Collooney or Coloony () 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 ...

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 ...

Toponymy

Collooney is thought to derive from . Reverend Terrence O'Rorke has previously also suggested ''Culmaine'', as Collooney is designated this way in such works as ''

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 ...

'', ''Dudley M'Firlis'', and O'Flaherty's "Chrorographical description of West Connaught";he further suggests "Angle of the Whirlpool" from the confluence of the ''Uncion'' and ''Owenmore'' as the most likely origin of the name. The settlement was also at times previously termed ''Cashel'', KillinBridge'' or even ''Cowlowney''.

History

During the

Irish Rebellion of 1798 The Irish Rebellion of 1798 ( ga, Éirí Amach 1798; Ulster-Scots: ''The Hurries'') was a major uprising against British rule in Ireland. The main organising force was the Society of United Irishmen, a republican revolutionary group influenced ...

, a battle took place outside the town in which a combined French and Irish force defeated British troops from the Sligo garrison. Known as the Battle of Collooney (or Battle of Carricknagat), this conflict is commemorated by the Teeling Monument outside the town - named for a member of the

United Irishmen The Society of United Irishmen was a sworn association in the Kingdom of Ireland formed in the wake of the French Revolution to secure "an equal representation of all the people" in a national government. Despairing of constitutional reform, ...

who was involved in the battle. In the 18th century, a bleach mill was built locally by Charles O'Hara in an effort to increase industry in the Sligo area. O'Hara brought in weavers and bleachers from the north to settle in the Collooney area. The mill finally closed in 1956. The mill was also used at certain times in its history for the production of carbide, a mixture of coal, coke and lime.

Geography

The main part of the town lies to south west of the Owenmore River which joins the

Unshin River The Ballisodare River ( ga, Abhainn Bhaile Easa Dara; also spelled ''Ballysadare'') is a river in Ireland, flowing through County Sligo. Course The Ballisodare River derives from three other Sligo rivers: the Unshin River, the Owenmore River ...

just to the north of the town to form the

Ballysadare River The Ballisodare River ( ga, Abhainn Bhaile Easa Dara; also spelled ''Ballysadare'') is a river in Ireland, flowing through County Sligo. Course The Ballisodare River derives from three other Sligo rivers: the Unshin River, the Owenmore River ...

Transport

Collooney is located just off the N4 (

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

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 ce ...

) and N17 (Sligo to

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...

) roads, having been bypassed twice, by the N4 in 1998, and the N17 in 1992, and is the meeting point of both roads. The town was a significant railway centre, with no fewer than three railway stations. In addition to the one remaining

Collooney railway station Collooney railway station serves the town of Collooney in County Sligo, Ireland and is on the Dublin-Sligo railway line. It was the first of three stations to be built in Collooney and remains the only one still in service. History Colloon ...

, opened on 3 December 1862, (on the railway from

) there was a station on the line to

Claremorris Claremorris (; ) is a town in County Mayo in the west of Ireland, at the junction of the N17 and the N60 national routes. It is the fastest growing town in the county. There was a 31% increase in the town's population between 2006 and 2011 an ...

(The

Western Railway Corridor The Western Railway Corridor is a term, used since , for a partly disused railway line running through the west of Ireland. Currently two sections of the line, from Limerick via Ennis to Athenry and from Collooney to Sligo, see regular servic ...

) and on the

Sligo, Leitrim and Northern Counties Railway The Sligo, Leitrim and Northern Counties Railway (SL&NCR) was a railway in counties Cavan, Fermanagh, Leitrim and Sligo in north-west Ireland. It consisted of one main line, with no branch lines and remained privately owned until its closure. ...

line to

Enniskillen Enniskillen ( , from ga, Inis Ceithleann , ' Ceithlenn's island') is the largest town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is in the middle of the county, between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of 13,823 a ...

References

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External links

Collooney Methodist Church
(archived) {{County Sligo Towns and villages in County Sligo