Galway


Galway is a city in County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the fifth most populous city on the island of Ireland and the fourth most populous in the Republic of Ireland, with a population at the 2022 census of 85,910.
Located near an earlier settlement, Galway grew around a fortification built by the King of Connacht, Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair in 1124. A municipal charter in 1484 allowed citizens of the by then walled city to form a council and mayoralty. Controlled largely by a group of merchant families, the Tribes of Galway, the city grew into a trading port. Following a period of decline, as of the 21st century, Galway is a tourist destination known for festivals and events including the Galway International Arts Festival.
In 2018, Galway was named the European Region of Gastronomy. The city was the European Capital of Culture for 2020, alongside Rijeka, Croatia.

Name

The city's name comes from the Irish name Gaillimh, a river which formed the western boundary of the earliest settlement, Dún Gaillimhe "Fort Gaillimh".. Historically, the name was anglicised as Galliv or Gallive, closer to the Irish pronunciation. The city's name in Latin is Galvia. Residents of the city are referred to as Galwegians.
The city also bears the nickname "City of the Tribes" because of the fourteen merchant families called the "tribes of Galway" who led the city in its Hiberno-Norman period.

History

Built on the site of an earlier settlement, Dún Gaillimhe was completed in 1124, by the King of Connacht and High King of Ireland Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair. The castle served as a naval base from which his fleet operated. A new settlement grew around it. During the Norman invasion of Connacht in the 1230s, Dún Gaillimhe was captured by Richard Mor de Burgh, who had led the invasion. As the de Burghs eventually became Gaelicised, the merchants of the town, the Tribes of Galway, pushed for greater control over the walled city.
This led to their gaining complete control over the city and to the granting of mayoral status by the English crown in December 1484. Galway endured difficult relations with its Irish neighbours. A notice over the west gate of the city, completed in 1562 by Mayor Thomas Óge Martyn, stated "From the Ferocious O'Flahertys may God protect us". A by-law forbade the native Irish unrestricted access into Galway, saying "neither O' nor Mac shall strutte nor swagger through the streets of Galway" without permission.
During the Middle Ages, Galway was ruled by an oligarchy of fourteen merchant families. These were the "Tribes of Galway". The city thrived on international trade, and in the Middle Ages, it was the principal Irish port for trade with Spain and France. The most famous reminder of those days is ceann an bhalla, now known as the Spanish Arch, constructed during the mayoralty of Wylliam Martin. In 1477 Christopher Columbus visited Galway, possibly stopping off on a voyage to Iceland or the Faroe Islands. Seven or eight years later, he noted in the margin of his copy of Imago Mundi:
Men of Cathay have come from the west. we have seen many signs. And especially in Galway in Ireland, a man and a woman, of extraordinary appearance, have come to land on two tree trunks

The most likely explanation for these bodies is that they were Inuit swept eastward by the North Atlantic Current.
During the 16th and 17th centuries, Galway remained loyal to the English crown for the most part, even during the Gaelic resurgence, perhaps for reasons of survival. However, by 1642 the city had allied itself with the Catholic Confederation of Kilkenny during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. During the resulting Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, Cromwellian forces captured the city after a nine-month siege. At the end of the 17th century, the city supported the Jacobites in the Williamite war in Ireland and was captured by the Williamites after a very short siege not long after the Battle of Aughrim in 1691. The great families of Galway were ruined. The city later suffered further under the Great Famine of 1845–1852.

Geography

Climate

Like most of Ireland, Galway has an oceanic climate according to the Köppen climate classification, being one of the world's mildest cities for its latitude, partly because it is on an island. Galway has a year-round mild, moist, temperate and changeable climate, due to the prevailing winds of the North Atlantic Current together with the Gulf Stream, whilst on the other side of the Atlantic temperatures can be 20 °C cooler or more. The city does not experience temperature extremes, with temperatures below and above being rare. The city receives an average of of precipitation annually, which is evenly distributed throughout the year. The average January temperature in the city is and the average July temperature is. The highest temperature ever recorded in Galway was in July 1921, whilst the lowest temperature recorded was in January 1945.
While extreme weather is rare, the city and county can experience severe windstorms that are the result of vigorous Atlantic depressions that occasionally pass along the north west coast of Ireland. Most of these storms occur between late autumn and early spring. Due to the city's northerly location, Galway has long summer days. Sunrise on summer solstice occurs at 05:07 WEST and sunset at 22:07. By contrast, on winter solstice, the sun rises at 08:49 WET, and sets at 16:19.

Places of interest

  • Lynch's Castle on Shop Street is a medieval townhouse built by the prosperous Lynch family in the 16th century and is now a branch of Allied Irish Banks.
  • St. Nicholas' Collegiate Church is the largest medieval church still in everyday use in Ireland. This Church of Ireland church was founded in 1320 and enlarged in the following two centuries.
  • Galway Cathedral, known as the Cathedral of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven and St Nicholas, was consecrated in 1965 and is constructed from limestone. It has an eclectic style, with a Renaissance Revival dome, pillars and round arches, and a Romanesque Revival portico that dominates the main façade – which is an unusual feature in a modern Irish church building.
  • The original quadrangle building of the University of Galway which was erected in 1849 as one of the three colleges of the Queen's University of Ireland. The university holds the UNESCO archive of spoken material for the Celtic languages.
  • The Hardiman, originally the Railway Hotel, was built by the Great Southern Railway Company in 1845. Also known over the years as the Great Southern Hotel and then Hotel Meyrick, it sits at the southern perimeter of Eyre Square and is the city's oldest hotel still in operation.
  • The remains of Menlo Castle can be seen outside the city, on the eastern bank of the River Corrib. It was one of the ancestral homes of the Blake family, one of the Tribes of Galway from –1910. The façade of the family's townhouse is still extant next to the Jury's Hotel at the bottom of Quay Street.
  • Eglinton Canal, named after Archibald Montgomerie, 13th Earl of Eglinton, a former Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, joins the River Corrib to the sea, and flows for just more than a kilometre from the university to the Claddagh.
  • The Claddagh is the oldest part of Galway but little or nothing remains of its old thatched village. However, on a side altar of the parish church, St Mary's on the Hill, is the late medieval statue of Our Lady of Galway. The ancient ritual of the Blessing of the Bay takes place on the Sunday nearest to the feast of the Assumption.
  • "The Browne doorway", originally located on Lower Abbeygate Street but now standing at the north end of Eyre Square, was the doorway to the townhouse of the Browne family, one of the fourteen Tribes of Galway.
  • "The Lynch Window", on Market Street, at which is a plaque commemorating one of the city's legends. According to legend, in 1493, the mayor of Galway, James Lynch FitzStephen, hanged his own son for the murder of a young Spanish visitor who had the misfortune to befriend the girlfriend of the mayor's son.
  • The Hall of the Red Earl can be viewed through a protective glass wall off Flood Street. It is the earliest medieval settlement fragment surviving within the walls of the city. It was built by the de Burgo family in the 13th century and was a key municipal building for the collection of taxes, dispensation of justice and hosting banquets. It was the medieval equivalent of tax office, court house and town hall.

    The Claddagh

On the west bank of the River Corrib as it enters the sea is the ancient neighbourhood of The Claddagh. For centuries it was an Irish-speaking enclave outside the city walls. Claddagh residents were mainly fisher folk and were governed by an elected 'King'. The King of the Claddagh settled or arbitrated disputes among the locals and had the privilege of a white sail on his fishing boat. While the last holder of the title died in 1972, it is still used in a purely honorary and ceremonial context. The area is also known for its association with the Claddagh Ring.

Museums

The Galway City Museum has two main sections: one about the heritage of Galway and one about Irish artists from the second half of the 20th century. This museum also houses the statue of the poet, Pádraic Ó Conaire which was originally located in the Kennedy Park section of Eyre Square, prior to the Square's renovation. A replica of the statue was erected in Eyre Square in 2017. The museum is near the Spanish Arch, the historical remnants of the 16th century wall.
The city's university, the University of Galway, has several museums, including the James Mitchell Geology Museum and the Computing and Communications Museum of Ireland.
The Nora Barnacle House Museum in Bowling Green is the smallest museum in Ireland. Nora was the lover, companion and, later, wife of writer James Joyce.