Ballynacarrow is a small village in south Sligo, in the civil parish of Kilvarnet, on the back roads between Collooney and Ballymote. The townland splits — Ballynacarrow North and Ballynacarrow South — and the parish itself merges with neighbouring Collooney in modern administration. The Catholic parish is known as Collooney-Ballinacarrow (Kilvarnet).
What's here is the parish church, a pub or two, a few houses around a junction. The road leads on to bigger places — Collooney and the N4 north, Ballymote and the rail line south. There is no signposted attraction in the village. Treat it as part of a south Sligo back-roads loop rather than a destination in its own right.
Three things every local will eventually mention. Read these and you've already understood more than most day-trippers do.
Ballynacarrow sits in the civil parish of Kilvarnet, which shares territory with the parish of Collooney-Ballinacarrow. The townland splits as Ballynacarrow North and South.
Stories & lore → 02 The roadOff the N4, on the back lane south through Kilvarnet to Ballymote. A few houses, the parish church, a pub.
Next stops → 03 The honest takeThere is no visitor attraction in the village. Treat it as a road sign on a south Sligo back-roads circuit.
Skip →The reason to come back. The things every local will eventually tell you about, usually after the second pint.
There is no bad time. There are different times.
Quiet roads, lambs in the fields. Useful for a back-roads drive south to Ballymote.
South Sligo at its busiest is still quiet. Long evenings on the lanes.
Light at its best on the hills. Roads still empty.
Wet, dark. Drive carefully on the unlit back roads.
If a local was sitting beside you, this is the bit where they'd lean in.
It is a parish village on a back road. The reasons to be here are pass-through reasons — keep going to Ballymote or Collooney.
Sligo back lanes carry farm traffic and have soft verges. Slow right down in poor visibility.
Sligo to Ballynacarrow is 20 minutes via the N4 and back roads. Ballymote is 10 minutes south. Collooney is 8 minutes north.
No direct service.
No station. Ballymote (10 min south) and Collooney (8 min north) are both on the Dublin–Sligo line.
Ireland West Airport Knock (NOC) is 45 min.