Genealogy Centres in Sligo

County Sligo Heritage and Genealogy Centre

Aras Reddan
Temple Street
Sligo City
Co Sligo
Ireland

Surnames of County Sligo

Loughlin, Feeney, MacGovern, Gallagher and McGuinness are among the most popular surnames in the county.

Services

The County Sligo Heritage and Genealogy Centre offers a Full Service to enquirers whose ancestors hailed from County Sligo which is located in the Province of Connacht on the west coast of Ireland.

The main records include:

  • Roman Catholic - earliest of commenced in 1762
  • Church of Ireland (Anglican/Episcopalian) earliest of also date from 1762
  • Records of Presbyterian congregations start 1840
  • Methodist records start in 1840

Other major sources include

  • The 1901 Census
  • Griffith's Valuation records from the middle of the 19th Century
  • Tithe Applotment Books for the first quarter of the last century
  • The Elphin Diocesan Census of 1749
  • Gravestone inscriptions

In all a total of 400,000 records relating to the county have been computerised at the Centre and the computerising of records continues.

Chief Towns in Co Sligo

Sligo, Tubbercurry and Ballymote.

Scenic Attractions in Sligo

Tourism attractions include Drumcliffe, the burial place of W B Yeats, and nearby Benbulben Mountain attract large numbers of visitors each summer.

Famous Sligo People

The poet and playwright William Buler Yeats was probably the most famous son of County Sligo. A close rival would have to be Michael Coleman the most influential Irish traditional musician ever. The movie actor Daniel Day Lewis has Sligo ancestry as has the singer Mary O'Hara.

Emigration from Sligo

Sligo was, in the last century, a major port-town. Large numbers of emigrants to the New World from Sligo, Leitrim and parts of Mayo and Roscommon embarked from Sligo.

The Great Famine

Like the west of Ireland in general Sligo suffered greatly when the potato crop failed. Particularly effected here, as elsewhere, were the landless labourers, who were neither able to purchase food or pay for a passage to the New World.