Geevagh - Geography

Geography

Geevagh and most of its surrounding parish lie wedged between Carran Hill (458 m) to the north east and a series of drumlins to the south west, roughly 170 m in height. Two notable lakes lie encircled by these hills to the south west: Lough Bo (93 m) and Lough Nasool (109 m). Lough Nasool (Lake of the Eye) is unusual in that it has on several occasions drained away, and in the summer of 2006 it almost completely drained, diverted into underground channels.

Lying just beyond the southern borders of Geevagh lies a much larger lake: Lough Arrow. To the east lies the border with County Roscommon and to the north beyond Carran Hill lies County Leitrim. To the west lies the village of Riverstown and most of County Sligo. The underlying rock structure is a combination of limestone, shale and sandstone, many examples of which can be seen in the local stone walls. A blanket bog covers the top of Carran Hill and boggy land with poor quality soil is a feature of the local farms, the shallow soil being fertile enough to support only low density mixed farming of cattle and sheep. As a consequence of this, many local farmers supplement their meager income from farming with wages from jobs in the local big town of Sligo. One of the few local industries that supplied work to generations of men from the locality was the Arigna coal mines, located near the community of Glenkillamey to the north of Geevagh. This mine was in operation in one form or another since the 18th century and provided a low grade coal to a small power station operated by the ESB (Electricity Supply Board) since 1958. However the mine closed for the last time in 1990 hitting the local communities hard, particularly in the Arigna/Glenkillamey area. In keeping with its past involvement in power generation, 2005 saw the installation of six wind turbines at Carrownadargny. These electricity generating turbines - owned by Orliven Ltd - are each capable of producing 0.85MW of power, and are manufactured by the Spanish company Gamesa. The towers on which the turbines stand are 44 metres high, with a combined blade diameter of 52 metres. The turbines can produce enough energy to save 13770 tonnes of CO2, the equivalent of importing 33000 barrels of oil.