A Chronicle of People, Places & Events of other Days
This is the third volume in the series “Olde Sligoe” and “In Sligo Long Ago” ( the only volume in the series now in print).

It is a compendium of miscellaneous material relating to Sligos past from the 18th Century onwards. Most of the contents  have not been published in book form hithertofore, or have long since been out of print.

Taken in conjunction with the other two volumes, it prrovides both the general reader and the local historian with a comprehensive insight into the everyday happenings as well as the more important historic events that helped to shape the Sligo of the past three centuries.

Here, Joe Mc Gowan sets down the life and times of the men and women of Inishmurray, Co. Sligo , who left their island home in 1948. .  Inishmurray’s presence looms large beyond his native fields and in the tales told him by the last of the island residents.

This is the perfect companion for an understanding of the island’s early Christian monuments, rivalled only by those on Sceilg Michael. .  This book is a familiar ramble through a cherished place bringing life to an ancient monastery and a disappearing era.  Here we learn of holy men and marauding Danes; vengeful statues and disappearing islands; Cursing Stones and Mystic Fires; of cures customs, poteen and peelers.

Volume II – Sligo Families

This second volume of a two volume set entitled “Sligo Families”, chronicles the fortunes of over sixty families and is extensively illustrated with hithertofore unpublished portraits.

The families featured include a number of well known landed families whose members, over succeeding generations, played a pivotal role in the affairs of the county.

A number of lesser known families, who have either died out or whose descendants have moved elsewhere, are also featured as are a good mix of other families whose members achieved prominence in different fields of human endeavour at home and abroad over the centuries as churchmen, diplomats, legal luminaries, merchant princes, medics and soldiers of fortune.

Volume 1 : Houses of Sligo & Associated Families

This first volume of a two volume set, contains information on over two hundred County Sligo houses, large and medium sized, dating from the last 17th century to 1900, a number of which have been demolished or are presently lying vacant.

The selection is based on a combination of architectural merits and historical associations, high-lighting the principal families who owned or occupied them down to the present day.  There is also an historical sketch of house building in the county for the period covered together with detailed listings of the principal houses at different periods.

Identifying the various families associated with the individual houses should prove a valuable source of reference for both genealogists and local historians.

This volume is a compilation of the extracts pertaining to County Sligo from “A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland” by Samuel Lewis, which was published in 1837.  It contains detailed descriptions of the Towns, Villages, and Parishes of County Sligo in 1837 and is regarded as the most comprehensive description of the county in pre Famine times.

The book contains statistics from the 1831 census as well as detailed information on antiquities and history, agriculture and industry, public building, churches and schools in addition to the seats of the nobility.

In addition to the text, copies of a number of very rare prints and drawings have been included, along with a list of the names of the 126 County subscribers – one hundred and twenty six of whom relate to County Sligo – have been extracted and reprinted.

This volume offers a celebration of the Greatest Irish Americans of the 20th century, as chosen by the editors of Irish America Magazine. It profiles the personalities that have shaped and influenced American life and culture, and touched the lives of millions of Americans.

The book profiles many of the leading lights of the Irish American community of the 20th century, and also features essays from modern leading writers including Jimmy Breslin, Thomas Fleming, William Kennedy, Joseph McBride, Peter Quinn, Pete Hamill, and Frank McCourt.

Echoes of a Savage Land is a magical doorway into lost worlds, a journey through a way of rural Irish life unchanged for centuries, but now on the edge of extinction.