Irish Counties - Galway

County Galway (Contae na Gaillimhe in Irish) is the largest county in the province of Connacht in Ireland. The city of Galway is located on the west coast of Ireland on the north-eastern corner of Galway Bay in County Galway.

Galway is known as The City of Tribes, because fourteen so-called tribes led the city to prominence early in its history. They were the merchant families of Athy, Blake, Bodkin, Browne, Darcy, Dean, Font, French, Joyce, Kirwin, Lynch, Martyn, Morris and Skerrett. The most credible derivation of the name of the City is from the Irish Gaillibh the foreigner's town (from Gall, a foreigner)

Galway was an Anglo Norman city that grew increasingly to prominence in the late middle ages. A walled city, it remained loyal to the crown during the Gaelic resurgence. Galway endured difficult relations with its Irish-speaking neighbours. A notice over the west gate of the city read, "From the Ferocious O'Flahertys may God protect us". An expedition to County Mayo to dislodge the "pirate queen", Grace O'Malley, ended in failure. A bye-law ordered Irish (as opposed to Galway's Anglo-Irish citizens) not to "strut or swagger through the streets of Galway".

Galway was on the losing side in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms (it supported the king) and was besieged during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. It picked the losing side again in the War of the Two Kings (it supported King James II of England against William of Orange). The great families of Galway were ruined, the city declined, and it did not fully recover until the great economic boom of the late twentieth century.

Geography Publications has published a new book by John Cunningham, dealing with Galway's 19th century history. It is entitled "A Town Tormented By The Sea: Galway 1790-1914" and was launched in Kennys.

Click here to view all our books on County Galway
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• Galway People
• Galway History
• Galway Travel

Writers associated with Co. Galway include:

• Arden, John
• Barnacle, Nora
• Bruen, Ken
• Dillon, Eilís novelist
• Gregory, Lady Augusta playwright & folklorist
• Harris, Frank
• Higgins, Rita Ann poet & playwright
• Hogan, Desmond short story-writer and novelist
• Johnston, Fred poet
• Macken, Walter dramatist, novelist & short story writer
• Martin, Edward
• Molloy, MJ playwright
• Murphy, Tom playwright & novelist
• O'Conaire, Padraic
• Ó Díreáin, Máirtín file
• O'Flaherty, Liam short story writer & novelist
• O'hEithir, Brendan
• O'Malley, Mary poet
• O'Neachtain, Joe Steve
• Yeats, William Butler poet, playwright, essayist & autobiographer

Towns and Villages:
Ardrahan, Athenry, Ballinasloe, Barna, Clarinbridge, Clifden, Craughwell, Dunmere, Galway, Gort, Headford, Kinvara, Leenane, Loughrea, Milltown, Moycullen, Oranmore, Oughterard, Roundstone, Spiddal, Tuam