County Sligo
County Sligo is a county of extraordinary beauty and vivid contrast with its lakes and forests, mountains and rivers. It is a county for the lovers of nature and the wildlife enthusiast, the angler, sportsman, antiquarian or the person who simply wants to relax in peace and tranquillity. Immortalised by W.B.Yeats as the 'Land of Hearts Desire', Sligo has much to offer, and Ballymote makes an ideal centre for touring the whole region. As well as Sligo, there are many scenic areas to be enjoyed in Counties Mayo, Donegal and Leitrim - and all comfortably covered within a day's drive. (For those without a car - Discover Sligo provide a variety of daily minibus tours)
Ancient Heritage
The rich beauty of the countryside around Ballymote was obviously appreciated by our ancestors. The whole area is an archeologist's dream with monuments dating from the stone, bronze and iron ages as well as remains of buildings from the last two thousand years.
A Land Carved in Ice
About 200,000 years ago, glaciers ground their way through southern Sligo on their way to the sea, carving the countryside through which they moved. When the ice receeded 10,000 years ago, one of Connaught's most beautiful and unspoilt places - the area around Ballymote - was revealed, sculptured with valleys and shimmering lakes.
County Offaly is a county in Leinster, Ireland, bordered by seven other counties: Galway, Roscommon, Westmeath, Meath, Kildare, Laois, and Tipperary. Originally the Kingdom of Uí Failghe, it was shired in 1556 by Mary I of England during one of the Plantations of Ireland, it was originally named King's County, after King Philip II of Spain and the county town was Daingean until the nineteenth century.
The southern part of the county is occupied by the Slieve Bloom Mountains, the northwestern part is the floodplain of the River Shannon and the remainder consists of large bogs including the Bog of Allen and Boora Bog.
Birr in the south of the county is best known for its castle and gardens. Birr Castle is owned by the Parsons family, (the family bears the title: 'Earl of Rosse') and is best known for its 19th century telescope. Before the plantation of modern day Offaly by English settlers, the territories it comprises were controlled principally by the Ó Conchubhair Fáilghe clan in the North/East of the county and the Ó Céarbhaill of Ely in the south.
Anglo-Protestant writer William Trevor (KBE) was born in County Offaly, and raised in County Cork, Irish Free State, and has written of his experiences growing up as a Protestant in that time and place.
