The village of Ballinafad, Co. Sligo, grew up around the late-medieval castle, which was built in 1590. The primary reason for locating the castle in the townland of Ballinafad was to protect the dangerous passage through the Curlew Mountains, known as Bealach Buí. Ballinafad lies at the northern end of the pass and was ideally placed to protect the routeway. The settlement cluster grew in the course of the seventeenth century and by the middle of that century we can identify a village moment, a time when the small cluster of houses could be described as a village.

The castle went out of use in the early-eighteenth century and the village lost its central focus, however, it survived and adapted. The settlement shifted to a new focus, which was the routeway that passed through the village. The village shifted to the townland of Gortalough, however it still retained the name of Ballinafad.

The first half of the nineteenth century was the golden age of horse drawn transport. The new mail-coach road passed through the village. Ballinafad was well located to service the stage coach, mail coach and Biancone coaches. The coach road from Dublin to Sligo was relatively level, except for a six-mile stretch for Boyle to Ballinafad, which was the most difficult and indeed dangerous stretch of the routeway. Therefore, Ballinafad was a busy place in the first half of the nineteenth century, with stables, coach house, carpenter's workshops, forge, carmen's huts and workmen's cabins.
Light refreshments and discussion after the event.

Address
Co. Sligo