Ballysadare (), locally also Ballisodare,
is a town in
County Sligo
County Sligo ( , gle, Contae Shligigh) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the Border Region and is part of the province of Connacht. Sligo is the administrative capital and largest town in the county. Sligo County Council is the local au ...
,
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...
. It is about 7 kilometres (4 miles) south of
Sligo
Sligo ( ; ga, Sligeach , meaning 'abounding in shells') is a coastal seaport and the county town of County Sligo, Ireland, within the western province of Connacht. With a population of approximately 20,000 in 2016, it is the largest urban cent ...
town. The town developed on an important crossing of the
Owenmore River.
History
Toponymy
The
Ox Mountains
The Ox Mountains or Slieve Gamph () are a mountain range in County Sligo on the west coast of Ireland. They are also known as Saint Patrick's Mountains after the saint who built churches on its slopes and left his name to some of its wells.
G ...
() are located west of the town. The town itself is named after the falls on the
Owenmore River. Ballysadare is in the
barony of
Leyny formerly the ''
túath
''Túath'' (plural ''túatha'') is the Old Irish term for the basic political and jurisdictional unit of Gaelic Ireland. ''Túath'' can refer to both a geographical territory as well the people who lived in that territory.
Social structure
I ...
'' of
Luighne Connacht, and the barony of
Tirerril, formerly the ''túath'' of
Tír Olloíl. The Owenmore river forms the border between the baronies. Ballysadare also borders two other baronies in Co. Sligo,
Carbury to the North and
Tireragh
Tireragh () is a barony in County Sligo. It corresponds to the former Gaelic túath of Tír Fhíacrach Múaidhe.
History
The barony was formed as part of the shiring of County Sligo by the Lord Deputy Sir Henry Sidney
Sir Henry Sidney ...
to the West. Ballysadare is in the
diocese of Achonry.
Alternative names for the falls are ''Ess Mac Modairn'' (Falls of the son of Modairn) and ''Ess na n-Éan'' (The Falls of the Bird).
There appear to be three variants of English version of the settlement name still in use, ''Ballysadare'' being on the road signs coming to dominate. The use of ''Ballisodare'' remains in evidence on the names of some local sport clubs and even on at least one Sligo County Council document in 2018.
''Ballysodare'' appears to been used for the
railway station and there is evidence of its use on a map of 1887 and indexing of parish registers at the
National Library of Ireland
The National Library of Ireland (NLI; ga, Leabharlann Náisiúnta na hÉireann) is the Republic of Ireland's national library located in Dublin, in a building designed by Thomas Newenham Deane. The mission of the National Library of Ireland i ...
.
Early history
Ballysadare is a possible location for the town noted as
Nagnata on
Claudius Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importance ...
's 2nd century CE co-ordinate map of the world. Ballysadare was anciently a major gathering place for all surrounding districts.
St. Columba visited Ballysadare in 575 AD at which "''Before the Saint (Columba) returned to Britain he founded one church in the district of Carbury, and proceeded from thence to a place called Easdara, where all the prelates of the neighbouring regions, and vast numbers of holy men and women had come to meet him ; and, to say nothing of the rest of the multitude, which was almost beyond counting, a great many distinguished saints of the race of Cumne are recorded to have been present.''" This extract is from Colgans
Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae.
The O'Hara were the lords of Lúighne.
Saint Féichín
St Féichín was born in the townland of Billa in the parish of Ballysadare. He is said to have studied under
St. Nath Í of Achonry further to the south in the same territory. The word Bile means a sacred tree or grove. The townland is the location of the Leaba St. Féichín or St. Feichins bed. The town developed near a church founded by
St. Féichín, some time before he died in 664 AD (O’Rorke 1878, 1-4).This monastic site is in Kilboglashy townland and the remains consist of a stone church known as the Great Temple of St. Féichín (
Teampal mór Féichín), with a later Romanesque style carved doorway, two small buildings and a graveyard. The O'Duillenain, were
erenachs of Ballysadare.
The
Canons Regular of St. Augustine built a new priory a short distance to the west in Abbeytown Townland in the 13th century.
Ballysadare was mentioned in the ''
Annals of the Four Masters
The ''Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland'' ( ga, Annála Ríoghachta Éireann) or the ''Annals of the Four Masters'' (''Annála na gCeithre Máistrí'') are chronicles of medieval Irish history. The entries span from the Deluge, dated as 2,242 ...
'' 15 times between 1158 and 1602, in 1188, 1199, 1228, 1230, 1235, 1239, 1249, 1261, 1267, 1285, 1360, 1444, 1595 and 1602. In 1360, the ''Annals of the Four Masters'' note: A bridge of lime and stone was built by Cathal O’Conor across the river of Eas-dara. In 1588, all monastery lands around Ballysadare were seized by the
Dublin Castle
Dublin Castle ( ga, Caisleán Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a former Motte-and-bailey castle and current Irish government complex and conference centre. It was chosen for its position at the highest point of central Dublin.
Until 1922 it was the ...
government on behalf of
the Crown
The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has differ ...
.
Mines
Ballysadare is the site of an ancient silver and lead mine, re-opened and worked in the 19th and 20th century. It is now the site of a quarry.
Recent history
Ballysadare was the location of a Pollexfen Mills, since demolished. There is also a hydro electric power station in the vicinity.
The area experienced rapid development during the '
Celtic Tiger
The "Celtic Tiger" ( ga, An Tíogar Ceilteach) is a term referring to the economy of Ireland from the mid-1990s to the late 2000s, a period of rapid real economic growth fuelled by foreign direct investment. The boom was dampened by a subsequ ...
' boom, with the population more than doubling in the 20 years between the 1996 and 2016 census (from 612 to 1,350 people).
During this period several new housing estates were developed, several of which subsequently remained empty, creating phantom estates.
The town was bypassed by the
N4 Sligo-Collooney dual-carriageway, completed in January 1998. The
N59 Ballina-Sligo road still winds through the town.
Education
It is home to St. Mary's College,a secondary school which serves the southern and western environs of County Sligo, including the surrounding areas of Collooney and Coolaney. There is also St. John's national school which serves the surrounding area
Transport
Ballysodare railway station was located on the
Dublin-Sligo railway line but it is now demolished; it was also served by the
Sligo, Leitrim and Northern Counties Railway from
Manorhamilton and the route from .
Gallery
File:Ballysadare-bay.jpg, Ballysadare Bay
File:Ballysadare-church.jpg, Holy Trinity Parish Church, Church of Ireland
The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second ...
File:Ballysadare-new.jpg, New development in the town
File:Ballysadare-rc-church.jpg, Ballysadare Roman Catholic church
File:Ballysadare-river.jpg, Ballysadare river
File:Ballysadare-school.jpg, St. Mary's College - A catholic voluntary co-educational secondary school
File:Ballysadare-shop.jpg, Older shop in Ballysadare
File:Ballysadare-town3.jpg, Street view of Ballysadare
See also
*
List of towns and villages in Ireland
References
Further reading
*
External links
{{County Sligo
Towns and villages in County Sligo