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| TOWN OF SLIGO.- The name of this well known place is said to have originated from the stram which flows through it, now called the Garrogue, but in old Gaelic the Sligeach, or "Shelly," river. It would seem to have been an abscure place until the thirteenth century, whe the warlike and pious Maurice Fitzgerald, Earl of Kildare, erected there a castle and a monastery around which a considerable city arose. An irruption of the fierce O'Donnells, of Tyrconnell, destroyed both castle and monastery in A. D. 1270. They were rebuilt by the Earl of Ulster, only to be again destroyed by MacWilliam Burgh-one of his turbulent kinsmen. The castle has entirely disappeared, but a noble mass of ruins occupies the groung where once stood the majestic Abbey of Sligo, which was last restored in the reign of Pope John XXII., about the year 1320. It is said that indulgences were granted by the Pontiff to the devout who assisted in erecting the splendid structure. Sligo is the terminus of a branch of the Midland and Great Western railroad and distant from Dublin 131 miles northward. The population is now estimated at about 10,000. The town is, for the most part, well built, and has a thriving commerce, chiefly in agricultural products. It possesses an excellent harbor and lines of stemers ply regularly between it and Londonderry, Glasgow and Liverpool. The river and lake scenery in the immediate neighborhood of Sligo is enchanting. Sligo's municipal charter dates from 1613. |
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