County Mayo

County Mayo is a county in Ireland. In the West of Ireland, it is part of the province of Connacht and is named after the village of Mayo, now generally known as Mayo Abbey. Mayo County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county was 130,638 at the 2011 census. The boundaries of the county, which was formed in 1585, reflect the Mac William Íochtar lordship at that time.GeographyIt is bounded on the north and west by the Atlantic Ocean; to the south by County Galway; the east by County Roscommon; and the northeast by County Sligo. Mayo is the third-largest of Ireland's 32 counties in area and 15th largest in terms of population. It is the second-largest of Connacht’s five counties in both size and population. There is a distinct geological difference between the west and the east of the county. The west consists largely of poor subsoils and is covered with large areas of extensive Atlantic blanket bog, whereas the east is largely a limestone landscape. Agricultural land is therefore more productive in the east than in the west.