The earliest people of Sligo were a group of hunter-gatherers who lived around the shores of Lough Gara and the first farming communities were established in the same area around 4,000 BC.

Sligo is the setting for a large number of the texts in the Mythological Cycles. The story of Diarmiad and Grainne has its final act played out on Ben Bulben.

Many of the early Christian churches and communities were destroyed in 807 when 5,000 Vikings landed in northeast Sligo.

The submission of the Irish chieftains to the English throne in 1540 marked the beginning of a downward slide in the fortunes of Sligo. Insurrection and ruin marked the countryside.

St Patrick made two visits to Sligo, spending around seven years in the area.

The county was officially formed in 1585 but did not come into effect until the chaos of the Nine Years' War ended, in 1603. Its…