A Brief History of Sligo's Road Network

By John C McTernan

The modern city of Sligo dates from Norman times.  In 1245 Maurice Fitzgerald built the Castle of Sligo on lines of similar to other Norman fortifications of that period and its strategic locations controlled the gateway between Connaught and North West Ulster. 

Sligo's First Roads

The earliest roads radiating to and from Sligo were little more than well beaten tracks used for the most part by travellers on horseback.    

In remote times the 'fearsat' or strand pass was used as a short cut between north Sligo and the south of the county and vice versa.  The 'fearsat' from Finod to Doonierin across the Drumcliffe estuary; the strand crossing from Standalone Point near Ballincar to the Coolera peninsula, and that from Carrowcrin to Streamstown across the Ballisodare River, formed the great highway not only for individual travellers but also for armies on the march.  As late as 1536 the Annalists have recorded that Hugh Dubh O'Donnell led his army southwards by way of the 'fearsats' from Drumcliffe into Tireragh.  These routes continued to be traversed into the 19th century but were gradually abandoned with the growth of an improved road network and the deepening of the channel between Sligo and Rosses Point.  Drumcliffe Strand on the other hand was still being traversed by both pedestrians and vehicles a century ago.

The Anglo-Normans were noted road builders.  Richard De Burgo, the 'Red Earl', is credited with the construction of the earliest road in the county in the 14th century.  It ran from Ballymote, where he had built a castle, over the Curlew Mountains to Boyle and for centuries afterwards was known as 'Bothar-on-larla-Ruaidh', or the 'Red Earl's road', and subsequently formed part of the ancient route to Sligo from the east of the country. 

The earliest known road from Sligo going southwards, ran via Corngeeha and Tullynagracken and then by way of a pass through Slieve Da En, east of Ballygawley Lake, through Doonamurray, Rushill, Rusheen, Riverstown and Castlebaldwin and then by the 'Red Earl's Road' between Castledargan and Castlebaldwin. 

Roads and Bridges in 17th and 18 Century

In the mid 17th century the Grand Jurys, the forerunners of the County Council, were empowered to tax people of means to finance the construction of roads as well as the building of bridges in their immediate areas.  These powers were by degrees extended and regulated whereby cess payers in the different baronies decided at the bi-annual Barony Presentment Sessions what works of this nature required to be undertaken, and it was let to the Grand Jury, meeting at the Assizes twice a year, to approve or reject the individual presentments by a majority vote. 

Most of the principal road of the county were constructed in the latter half of the 18th century but later underwent major improvements and in some instances fresh alignments to avoid steep gradients as horse drawn vehicular traffic increased in the opening decades of the 9th century.  Taylor & Skinner's 'Maps of the Roads of Ireland' showed for the first time in visual form the principal roads radiating to and from Sligo.  These more or less followed the routes as we know them today with some variations.  For example, the road south to Ballisodare and beyond left Sligo via Old Pound St., Gallows Hill South, Caltragh, the 'Windy Gap', Carrow'gobbadagh and Ballydrehid from whence it followed the general direction of the present highway to Boyle.  The northern route to Ballyshannon went over Holborn Hill and most likely followed the route taken by invading armies of the past, namely, via Kintogher and across the strand to the Castle of Court, through Carney to the cross-roads at Castlegarron and thence to Grange and Cliffoney.  It was later routed through Shannon, Tullyhill, Rathcormack and then by ways of Drumcliffe Bridge. 

Early 19th Century Survey

McParlan in his 'Statistical Survey of County Sligo' (1802) mentions that with few exceptions 'the roads and bridges are in good state', and then went to state that ten miles of the mail coach road going in the direction of Boyle, so constructed to avoid hills, was already made and was 'very broad and level'.  This road was routed via the Mail Coach Road, Carraroe and the 'Curragh' and linked at Ballydrehid with earlier line from Sligo via the 'Windy Gap'. 

Between 1825 and 1845 in the region of 3,000 miles of road were either made or under contract by the Grand Jury.  These included Sligo-Ballyfarnon; Sligo-Ballina which took a more direct route from Beltra via Skreen.  Templeboy and Dromore West in preference to the coast road; and Sligo-Tubbercurry giving a link to Ballina via Mullaney's Cross and Foxford, a route which in older times was known as the 'Circuit Road' as it was the route taken by judges and members of the Bar as they travelled from Sligo to Castlebar. 

Many older roads were either replaced or realigned and new ones built as part of the Famine Relief Works of 1846-47.  Albert Line, now Lower Pearse Road, linking Albert Street, now Teeling Street, with the junction of Mail Coach Road, dates from this period.  So also does Markievicz Road, originally Victoria Line, with links Hyde Bridge and Carton and avoids the steep gradient over Holborn Hill which proved difficult for vehicular traffic entering or leaving Sligo from or to the North.  This roadway with its massive retaining wall running parallel with the estuary was opened to traffic in 1852.  These works coincided with the building of Hyde Bridge, which replaced an arched bridge close to the same site, and the widening of a number of thoroughfares including Wine Street and Quay Street. 

Arrival of Mail Coach

Most of the principal roads of the county were built between the late 18th and the mid 19th century, an era that coincided with the arrival of the mail coach and later the stage coach which plied on a regular basis between Sligo and Ballina, Ballyshannon, Derry, Dublin and Enniskillen.  Originally, the coaches experienced great difficulty in negotiating certain routes but as the century progressed matters improved considerably. 

With the dawn of the last century, motorised traffic gradually replaced horse-drawn transport, a development that presented the local council with fresh challenges with regard to surfacing and general improvements.  The advent of tarmacadam heralded the end of the paved surfaces that characterised the majority of roads into the late 20th century.