Ireland (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Fionn Davenport [386]
Return to beginning of chapter
SLIGO TOWN
pop 19,402
Sligo town is in no hurry to shed its cultural traditions but it doesn’t sell them out, either. Pedestrian streets lined with inviting shop fronts, stone bridges spanning the River Garavogue, and céilidh sessions spilling from pubs contrast with genre-bending contemporary art and glass towers rising from prominent corners of the compact town (which is currently vying for city status).
Sligo’s population almost triples each day with workers and shoppers converging on it, and on warm days busy restaurant tables along the quay have the atmosphere of a giant street party.
Information
Bank of Ireland (Stephen St) ATM and bureau de change.
Cafe Online ( 071-914 4892; 1 Calry Crt, Stephen St; per hr €3; 10am-11pm Mon-Sat, noon-11pm Sun) Central internet access.
Keohane’s Bookshop ( 071-914 2597; Castle St) Great Irish interest section and finely chosen fiction recommendations.
Post office (Wine St)
Tourist office ( 071-916 1201; www.discoverireland.ie/northwest; Temple St; 9am-6pm Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm Sat, 10am-4pm Sun Jun-Aug, 9am-5pm Mon-Fri, 10am-4pm Sat Mar-May & Sep, 9am-5pm Mon-Fri Oct-Feb) Info on the whole northwest region.
Wash & Dry Laundrette ( 071-914-1777; Connolly St; small load from €14; 8.30am-6pm Mon-Sat) Serviced laundry services only; no self-service machines.
Sights
SLIGO COUNTY MUSEUM
The major draw of Sligo’s county museum ( 071-914 1623; Stephen St; admission free; 10.30am-12.30pm & 2.30-4.30pm Mon-Sat Jun-Sep, 2-5pm Tue-Sat Apr, May & Oct) is the Yeats room, which features photographs, letters and newspaper cuttings connected with the poet WB Yeats, as well as drawings by his brother Jack B Yeats, one of Ireland’s most important modern artists (who said he never painted anything without putting a thought of Sligo into it). The room across the hall contains a prison apron dress worn by Countess Constance Markievicz after the 1916 Easter Rising. The upstairs galleries exhibit contemporary artworks, mostly regional.
MODEL ARTS & NILAND GALLERY
Sligo’s premier gallery ( 071-914 1405; www.modelart.ie; The Mall) was undergoing extensive redevelopment at the time of research, and was due to have reopened by the time you’re reading this. Once completed, it will also house a new cultural centre with a performance space, additional gallery, artists’ studios and a destination restaurant.
SLIGO ABBEY
The handsome husk that is Sligo’s abbey ( 071-914 6406; Abbey St; adult/child/concession €3/1/2; 10am-6pm Easter-Oct, 9.30am-4.30pm Fri-Sun Nov–mid-Dec) has enjoyed the best and worst of luck. It was built by the town’s founder, Maurice FitzGerald, around 1252 for the Dominicans, but then burned down in the 15th century and was later rebuilt. Friends in high places saved the abbey from the worst ravages of the Elizabethan era, and rescued the only sculpted altar to survive the Reformation. The abbey’s fortunes fell again when it was put to the torch in 1641, and subsequently raided for stone. The doorways reach only a few feet high at the abbey’s rear, and the ground around it was swollen by the mass graves from years of famine and war.
YEATS BUILDING
In a pretty setting near Hyde Bridge, the Yeats Building houses the Sligo Art Gallery ( 071-914 5847; www.sligoartgallery.com; Lower Knox St; admission free), hosting travelling exhibitions; and the WB Yeats Exhibition ( 071-914 2693; www.yeats-sligo.com; admission free; 10am-5pm Mon-Fri), which has a video presentation and valuable draft manuscripts; the €2 exhibition catalogue makes a good souvenir of Sligo. The charming