Collooney

Not to be confused with Coolaney, a village in County Sligo.

Collooney Cúil Mhuine
Town
Main Street
Collooney Location in Ireland
Coordinates: 54°10′59″N 8°29′31″W
Country	Ireland
Province	Connacht
County	County Sligo
Elevation	62 m (203 ft)
Population  (2022)[1]	1,797
Time zone	UTC±0 (WET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (IST)
Eircode routing key	F91
Telephone area code	+353(0)71
Irish Grid Reference	G674261

Collooney or Coloony (Irish: Cúil Mhuine, meaning 'nook of the thicket'^[2]) is a town in County Sligo, Ireland.

Toponymy

Collooney is thought to derive from Irish: Cúil Mhuine, meaning 'nook of the thicket'.^[2] 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, 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.^[3] The settlement was also at times previously termed Cashel, Killinbridge or even Cowlowney.^[4]

History

See also: Battle of Collooney

During the Irish Rebellion of 1798, 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 who was involved in the battle.^[5]

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.^[6] The mill finally closed in 1956.^[7] The mill was also used at certain times in its history for the production of carbide, a mixture of coal, coke and lime.^[8]

Geography

Old Mill building

The main part of the town lies to south west of the Owenmore River which joins the Unshin River just to the north of the town to form the Ballysadare River.

Transport

Collooney is located just off the N4 (Dublin to Sligo) and N17 (Sligo to Galway) 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, opened on 3 December 1862^[9] (on the Dublin–Sligo line), there was a station on the line to Claremorris (the Western Railway Corridor) and on the Sligo, Leitrim and Northern Counties Railway line to Enniskillen.

See also

• Connolly Park
• List of towns in the Republic of Ireland

References

1. "Interactive Data Visualisations: Towns: Collooney". Census 2022. Central Statistics Office. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
2. "Cúil Mhuine/Collooney". Placenames Database of Ireland. Government of Ireland - Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and Dublin City University. Archived from the original on 5 December 2017. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
3. O'Rorke (1878), p. 52.
4. O'Rorke (1878), p. 53.
5. "Bartholomew Teeling". breifne.ie. Breifne Tourism. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007.
6. Bartlett, Thomas (1982). "The O'Haras of Annaghmore c. 1600—c. 1800: Survival and Revival". Irish Economic and Social History. 9. Sage Publications Ltd: 43–44. doi:10.1177/033248938200900102. JSTOR 24337261. S2CID 186193633.
7. McTerran, John (2012). "Lost with the Titanic" (PDF). The Corran Herald (45). Ballymote Heritage Group: 38. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 December 2016. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
8. Kilcoyne (2012), p. 33.
9. "Collooney station" (PDF). Railscot - Irish Railways. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 March 2011. Retrieved 7 September 2007.

• Kilcoyne, James P (2012). "Carbide Story" (PDF). The Corran Herald (45). Ballymote Heritage Group: 33. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 December 2016. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
• O'Rorke, Terence (1878). History, Antiquities, and Present State of the Parishes of Ballysadare and Kilvarnet, in the County of Sligo. Dublin: James Duffy and Co. OCLC 1045989729.
• O'Rorke, Terence (1900). The History of Sligo: Town and Country. Vol. 2. Dublin: James Duffy and Co. OCLC 367563777. OL 24786532M.

Further reading

• Wood-Martin, William Gregory (1889). History of Sligo, County and Town, from the Accessession of James I. to the revolution of 1688. Dublin: Hoggs, Figgis, and Co. OCLC 1046595954.

External links

• Collooney Methodist Church (archived)