Tubbercurry or Tobercurry () is the second-largest town in terms of both population and land area 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 A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the an ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. It lies at the foot of 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. Ge ...

, on the N17 national primary road. The village is twinned with

Viarmes Viarmes () is a commune in the Val-d'Oise department in Île-de-France in northern France. Viarmes station has rail connections to Luzarches, Sarcelles and Paris. Population Twin towns Viarmes is currently twinned with Tubbercurry in County S ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. Tubbercurry achieved status as a Fairtrade town in September 2008.

History

The earliest mention of Tubbercurry is from 1397 when a battle took place in the town between two O’Connor families, the

O'Conor Don The O'Conor family (Middle Irish: ''Ó Conchubhair''; Modern ga, Ó Conchúir) are an Irish noble house and were one of the most influential and distinguished royal houses in Ireland. The O'Conor family held the throne of the Kingdom of C ...

from Roscommon and the O’Conor Sligo from Sligo town. St. Naithí and St Attracta are the patron saints of the area.

Events

Tubbercurry hosts three annual festivals. These include the South Sligo Summer School of Irish traditional music, song and dance, which is held each year during the second week in July. The Old Fair Day Festival is also held annually in early August, and the Western Drama Festival is held in early March.

Sport

The local Gaelic football and hurling club is

Tubbercurry GAA Tubbercurry is a Gaelic Athletic Association club based in the town of Tubbercurry, County Sligo; the club was formed in 1888. They have won 20 Sligo Senior Football Championships and 14 Sligo Senior Hurling Championships. They have also won ...

. Real Tubber F.C. are a local

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

club, and South Sligo A.C. is a local athletics club. There is a golf course on the town's edge, named Tubbercurry Golf Club. Other sports are also catered for including badminton, handball and karate.

Education

Tubbercurry is home to Saint Attracta's Community School, which was opened after the merger of Banada Abbey Secondary School and the Marist Convent. St. Attracta's C.S. was opened in November 2002. The town is also home to Holy Family and Drimina National Schools.

Transport

Public transport to the town is provided with a bus service which connects Tubbercurry with Galway, Sligo, Castlebar, Westport and Tuam, as well as services to nearby Ireland West Airport. The town also has a number of private bus and hackney hire companies. The former Tubbercurry railway station, which first opened in October 1895, was closed for passenger traffic on 17 June 1963 and closed altogether on 3 November 1975. The reopening of the

Western Rail 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 ...

would restore the service in the future.

Notable people

* Michael Fingleton, former chief executive of Irish Nationwide Building Society and key figure in the Irish financial crisis * Tadhg Dall Ó hÚigínn, noted sixteenth-century bardic poet, was a powerful figure in Tubbercurry.

References

External links

Town's Official Website
{{County Sligo Towns and villages in County Sligo