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heritage · Sunday 23 August 2026 · 11:30am 
Hooves of Heritage at the Sai Donkey Sanctuary
At Sathya Sai Sanctuary for Nature · Clooghoge Lower, Co. Sligo
At Sathya Sai Sanctuary for Nature · Clooghoge Lower, Co. Sligo
The last Sunday of National Heritage Week 2026 brings something genuinely unusual to the Bricklieve Hills of County Sligo - a chance to spend an afternoon with some of Ireland’s most overlooked residents and learn what their working lives tell us about rural history here. The Sathya Sai Donkey Sanctuary has run a Heritage Week event in this same vein for several years, and it draws families, history enthusiasts, and anyone who grew up in the countryside with a memory of these animals. This year the theme is “Hooves of Heritage” - the role the donkey played in Irish farming and community life before tractors made them redundant. Entry is free.
The sanctuary itself was founded in 1991 by a private charitable trust, and its purpose has always been to give refuge to donkeys that are old, injured, abandoned or neglected - animals that worked hard and were then left behind. It sits on the slopes of the Bricklieve Mountains, right beside the Carrowkeel Megalithic Cemetery, a setting that underlines just how deep the history here runs.
During the Heritage Week event, visitors are taken through the story of the Irish donkey as a working animal - the turf bogs, the milk rounds, the small farm work that would have been impossible without them. You get to meet the resident donkeys, ponies and the occasional mule, and hear their individual stories. It is interactive in the way that a genuine working sanctuary always is - the animals are present, the people who care for them are knowledgeable, and the pace is unhurried. The event runs from 11:30am to 4:00pm, so there is plenty of time to walk the site, ask questions and let younger visitors make friends with the animals.
Wear comfortable footwear you do not mind getting mucky, and bring a waterproof layer - this is Sligo, and the hills create their own weather.
The sanctuary is at Clooghoge Lower, roughly 5km off the N4 (the main Sligo to Dublin road) at Castlebaldwin, about 30km south-east of Sligo town. From Sligo, take the N4 south through Collooney and Castlebaldwin; there are signs for Carrowkeel and the Bricklieve Mountains from there. By car is the practical option - public transport does not reach Castlebaldwin directly, though Bus Eireann’s Sligo to Dublin route runs along the N4 and Castlebaldwin has a stop from which it is a walkable distance in good conditions. There is parking on site.
The Carrowkeel Megalithic Cemetery is immediately adjacent to the sanctuary and well worth the short climb if the weather holds - the passage tombs there predate Newgrange and the views across the county are remarkable. There is more to see in Sligo and across Co. Sligo.
Heading to Sathya Sai Sanctuary for Nature in Sligo? Sligo has plenty more to see. Read the Sligo area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.