Kildaree () is a small townland located on the R327 regional road approximately 2.8 miles/4.4 km outside the small village of Williamstown in northeast

County Galway "Righteousness and Justice" , anthem = () , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg , map_caption = Location in Ireland , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. It is approximately in area.

Location

The townland is situated on the Galway/Roscommon border to the west and is 4.5 miles/7.3 km from the village of

Cloonfad Cloonfad () is a village in County Roscommon, Ireland, at the crossroads of the N83 National secondary road and the R327 regional road, about 10 km from the town of Ballyhaunis in County Mayo. A public walkway takes walkers to neighbou ...

County Roscommon "Steadfast Irish heart" , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Roscommon.svg , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Connacht , subdi ...

. To the north, Kildaree is bordered by a turlough known as Coolcam Lough (listed as a

special area of conservation A Special Area of Conservation (SAC) is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), also known as the ''Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora''. They are to protect the 220 habitats and ap ...

). This is a temporary lake that dries up during the warmer summer months, a typical feature of counties

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...

Mayo Mayo often refers to: * Mayonnaise, often shortened to "mayo" * Mayo Clinic, a medical center in Rochester, Minnesota, United States Mayo may also refer to: Places Antarctica * Mayo Peak, Marie Byrd Land Australia * Division of Mayo, an Aust ...

Roscommon Roscommon (; ) is the county town and the largest town in County Roscommon in Ireland. It is roughly in the centre of Ireland, near the meeting of the N60, N61 and N63 roads. The name Roscommon is derived from Coman mac Faelchon who built ...

and

Clare Clare may refer to: Places Antarctica * Clare Range, a mountain range in Victoria Land Australia * Clare, South Australia, a town in the Clare Valley * Clare Valley, South Australia Canada * Clare (electoral district), an electoral district * Cl ...

in the West of Ireland. The townland is also home to four

ringforts Ringforts, ring forts or ring fortresses are circular fortified settlements that were mostly built during the Bronze Age up to about the year 1000. They are found in Northern Europe, especially in Ireland. There are also many in South Wales ...

, Iron Age remnants of a by-gone era. Folklore and superstition have surrounded these ringforts for centuries and they are often referred to as

fairy fort Fairy forts (also known as ''lios'' or ''raths'' from the Irish, referring to an earthen mound) are the remains of stone circles, ringforts, hillforts, or other circular prehistoric dwellings in Ireland. From (possibly) the late Iron Age to ...

s by older generations.

Cemetery

The focal-point of the townland is the graveyard or cemetery from which the area gets its name. Originally, a church stood within the grounds of this graveyard but there is little evidence of its existence today. Some foundations remain but they are mostly hidden by growth and all that remains visible is a holy water font carved into a rock near what would once have been the entrance to the church. The water font is associated with a legend which suggests that two local kings once fought over ownership of the church lands. In the heat of the battle, they struck the water font several times with their swords, cutting a number of slices into the stone that are visible today. A more likely story is that this was a rejected piece of masonry from the construction of the church that was later recycled into a holy water font, and the markings are stonemason's toolmarks.

Gore-Booth family

In the time of Landlord ownership, Kildaree was once part of a larger swath of land owned by the Gore-Booth family who lived in

Lissadell House Lissadell House is a neo-classical Greek revivalist style country house in County Sligo, Ireland. The house was built between 1830 and 1835 for Sir Robert Gore-Booth, 4th Baronet (1784–1835) by London architect Francis Goodwin. Sir Robert ...

County Sligo County Sligo ( , gle, Contae Shligigh) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the Border Region and is part of the province of Connacht. Sligo is the administrative capital and largest town in the county. Sligo County Council is the local ...

. Constance Gore-Booth is today better known as

Constance Markievicz Constance Georgine Markievicz ( pl, Markiewicz ; ' Gore-Booth; 4 February 1868 – 15 July 1927), also known as Countess Markievicz and Madame Markievicz, was an Irish politician, revolutionary, nationalist, suffragist, socialist, and the fir ...

, a close friend of

W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...

and an iconic female figure involved in the early struggle and politics of the founding of the state, the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

. Today, the area has a small population of just 28 people and has only 10 houses within its boundaries.

References

External links

* http://www.williamstown.ie {{coord missing, County Galway Townlands of County Galway