1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Ballymote

BALLYMOTE, a market town of Co. Sligo, Ireland, in the south parliamentary division, 14 m. S. of Sligo by the Midland Great Western railway. Pop. (1901) 997. It is a centre for some agricultural trade and has carriage-building works. There are remains of a strong castle, built by the powerful earl of Ulster, Richard de Burgh, in 1300, and the scene of hostilities in 1641 and 1652. Ruins are also seen of a Franciscan foundation attributed to the 13th century; it was a celebrated seat of learning and an extant memorial of the work of its monks is the Book of Ballymote (c. 1391) in the possession of the Royal Irish Academy, a miscellaneous collection in prose and verse of historical, genealogical and romantic writings. There are also, near the town, ruins of a house of the Knights of St John (1303).