Following King Philip II of Spain’s failed naval invasion of England, the Spanish Armada – a fleet of 130 ships – was forced to flee northwards, around the coasts of Scotland and Ireland, aiming to return to Spain. However, terrifying winter storms threw some of the ships off course, and 3 of them, La Lavia, Santa Maria de Visión and La Juliana were wrecked on Streedagh Beach in Sligo. More than 1,000 men died.
From the wreckage rose a small number of survivors, among them Captain Francisco de Cuéllar, a Spanish sailor, who managed to survive the attacks of the English forces. Aided and put upon in equal measure by the native Irish, he lived to tell the tale of his adventures in his memoir written in 1589.

Find the Grange and Armada Association in at the Old Court House in Grange Village, Sligo. Our visiting hours are 12:00-16:00 Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holiday Mondays.

The people of Streedagh, Grange and North Sligo have, over the years, marked the story of this maritime disaster on our shoreline in many ways. The 400th Anniversary in 1988 saw the launch of the booklet still in use today “The Spanish Armada 1588- The Journey of Francisco De Cuellar- Sligo to the Causeway Coast”

Grange and Armada Development Association organised a very successful series of events throughout that year including Music and Dance events, a pop up Museum, A Symposium, visits by Spanish Dignitaries and interests, Walks etc. Of particular importance was the development of The De Cuellar Trail through the North West to the Causeway Coast.

The re-constituted Grange and Armada Development Association along with the Celtic Fringe Festival have ambitious plans to develop a tourist offering based on the Armada and De Cuellar stories. We hope to enlist Spanish Associations and Interests in furthering these plans.