Kinvara or Kinvarra () is a sea port village in the southwest of

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. It is located in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

of Kinvarradoorus in the north of the

barony Barony may refer to: * Barony, the peerage, office of, or territory held by a baron * Barony, the title and land held in fealty by a feudal baron * Barony (county division), a type of administrative or geographical division in parts of the British ...

of Kiltartan. Kinvarra is also an

electoral division An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

Geography

The village lies at the head of Kinvara Bay, known in Irish as ''Cinn Mhara'' (or more recently ''Cuan Cinn Mhara''), an inlet in the south-eastern corner of

Galway Bay Galway Bay (Irish: ''Loch Lurgain'' or ''Cuan na Gaillimhe'') is a bay on the west coast of Ireland, between County Galway in the province of Connacht to the north and the Burren in County Clare in the province of Munster to the south; Galwa ...

, from which the village took its name. It lies in the north of the barony of

Kiltartan Kiltartan is a barony and civil parish in County Galway, Ireland. The southern portion of this barony was formerly known as Cenél Áeda na hEchtge or O'Shaughnessy's Country, the northern portion was called Coill Ua bhFiachrach (the territory o ...

, close to the border with

The Burren The Burren (; ) is a karst/glaciokarst landscape centred in County Clare, on the west coast of Ireland.
Burren ...

County Clare County Clare ( ga, Contae an Chláir) is a county in Ireland, in the Southern Region and the province of Munster, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council is the local authority. The county had a population of 118,817 ...

, in the province of

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...

. The

townland A townland ( ga, baile fearainn; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a small geographical division of land, historically and currently used in Ireland and in the Western Isles in Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of Gaelic origi ...

of Kinvarra lies in the

of Kinvarradoorus. This civil parish is bounded on the north by

, on the east by the parishes of

Ballinderreen Ballinderreen () is a village located on the N67 route between Kilcolgan and Kinvara in south County Galway, in Ireland. Location and name Ballinderreen village is approximately 22 km south of Galway City and is a part of the townlan ...

(Killeenavarra) and

Ardrahan Ardrahan () is a village in County Galway, Ireland. History Richard de Burgo conquered Galway in 1236, and granted the land to Maurice Fitzgerald who built the castle whose ruins still stand today. The churchyard wall contains the remains ...

, on the south by the parishes of

Gort Gort ( or ) is a town of around 3,000 inhabitants in County Galway in the west of Ireland. Located near the border with County Clare, the town lies between the Burren and the Slieve Aughty and is served by the R458 and R460 regional roads, wh ...

(

Kilmacduagh Kilmacduagh () is a small village in south County Galway, near Gort, in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is the site of Kilmacduagh monastery, seat of the Diocese of that name. The diocese is now part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Galway, Ki ...

) and

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

(

Kilkeedy Kilkeedy is a parish in County Clare and part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Killaloe. The parish is the only parish in said diocese whose boundaries are still identical compared with the medieval situation. Current (2021) co-parish priests a ...

) and on the west by the parishes of

Carron Carron may refer to: Rivers * River Carron, Forth, a river in Central Scotland * River Carron, Wester Ross * River Carron, Sutherland * Carron River (Queensland), a river in Australia * Carron Water, Aberdeenshire, a river that flows into the Nort ...

and

New Quay New Quay ( cy, Cei Newydd) is a seaside town (and electoral ward) in Ceredigion, Wales, with a resident population of around 1,200 people, reducing to 1,082 at the 2011 census. Located south-west of Aberystwyth on Cardigan Bay with a harbour a ...

(

Abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The conce ...

and

Oughtmama Oughtmama ( ga, Ucht Máma) is a civil parish in County Clare. It lies in the Burren, a region in the northwest of the county. It contains many antiquities, including three early-medieval Christian churches, ruined castles, prehistoric cairns ...

). It is roughly coextensive with the Ó hEidhin territory of

Coill Ua bhFiachrach Killovyeragh or Coill Ua bh-Fiachrach (meaning- wood of the Uí Fiachrach) was a sub division of the Uí Fiachrach Aidhne roughly coextensive with, but larger than, the parish of Kinvara in the south of County Galway, in the west of Ireland. The ...

(wood of the Uí Fhiachrach), and this name was still in use in the mid-19th century as recorded by John O'Donovan in his Ordnance Survey letters.

History

Early history

Evidence of ancient settlement in the area include a number of

promontory fort A promontory fort is a defensive structure located above a steep cliff, often only connected to the mainland by a small neck of land, thus using the topography to reduce the ramparts needed. Although their dating is problematic, most seem to da ...

and

ring fort 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 ...

sites in the surrounding

s of Dungory West, Ballybranagan and Loughcurra North. There are similar sites, as well as the ruins of

lime kiln A lime kiln is a kiln used for the calcination of limestone (calcium carbonate) to produce the form of lime (material), lime called quicklime (calcium oxide). The chemical equation for this chemical reaction, reaction is :Calcium carbonate, Ca ...

and 18th century

windmill A windmill is a structure that converts wind power into rotational energy using vanes called windmill sail, sails or blades, specifically to mill (grinding), mill grain (gristmills), but the term is also extended to windpumps, wind turbines, and ...

, within Kinvarra townland itself.

Dunguaire Castle

Dunguaire Castle ( 'lit'', the Castle of Guaire, a 16th-century towerhouse of the ' (O'Hynes) clan, is located to the east of the village. A Fearadhach Ó hEidhin (Faragh O'Hynes) is recorded as the owner of the castle in a 1574 list of castles and their owners covering

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 = ...

. This list was thought to have been compiled for the use of the

Lord Deputy The Lord Deputy was the representative of the monarch and head of the Irish executive under English rule, during the Lordship of Ireland and then the Kingdom of Ireland. He deputised prior to 1523 for the Viceroy of Ireland. The plural form is '' ...

Sir Henry Sidney Sir Henry Sidney (20 July 1529 – 5 May 1586), Lord Deputy of Ireland, was the eldest son of Sir William Sidney of Penshurst, a prominent politician and courtier during the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI, from both of whom he received ...

who planned the composition of Connacht. Viewofkinvara

Terry Alts

The Terry Alt agrarian resistance movement of the early 19th century was active in the Kinvara area. In 1831, a large force of Terry Alts gathered on the Galway/Clare border on Abbey Hill between Kinvara and New Quay in County Clare, and challenged the (British) army to battle. They, however, dispersed before the arrival of the soldiers. They also unsuccessfully attempted to ambush a body of infantry at Corranroo in the west of the parish, which led to the death of one of their members.

Population

The Great Famine in the 1840s, and a series of emigrations that continued until the 1960s, reduced the population of the village – once a thriving port and exporter of corn and seaweed – to no more than a few hundred people. In the 25 years between the 1991 and 2016 census, the population of Kinvara increased by 170%, from 425 to 734 people.

Religion

In the Catholic Church, the

ecclesiastical parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish priest ...

of Kinvara is part of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora The Roman Catholic Diocese of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora ( ga, Deoise na Gaillimhe, Chill Mhic Duaich agus Chill Fhionnúrach) is a Roman Catholic diocese in the west of Ireland. It is in the ecclesiastical province of Tuam and is subject ...

. Churches within Kinvara parish include Saint Colman's Church (built 1819) and Saint Joseph's Church (built 1877). Saint Joseph's Presbytery, formerly a convent, dates to . Kinvara lies within the

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second ...

united

Diocese of Limerick and Killaloe The Diocese of Limerick and Killaloe (''Full title'': The United Dioceses of Limerick, Ardfert, Aghadoe, Killaloe, Kilfenora, Clonfert, Kilmacduagh and Emly) was a former diocese of the Church of Ireland that was located in mid-western Irela ...

Festivals

Kinvara is home every year to two festivals, ' ("the cuckoo festival") an Irish music festival at the start of May and the ''Cruinniú na mBád'' ("gathering of the boats") in mid August.

Sports

Kinvara is home to

Kinvara GAA Kinvara GAA is a Gaelic Athletic Association club located in the town of Kinvara in County Galway, Ireland. The club is almost exclusively concerned with hurling but also plays Gaelic Football at Junior level. History The club was formed as K ...

, a

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional ...

club. The club is almost exclusively concerned with

hurling Hurling ( ga, iománaíocht, ') is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic Irish origin, played by men. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goals, the number of p ...

but also plays

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

at Junior level.

Notable people

* Ailbhe of Ceann Mhara, 9th century cleric * Coman of Kinvara, early medieval saint * Francis Fahy, composer and poet, wrote the song "

" *

Celia Lynch Celia Lynch (; 6 May 1908 – 16 June 1989) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician, assistant Government Whip, and Teachta Dála (TD) for 23 years. She also served as a Dublin City Councillor for many years. Her birthplace was Duras House, Kinvar ...

, politician * P. J. Mara, public affairs consultant and senator, was buried in Kinvara * Peter Martyn, judge * Eoghan Ó hEidhin, died 1340, King of Uí Fiachrach Aidhne *

John Prine John Edward Prine (; October 10, 1946 – April 7, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter of country-folk music. He was active as a composer, recording artist, live performer, and occasional actor from the early 1970s until his death. He ...

, American country country folk singer-songwriter, had a home in Kinvara. *

Mathilda Twomey Mathilda Twomey (née Butler-Payette) is a Seychellois lawyer and academic. She is the first female judge in the history of Seychelles and also the first woman to be appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Seychelles. Early life and ...

, Chief Justice of the Seychelles, first female holder of that office *

Conor Whelan Conor Whelan (born 31 October 1996) is an Irish hurler who plays as a right corner forward for club side Kinvara and at inter-county level for the Galway senior hurling team. Playing career University of Galway As a student at the University ...

, hurler *

Máire Whelan Máire Rita Whelan (born 24 November 1956) is an Irish judge who has served on the Court of Appeal since June 2017. She previously served as Attorney General of Ireland from 2011 to 2017. She was the first woman to hold the office of Attorney Ge ...

, judge and 30th

Attorney General of Ireland The Attorney General of Ireland ( ga, An tArd-Aighne) is a constitutional officer who is the legal adviser to the Government and is therefore the chief law officer of the State. The attorney general is not a member of the Government but does pa ...

from 2011 to 2017; first woman to hold this position.

References

{{Roman Catholic Diocese of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora Towns and villages in County Galway