These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
Baile an Mhóta· Irish · main form · validated name
Ballymote· English · main form
Place & story
A castle with changing masters
Ballymote Castle stands west of the town. The Office of Public Works describes a roughly square enclosure with thick curtain walls, corner towers and a twin-towered entrance retaining evidence of a portcullis. It cites the Annals of the Four Masters for construction by Richard de Burgo in 1300. Ownership passed between several Gaelic and English powers over the following centuries.[2]
People & connections
The patrons and scribes of a book
The Book of Ballymote was written in the late fourteenth century under the patronage of Tomaltach MacDonnchaid of Corran. Irish Script on Screen identifies its scribes as Solamh Ó Droma, Robertus MacSithigh and Magnus Ó Duibhgeannáin. Genealogies, law, poetry, ogham material and narrative texts made it a substantial store of Gaelic learning.[3]
A manuscript valued in cattle
The manuscript catalogue records its purchase by Aodh Dubh Ó Domhnaill in 1522 for 140 milch cows. After passing through several later owners and readers, it was presented to the Royal Irish Academy in 1785. Its preservation allows the local connection to be followed beyond the medieval castle. The value recorded in cattle is also a distinctive reminder that the book's history belongs to a society whose wealth was not expressed only in money.[3]
People & connections
Brother Walfrid's Sligo connection
Andrew Kerins, later Brother Walfrid, was born in the Ballymote area in 1840. Celtic's own account locates his childhood at the Kerins family home in the surrounding countryside. As a Marist Brother in Glasgow, he helped establish Celtic to support poor families and children in the East End. The club and its charitable foundation commemorate this origin, and a statue in Ballymote maintains the connection between the Sligo locality and a much wider sporting and charitable community.[4][5]
Both counts use the 2016 settlement boundary, allowing like-for-like comparison. CSO supplies the 2022 count on this older boundary for comparison only. The official 2022 Built Up Area has different boundaries.
View population figures
Ballymote — Census 2016 settlement footprint — census population
These figures use different area definitions. Read the boundary note before comparing them.
Ballymote, Sligo
Published census settlement populations
1,549people · 2016
Settlement boundaries changed during this period. Differences may reflect boundary changes as well as population change. Where a 2011 legal-town-and-environs count is shown, it has not been recalculated onto the 2016 settlement boundary.
placenames