Page 227 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Ireland

IRELAND REGION B Y REGION  225

NORTHWEST IRELAND

Donegal • Sligo • Leitrim

Towering cliffs, deserted golden beaches and rocky
headlands abound along the rugged coast of Donegal,
which incorporates some of Ireland’s wildest scenery.
To the south, Sligo is steeped in prehistory and Celtic
myth, with its legacy of ancient monuments and natural
beauty enriched by associations with the poet,
W B Yeats. By contrast, Leitrim is a quiet county of
unruffled lakes and waterways.
In Celtic mythology Sligo was the power English alongside the O’Neills (see p259).
base of the warrior Queen Maeve of Protestant settlers moved on to land
Connaught (see p30), and the county’s confiscated from the two clans, but they
legacy of prehistoric sites shows that the left much of Donegal and its poor soil to
area was heavily pop ulated in Celtic times. the native Irish, who lived there in isolation
Later, however, both County Sligo and from the rest of Ulster. County Donegal
neighbouring County Leitrim often remains one of the most remote parts of
seemed to be little affected by events Ireland, and it is no coincidence that it
taking place in the rest of Ireland. The has the country’s largest number of Gaelic
Normans, for example, barely dis turbed speakers. There is a wealth of traditions and
the rule of local Gaelic clans. culture to be found around the county and
Donegal, on the other hand, is part of on islands such as Tory Island (see p228).
Ulster and has played an active role in the While the beauty of Donegal lies
history of the north. The O’Donnells held principally along the coast, Sligo’s finest
sway over most of Donegal in the Middle landscapes are found inland, around
Ages, but they fled to Europe in 1607 Lough Gill and among the sparsely
following their ill-fated stand against the populated Bricklieve Mountains.

The 19th-century interior of Hargadon’s bar in Sligo town, with its original counter and stout jars
Fanad Head Lighthouse, County Donegal

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