Bothar an Corann or Bothar na Slieve — Ardsallagh,corhober,keenaghan,mullaghcor

Bóthar an Corann or Bothar na Slieve connected the town of Ballymote, Co. Sligo with Boyle, Co. Roscommon by a route around the SW side of Kesh Corran and to the W of the Bricklieve Mountains, a distance of c. 20km. According to Timoney and Timoney (2001, 21), Richard de Burgh, the Red Earl of Ulster, is credited with building this road to get from his castle at Ballymote (SL033-092----) into Roscommon. This entry deals only with that part of the road in Co. Sligo, i.e. from close to Ballymote as far as the Roscommon border. The road traverses a number of townlands over a number of the 1914 edition of the OS 6-inch sheets: OS 33: Ardsallagh/ Corhober/Mullaghcor; OS 39: Ardsallagh/Knocknacroy/Cross/Cloonagh/ Knocknawhishoge; OS 40:Carrowreagh/Dernaskeagh; OS 45: Meenmore/ Derrygolagh/Dernaskeagh. A possible link road between Bothar an Corann and Bothar an Iarla Ruaid (SL033-147---) goes from Greenan townland, around the S side of the Bricklieve Mountains, to Ballinafad. Sections of Bóthar an Corann are recorded as five separate records (SL033-145---; SL039-031----; SL040-143----; SL040-153----; SL045-002----) commencing at Ballymote and following the route SE to the county boundary with Roscommon. Only sections of the road are indicated on these maps though it was, of course, continuous. This section (SL033-145----) is located in undulating terrain of damp, rushy pasture and bog. Indicated on the 1914 OS 6-inch map as a stretch of road (L c. 2.7km NNW-SSE). The road is poorly preserved with some sections damaged or destroyed by land clearance and forestry. Other sections of it are still in use with various surfacing materials noted. The road from Keenaghan to Corhober is a public road (Wth 14-16m), surfaced with tarmac. The road undulates along this section and is defined on either side by earth and stone banks. The Red Earl's Road (SL033-147----) is, at its nearest point, c. 0.8km to the NE. The site of the medieval church (SL033-144001-) at Emlaghfad is c. 0.5km to the S. Beyond the junction accessing the R295 road (Ballymote-Boyle) in Corhober, the road is used as a private avenue to a house to the SE. The surface of the avenue is gravelled. From this house, the road skirts the NE side of a drumlin in Mullaghcor. Along this section the road (Wth 12m) is densely overgrown and is only in occasional use for herding cattle. The surface is rocky and in poor condition with the edges of the road defined by earth and stone banks. Beyond this the road is gravelled until it meets the main road (R295). The road crosses the R295 into the townland of Ardsallagh from where it extends in an ESE direction across undulating pasture, skirting the SW side of a low hill. This stretch of road (Wth 6.6m) (SL033-189----) is grass covered and scarped out of the hillslope and slightly raised on the downslope side (pers. comm. M. A. Timoney). It is not defined on either side here and appears sporadically as areas of harder ground and lighter patches of grass within pasture fields. The width of this section varies from 8m to 12m depending on ground conditions. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Sligo' compiled by Ursula Egan, Elizabeth Byrne, Mary Sleeman with Sheila Ronan and Connie Murphy (Dublin Stationery Office, 2005). Date of revision: 1 June 2011