Sligo, seaport and county town of county Sligo, in the province of Connacht, Ireland. Sligo is situated on Sligo Bay and the Garvogue River, 179 km (111 mi) northwest of Dublin, in farming country. In 807 the Danes attacked Sligo. In 1242 Maurice Fitzgerald, earl of Kildare, built his castle in the town, and in 1252 he founded Sligo Abbey for Dominicans. The castle is no longer standing, and only the ruins of the abbey remain. King James I granted Sligo permission to hold annual fairs, and in 1613 it was incorporated as a borough. It was disfranchised in 1840. Population (1996) 19,000.
