Riverstown's heritage includes James Morrison's musical legacy and the history of a dairy-farming community. Sligo Folk Park grew from a local effort to preserve the buildings, objects and skills of rural life.
Illustration, Church of the Sacred Heart, Riverstown
⊕Recorded locationRiverstown54.13171° N · 8.39540° WInteractive map supplied by OpenStreetMap.
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
Baile idir Dhá Abhainn· Irish · main form · validated name
Riverstown· English · main form
Place & story
A village builds a museum
Riverstown residents formed a development company in 1990 to support employment and community life. They purchased Millview House and its grounds, using the farmhouse as a base for local projects and historical research. The resulting Sligo Folk Park opened to visitors in 2001. Its collections developed through objects donated by the community, while documents and photographs gathered during the research preserved another record of the district. The museum grew from this local initiative rather than from a privately assembled collection brought into the village.[2]
People & connections
James Morrison of nearby Drumfin
Fiddler James Morrison was born near Riverstown in 1893. He learned from his family and local musicians, and worked for the Gaelic League teaching dance and Irish. After winning the senior fiddle competition at the Sligo Feis Ceoil in 1915, he emigrated to America that year. His first commercial recording appeared in 1921. In New York he became an influential performer and teacher, working with fiddle, flute, banjo and accordion students. The Riverstown area remembers a musician whose recordings carried a local tradition to a much wider audience.[3]
The tower at Kilmacallan Church
Kilmacallan Church at Cooperhill dates from about 1817. Its battlemented tower, corner pinnacles and carefully worked limestone details give the small Church of Ireland building an elaborate frontage. Four-centred arches frame the windows and belfry openings, while lower wings flank the tower. The east window contains stained glass by R. E. Child dating from about 1995. With its neighbouring rectory and parochial hall, the church forms a distinctive group at the edge of Riverstown.[4]
Creamery work and a travelling cottage
Riverstown's first creamery opened in 1897. The Folk Park's Dairy House recalls that industry through churns, crocks and other equipment associated with milk and butter production. Another exhibit has a much newer origin: Mrs Buckley's thatched cottage was built in 1994 as a reproduction of a nineteenth-century dwelling. It first appeared at the Beat on the Peat festival in Yonkers, New York, before travelling to events in Ireland. Its history belongs to the modern presentation of heritage as well as to the older building tradition it represents.[5]
Both counts use the 2016 settlement boundary, allowing like-for-like comparison. CSO supplies the 2022 count on this older boundary for comparison only. The official 2022 Built Up Area has different boundaries.
View population figures
Riverstown — Census 2016 settlement footprint — census population
These are the historical areas published in the 2006 census report. Boundaries may differ between censuses and from modern settlements. Legal towns, environs and suburbs are shown separately; none has been combined into a modern settlement total.
View population figures
Riverstown, Sligo — Census town, CSO 2006 report — census population
These are the historical areas published in the 1996 census report. Boundaries may differ between censuses and from modern settlements. Legal towns, environs and suburbs are shown separately; none has been combined into a modern settlement total.
View population figures
Riverstown, Sligo — Census town, CSO 1996 report — census population
Figures cover the historical town area printed in the 1986 report. Boundaries may have changed between censuses. Legal town, environs and suburb totals remain separate and differ from modern settlement boundaries.
View population figures
Riverstown, Sligo — Census town, CSO 1986 report — census population
These figures use different area definitions. Read the boundary note before comparing them.
Riverstown, Sligo
Published census settlement populations
334people · 2016
Settlement boundaries changed during this period. Differences may reflect boundary changes as well as population change. Where a 2011 legal-town-and-environs count is shown, it has not been recalculated onto the 2016 settlement boundary.
Church of the Sacred Heart, Riverstown illustration: based on a Riverstown church by Zxcode. AI-assisted watercolour and ink adaptation; cream paper margins added, incidental clutter omitted and fine details simplified. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.
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