Sligo Abbey

PricingFree with English Heritage membershipEH memberFree entryNon-member€5

EH members go freeInfo

Free entry for English Heritage members

This place is cared for by the Office of Public Works, which runs Ireland's national heritage sites as Heritage Ireland. English Heritage members are entitled to free entry to all OPW sites from the first year of membership. Show your current membership card at admissions.

Bring the card itself: joint and family memberships admit the named holders only.
Guided sites may run tours at set times; unguided sites are free to everyone.
Prices here are in euro.

More information

Entry

Non-member prices

Adult€5.00

Child or student€3.00

Senior or group€4.00

Family€13.00

Pricing details

Standard price from OPW's English page (its Irish page still shows older prices), sold at the desk only; no online booking. OPW's general rule gives free admission to children under 12 and to visitors with disabilities and their carers. Free for English Heritage members showing a valid card, from the first year of membership (every OPW site; the named members on the card). Heritage Card holders free.

OPW's Child/Student rate; no age band given on the page, and OPW says children under 12 visit free. Free for English Heritage members showing a valid card, from the first year of membership (every OPW site; the named members on the card). Heritage Card holders free.

OPW's Group/Senior rate; no age given on the page. Free for English Heritage members showing a valid card, from the first year of membership (every OPW site; the named members on the card). Heritage Card holders free.

OPW's family ticket; the page does not define the family. Free for English Heritage members showing a valid card, from the first year of membership (every OPW site; the named members on the card). Heritage Card holders free.

ParkingParking not known

The Trust's page does not say how parking is charged.

Parking details

The abbey has no car park of its own; OPW's social guide sends drivers to the council's Abbey Street car park directly across the street, about 50 m from the entrance, which visitors describe as easy and inexpensive. Sligo County Council charges for parking Monday to Saturday 8.30am to 6.30pm and on public holidays from noon to 6pm, with free parking on Sundays, paid by meter or the Parking Tag app; its published zone rates are €0.90 to €1.20 an hour with a two-hour limit, but no rate is tied to the Abbey Street car park by name. OPW gives no bus or train directions.

Driving pin: the Abbey Street car park across the street, which OPW's own social guide names as where to park.

About

The Dominican priory known as Sligo Abbey has dominated the eastern district of Sligo since the town was founded in the mid-thirteenth century, and large parts of its church, sacristy and chapter house survive from that time alongside the beautiful fifteenth-century cloister. It endured an accidental fire in 1414, the dismantling of a great wooden cross for use as a battering ram during a siege of the town's castle, and violent destruction by the plantation landlord Sir Frederick Hamilton in 1642. In the eighteenth century the abandoned abbey became the town's main burial ground; in the summer of 1832 the graveyard was overwhelmed by victims of a cholera epidemic, and burials ended in Black 47, at the height of the Great Famine. The abbey retains a wealth of Gothic and Renaissance carving, the well-preserved cloister arcade and a sculptured fifteenth-century high altar, one of very few to survive in an Irish monastic church. Reviewers rate the cloister the highlight and allow about an hour.

Check today’s timesPick a day for times and prices

Sligo Abbey will close at the slightly earlier time of 2pm on November 8th 2026

Until 30 Dec: Daily 09:00–17:00, last admission 16:15
31 Dec–28 Feb: Closed
From 1 Mar: Daily 10:00–18:00, last admission 17:15

Sat 24 Oct: 10:00–18:00, last admission 17:15

Today, Saturday 24 October

Sligo Abbey10:00 – 18:00last admission 17:15

Prices, non-members

Adult€5.00
Child€3.00
Family€13.00

Opening times may change at short notice.

Open 14 March to 30 December 2026: daily 10am to 6pm with last admission 5.15pm from March to October, then daily 9am to 5pm with last admission 4.15pm from 25 October to 30 December; OPW notes an early close at 2pm on Sunday 8 November 2026 and prints no Christmas closure. Closed for the winter after 30 December, with the 2027 season unpublished. Self-guided with a map or with a guide; tickets at the information desk, no online booking. Free admission for everyone on the first Wednesday of each month in season.

The small visitor centre and its accessible toilet are at street level, but access to the ruins is limited: a path leads down steps into the church, the ground is strewn with stones, there are low doorways and some areas are dark and a little damp. Card payments accepted; no cafe or shop.

Photo: The central tower and the lancet-windowed south wall of Sligo Abbey's ruined church under a blue sky. Oliver Gargan, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sligo_-_Sligo_Priory_-_20200927212613.jpg. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.