Collooney or Coloony () is a town in

County Sligo County Sligo ( , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region and is part of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. Sligo is the administrative capital and largest town in ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

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'' () or the ''Annals of the Four Masters'' () are chronicles of Middle Ages, medieval Irish history. The entries span from the Genesis flood narrative, Deluge, dated as 2,242 Anno Mundi, years after crea ...

'', ''Dudley M'Firlis'', and O'Flaherty's "Chorographical 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 (; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ''The Turn out'', ''The Hurries'', 1798 Rebellion) was a popular insurrection against the British Crown in what was then the separate, but subordinate, Kingdom of Ireland. The m ...

, 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, formed in the wake of the French Revolution, to secure Representative democracy, representative government in Ireland. Despairing of constitutional reform, and in defiance both of British ...

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 just to the north of the town to form the Ballysadare River.

Transport

Collooney is located just off the N4 (

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

Sligo Sligo ( ; , 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 20,608 in 2022, it is the county's largest urban centre (constituting 2 ...

) and N17 (Sligo to

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

) 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 (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 Enniskillen ( , from , ' 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 14,086 at the 2011 censu ...

References

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External links

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