200 passage tombs. The two together--one in the valley and the other atop a nearby mountain--convey an unequaled sense of the scale and wonder of the ancient megalithic peoples' reverence for the dead. Carrowmore is well presented and interpreted, while Carrowkeel is left to itself and to those who seek it out.

Lissadell is now chiefly remembered as the childhood home of Constance Markieviez, one of those condemned to death for their part in the 1916 Easter Rising, and of her sister, the poetess and suffragette Eva Gore-Booth, and for their friendship with the young WB Yeats, immortalised in the poem he wrote in their memory after both sisters had died.

The present house, built by their grandfather Sir Robert Gore-Booth in 1830-5 was one of the last country houses to have been built in Ireland in the Greek revival style. It conatins contemporary furniture and a collection of Italian pictures purchased in Florence by him whilst on a Grand Tour.

Ballymote, begun in 1300, was the last and the mightiest of the Norman castles in Connaught. It was built some distance from an earlier motte by Richard de Burgo, the great Red Earl of Ulster, in order to protect his newly won possessions in Sligo. Almost square in plan with massive three-quarter round towers at each angle, it is the most symmetrical of all the Irish "keepless" castles and bears an unmistakable resemblance to the inner ward of Beaumaris in Anglesea (begun 1295). There was a formidable double towered gate in the centre of the north wall and subsidiary D-shaped towers in the centre of the east and west curtain walls. Recent excavations revealed that the gate towers now largely demolished, were protected by a double skin of external walling. A postern gate planned for the centre of the south wall was never completed, probably because of the events of 1317, when the castle was lost to the O'Connors.

The capital of County Sligo is an attractive town with good bars and restaurants, theatres, art galleries and delicatessens. Sligo is the largest town in the north-west, with a heritage going back 6,000 years. Its name literally translates as 'the place of shells' - the town's prehistoric residents had a huge appetite for shellfish, and the remains of the unfortunate crustaceans can be found buried all over the area. Sligo town makes a good base for a range of activities - horse riding, golfing, walking, cycling, fishing and water sports are all very popular.

(6,720 Yards / Par 72) This links course, on the shore of Killala Bay, is one of the many marvelous tests of golf which can be found in Ireland. The quality of the golf is matched by the surroundings, with the Ox Mountains close at hand. Enniscrone is also the venue for the Irish Close Championships.

(6,003 Metres / Par 71) The County Sligo Club, or Rosses Point as it is more popularly known, is one of Ireland's great championship links. It has been home of the West of Ireland Championship held each year since 1923. Set among vast sand dunes on the cliffs overlooking three large beaches. Constant winds are an added factor to its many challenges, not the least of which are some of its elevated tees. A burn meanders through the course and comes into play on a number of holes.