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Sligo Famine Family Memorial
Sligo Town, Co. Sligo
Family friendly
Dog friendly
Free car parking
Pay a visit to the Sligo Famine Family Memorial, Quay Street Car Park, Rathquarter, Sligo Town, and imagine the hardships that thousands of people had to endure during the potato famine in Ireland.

The Sligo Famine Family Memorial depicts a family trying to comfort each other in despair. It also features a plaque containing the words of a letter from a father to his son in America, who didn't know at the time that his son had already died. The sculpture was created by Niall Bruton to mark the 150th anniversary of the Irish Famine.

Sligo, like the rest of Ireland during the Irish Famine, was a victim of mass emigration. Between 1847 and 1851, about 30,000 people departed from Sligo Port to try and find better lives for themselves and their loved ones.

Contact details
Rathquarter, Sligo, Ireland
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Coastal escapesSeatrails

Seatrails, based in Sligo, offers guided heritage walking and hiking tours in the wild mountainous regions of counties Sligo and Leitrim. Also covered in the tours are the coastal areas of County Sligo, including the Wild Atlantic Way discovery points. The northwest of Ireland is tranquil, scenic, and inspiring, and you will want to return to explore more after your visit.

Free things to doYeats Building

The Yeats Building is in the heart of Sligo Town on the River Garavogue. It’s a well preserved arts and crafts building over 120 years old. Here, the Yeats Society celebrates the life and work of Nobel poet WB Yeats and his talented family, sisters Susan and Elizabeth and brother Jack. County Sligo was a source of inspiration and creativity for all of WB’s life. His mother, Susan was from Sligo and she gave all her children a love of this place, its history, legends, folklore and its glorious wild Atlantic scenery.

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