Collooney, Cúil Mhuine, Co. Sligo

Cúil Mhuine · Co. Sligo

Where a French army marched through, and an Irish lieutenant took the cannon.

Collooney sits ten kilometres south of Sligo on the old road, the new motorway and the Dublin-Sligo railway line. Most people drive past it on the M4 without registering anything more than a sign and a turn. The village earns a closer look. It was the site of one of the few clear-cut victories the United Irishmen ever had, in September 1798. A horseman called Bartholomew Teeling rode at a British cannon on Union Rock, shot the gunner, and took the gun. The road to Donegal opened. Three weeks later the same army was beaten at Ballinamuck and Teeling was hanged at Arbour Hill. The monument in the village core has been there since 1898 - Yeats spoke at the unveiling.

The other Collooney story is the Coopers. Same family in Markree Castle since 1663 - one of the longest unbroken country-house lineages in Ireland. The colonel of the family in the 1830s, Edward Joshua Cooper, was a member of parliament who turned a wing of the estate into the best private astronomical observatory in Europe. The 13.3-inch lens at Markree was the largest telescope in the world when it was installed in 1831. An assistant called Andrew Graham used a small comet-seeker on the same grounds and bagged an asteroid in 1848. The 60,000-star catalogue Markree produced through the 1850s was a serious piece of work.

The castle is a hotel now. The village is a commuter belt with a few good pubs, a railway station that still runs four trains a day to Dublin and three back to Sligo, and a 1798 monument that gets a wreath every September. There is a reason to come. There is not a reason to stay three nights.

Population

~840

Walk score

Village core in ten minutes

Founded

Markree estate since 1663

Coords

54.1786° N, 8.4861° W

01 / 06

At a glance.

Three things every local will eventually mention. Read these and you've already understood more than most day-trippers do.

01 The battle

Union Rock and a single horseman.

5 September 1798. The Franco-Irish column on the way to Donegal met the Sligo garrison at Collooney. Lieutenant Bartholomew Teeling broke ranks, rode at the cannon on Union Rock, shot the gunner, took the gun. The road home opened.

Stories & lore → 02 The castle

Markree, the Cooper seat since 1663.

Cooper family on the same land for nearly four centuries. The big house, sacked in 1798, was rebuilt and added to through the 19th century. Now a hotel and a working estate.

Stories & lore → 03 The observatory

World's largest telescope, for a while.

Colonel Edward Joshua Cooper installed a 13.3-inch Cauchoix refractor at Markree in 1831 - the largest in the world at the time. Andrew Graham discovered asteroid 9 Metis from here in 1848. The dome is gone; the field is still there.

Stories & lore →

02 / 06

Stories & lore.

The reason to come back. The things every local will eventually tell you about, usually after the second pint.

Battle of Carricknagat, 1798

Teeling's charge

General Humbert had landed at Killala in late August 1798 and beaten a much larger British force at Castlebar - the so-called Races of Castlebar. Marching north-east through Sligo on the way to Ulster, he met the Sligo garrison at Collooney on the 5th of September. The British had a cannon set on a rocky outcrop above the road - Union Rock. Bartholomew Teeling, a young United Irishman officer attached to Humbert as aide-de-camp, broke from the French line, galloped uphill alone with a pistol, shot the gunner, and took the position. The Franco-Irish force then routed the British and continued north. Teeling was 24. He was captured after the rising collapsed at Ballinamuck and hanged at Arbour Hill on the 24th of September.

Same family, same demesne, since 1663

The Coopers of Markree

Cornet Edward Cooper of Cromwell's army was allotted Markree under the Restoration Act of Settlement in 1663 and his descendants have been there ever since. The castle in its present form is largely the work of Francis Johnston in the 1800s, with later additions. Joshua Edward Cooper sat in parliament from 1801 and made himself unpopular by replacing Catholic tenants with Protestant ones - and the house was sacked during the 1798 rebellion as part of the consequence. The current building is a hotel, run by the family for some of its modern history and operated commercially since.

Found at Markree, 25 April 1848

Asteroid 9 Metis

Edward Joshua Cooper, the colonel of Markree, was a serious amateur astronomer and member of parliament. In 1831 he commissioned a 13.3-inch lens from the Paris optician Cauchoix - the largest object-glass in existence at the time. He housed it in a domed observatory in the estate grounds. By 1851 Markree was described as the most richly furnished private observatory in the world. His assistant Andrew Graham used a smaller comet-seeker telescope on the grounds and on the night of the 25th of April 1848 spotted what turned out to be asteroid 9 Metis. The catalogue of 60,000 stars compiled at Markree through the 1850s was used by working astronomers for decades after. The dome is gone now. The field is still there.

St Patrick, and a folly

The Pinnacle Well

There is a holy well associated with St Patrick on the edge of the village. The estate-era folly above it - the Pinnacle, a small stepped pyramid - was built by the Coopers in the 19th century and is visible from the N4. It is one of the smallest land-marks in Sligo and one of the easiest to spot.

03 / 06

Things to do outside.

Wear waterproofs. Bring a sandwich. Tell someone where you're going if it's the mountain.

The 1798 monument loop Down the main street, past the Teeling monument, up Union Rock and back. The plaque tells the story. The rock is the rock.

1 kmdistance

20 mintime

Markree Castle grounds Walking access varies - check at the hotel reception. The river walk along the Unshin is the prettiest stretch. The observatory site is on private ground.

2-3 kmdistance

40 mintime

Union Wood Coillte forest at the south of the village, mature oak and beech, a small lake. A real walk if the village feels short.

5 km loopdistance

1.5 hourstime

04 / 06

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

Estate woodlands at their best. Markree gardens open as the season turns. River high.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

Long evenings on the riverbank. Hotel busy with weddings on Saturdays - pick a weeknight if you want it quiet.

◉ Go

Autumn

Sep-Oct

The 5th of September is the battle anniversary. Wreaths, a small parade, sometimes a re-enactment. Worth being here.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

Quiet, often wet. The hotel runs through the cold months and the bar is a destination. Outside that, not much going on.

◐ Mind yourself

05 / 06

What to skip.

Honestly? Don't bother.

If a local was sitting beside you, this is the bit where they'd lean in.

Driving the bypass without taking the exit

The M4 cuts past at speed. Take the Collooney exit, give it half an hour. The monument and the village core are five minutes off the road.

Looking for the observatory dome

The dome is gone. The grounds are private. The story is what you came for; read the plaque and look up at the empty field.

Expecting Markree Castle on the high street

The castle is a kilometre out of the village on its own demesne. Drive or walk the avenue - it is not the building you see from the main road.

Getting there.

By car

Sligo to Collooney is 10 minutes on the N4 or M4 - exit at Junction 1 / Collooney. From Boyle, 30 minutes. From Galway, 1h 45m.

By bus

Bus Éireann Expressway 23 (Dublin-Sligo) stops at Collooney several times a day. The Local Link services to Tubbercurry and Ballina also pass through.

By train

Collooney station is on the Dublin Connolly-Sligo line. Four trains a day each way. Sligo MacDiarmada is 12 minutes north.

By air

Ireland West Airport Knock (NOC) is 45 minutes. Dublin is 2h 45m.