Loughrea ( ; ) is a town in
County Galway,
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 ...
. The town lies to the north of a range of wooded hills, the
Slieve Aughty Mountains, and the lake from which it takes its name. The town's cathedral,
St Brendan's, dominates the town's skyline. The town has increased in population in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Although the town also serves as a
commuter town
A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many ...
for the city of
Galway
Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a city in the West of Ireland, in the province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay, and is the sixth most populous city on ...
, it also remains an independent market town. Loughrea is the
fourth most populous settlement in County Galway, with a population of 5,556 as of 2016.
Name
The town takes its name from ''Loch Riach'' (
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
Riach being a variant of 'Riabhach' meaning grey/ speckled) The town is situated on the northern shore of the lake. The lake's Irish name is used in the name of the local Irish-language multi-faith primary school: Gaelscoil Riabhach. The town is located within an area that was historically called
Trícha Máenmaige.
History
Pre-Norman
The town is located within an area that was historically called
Trícha Máenmaige. This area was under the control of
Ui Fhiachrach Fionn, and later by the
Uí Maine. The area contains many examples of Gaelic and Early-Christian settlements. There is evidence of crannog settlements on the Lake of Loughrea with up to 14 individual Crannogs identified dating back to the 6th - 7th century AD.
Norman Settlement
The modern town was founded in 1236 by Richard de Burgo, an Anglo-Norman knight who built a castle along an ancient route between the River Shannon and the west coast. Today the remains of the medieval town wall,
medieval priory
A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or nuns (such as the Dominicans, Augustinians, Franciscans, and Carmelites), or monasteries of monk ...
, moat and a town gate are all still to be seen. The De Burgo family adopted Irish names and customs and assumed the role of chieftains in the following centuries until 1543 when Ulick "Bourck, alias Mac William," surrendered his lands to Henry VIII, receiving it back to hold, by English custom, with his new title, the
Earl of Clanricarde
Earl of Clanricarde (; ) is a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of Ireland, first in 1543 and again in 1800. The former creation became extinct in 1916 while the 1800 creation is extant and held by the Marquess of Sligo since 191 ...
.
Pre-Famine
By the 1700s Loughrea was a regional market and garrison town. During the
Williamite War in Ireland an attempt by Williamite forces to take Galway was defeated in a short skirmish at Loughrea.
Post-Famine
Loughrea was at the centre of the Gaelic Revival towards the end of the nineteenth century. The various elements of this revival in the town included Celtic-Revival Art, the Irish Literary Revival, Gaelic Athletics and the Irish language revival.
Independence
Like many towns with garrisons, there was little support for the 1916 rebellion in Dublin, though some locals supported the rising in Galway. There was a Battalion of
Irish Volunteers
The Irish Volunteers ( ga, Óglaigh na hÉireann), sometimes called the Irish Volunteer Force or Irish Volunteer Army, was a military organisation established in 1913 by Irish nationalists and republicans. It was ostensibly formed in respon ...
in Loughrea. They were not involved in any major battles and instead and they mainly protected the local
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur G ...
Club members.
Twentieth-Century
The period from 1920 until 1960 saw Loughrea maintaining its role as a market town. The town is also the cathedral town of the Roman Catholic diocese of Clonfert and the twentieth century saw a number of large scale religious events. The 1960s brought industrial developments such as the development of the Tynagh Mines.
Economy
Loughrea was traditionally a farming town that cut its industrial teeth with the
Tynagh
Tynagh () is a village and Electoral division (Ireland), electoral division in south-east County Galway in Republic of Ireland, Ireland.
Origin of the name
Recorded as ''Tyneaach'' (1565), ''Teacneaghe'' (1543), ''Theaneac'' (1541), its current ...
mines, to the east. There is now a gas powered electricity power station on the site of the mines.
As well as being a dormitory town for Galway, Loughrea now hosts a number of pharmaceutical and data-processing industries. Loughrea's tourist infrastructure is supported by several hotels, a country resort, as well as many bed-and-breakfasts, restaurants, coffee-shops and pubs.
Demographics
Birthplace and Nationality
4,270 of the population were born in Ireland, with 386 being born in the United Kingdom, 245 in Poland and Lithuania, 190 in the rest of the EU and 414 in the Rest of the World.
4,585 of the population are Irish nationals, with 143 being British, 257 Polish or Lithuanian, 198 other EU 28, 217 Rest of the World and 105 not stated.
Ethnicity
White Irish are the largest ethnic group in Loughrea, with 4,011 of the population identifying as such, followed by Other White (703), White Irish Traveller (223), Asian or Asian Irish (189) and Black or Black Irish (77), with the rest identifying as other or not stating their ethnicity.
Religion
Roman Catholicism is the most predominant religion in the town, with 4,331 residents identifying as Roman Catholic, followed by no religion (534) and Other Stated Religion (533)
Places of interest
The Cathedral of
St. Brendan on the lakeshore, in the town centre, is considered an important repository of
Celtic-revival art and architecture in Ireland.
St. Brendan's Catholic Cathedral was designed by William Byrne in 1897 and completed five years later. Its double transepts are an unusual architectural feature. Spring-fed Loughrea Lake (
Lough Rea
Lough Rea (), also Loughrea Lake, is a lake in Ireland, located south of Loughrea, County Galway.
Wildlife
Lough Rea is stocked with three-spined stickleback, ninespine stickleback, European eel, eel, perch, brown trout, common rudd, rudd and N ...
) is overlooked by Knockash and fished for
brown trout,
pike
Pike, Pikes or The Pike may refer to:
Fish
* Blue pike or blue walleye, an extinct color morph of the yellow walleye ''Sander vitreus''
* Ctenoluciidae, the "pike characins", some species of which are commonly known as pikes
* ''Esox'', genus of ...
and
perch
Perch is a common name for fish of the genus ''Perca'', freshwater gamefish belonging to the family Percidae. The perch, of which three species occur in different geographical areas, lend their name to a large order of vertebrates: the Per ...
.
There are also
rudd
''Scardinius'' is a genus of ray-finned fish in the family Cyprinidae commonly called rudds. Locally, the name "rudd" without any further qualifiers is also used for individual species, particularly the common rudd (''S. erythrophthalmus''). Th ...
,
brook lamprey
The brook lamprey (''Lampetra planeri'', also known as the European brook lamprey and the western brook lamprey) is a small European lamprey species that exclusively inhabits freshwater environments. The species is related to, but distinct from, ...
,
three-spined stickleback
The three-spined stickleback (''Gasterosteus aculeatus'') is a fish native to most inland and coastal waters north of 30°N. It has long been a subject of scientific study for many reasons. It shows great morphological variation throughout its ra ...
,
nine-spined stickleback and
eels
Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 19 families, 111 genera, and about 800 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...
in the lake. The lake is home to many
waterbirds
A water bird, alternatively waterbird or aquatic bird, is a bird that lives on or around water. In some definitions, the term ''water bird'' is especially applied to birds in freshwater ecosystems, although others make no distinction from seabi ...
. Migratory species from Europe live at the lake during the winters, and it provides nesting grounds for other species during the summer. The lake is listed as a site of international importance for the
shoveler
The shovelers or shovellers are four species of dabbling ducks with long, broad spatula-shaped beaks:
* Red shoveler, ''Anas platalea''
* Cape shoveler, ''Anas smithii''
* Australasian shoveler, ''Anas rhynchotis''
* Northern shoveler, ''Anas c ...
and a site of national importance for the
coot
Coots are medium-sized water birds that are members of the rail family, Rallidae. They constitute the genus ''Fulica'', the name being the Latin term for "coot". Coots have predominantly black plumage, and—unlike many rails—they are usually ...
and
tufted duck
The tufted duck or tufted pochard (''Aythya fuligula'') is a small diving duck with a population of close to one million birds, found in northern Eurasia. The scientific name is derived from Ancient Greek '' aithuia'', an unidentified seabird ment ...
.
It is also used for water sports and swimming. Immediately behind the Loughrea boathouse are the remains of an old
crannog
A crannog (; ga, crannóg ; gd, crannag ) is typically a partially or entirely artificial island, usually built in lakes and estuarine waters of Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. Unlike the prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps, which were bu ...
. The Loughrea dwellers of another time would have sought protection from raiders by living in the comparative security provided by the lake.
There is a stone relief sculpture in town, on Millenium House, West Bridge, of Stoney Brennan's face. Brennan "according to legend, was hanged on Gallows’ Hill at Mount Carmel for stealing a turnip" during the 1700's.
Transport
Loughrea is connected to the
M6 Dublin-Galway motorway via the
N65. The town was historically served by the
Midland Great Western Railway
The Midland Great Western Railway (MGWR) was the third largest Irish gauge () railway company in Ireland. It was incorporated in 1845 and absorbed into the Great Southern Railways in 1924. At its peak the MGWR had a network of , making it Irelan ...
and a
railway branch from
Attymon Junction, in use until 1975. This line was Ireland's last operational rural railway branch line, having outlasted most other country railway lines of this type by 10–20 years, and even surviving to have diesel trains used on it. The link road from the Ballinasloe - Galway motorway to Loughrea removed most of the remains of the original track bed.
Loughrea railway station opened on 1 December 1890 and finally closed on 3 November 1975.
Sport and culture
![Loughrea lake](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Loughrea_lake.jpg)
Loughrea
GAA Club were 2006 winners of both the
Galway
Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a city in the West of Ireland, in the province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay, and is the sixth most populous city on ...
and
Connacht
Connacht ( ; ga, Connachta or ), is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms ( Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, Conmhaícne, and Del ...
Senior Club
Hurling Championships. They also reached the 2007
All-Ireland Club Hurling Championship final, losing out to
Ballyhale Shamrocks
Ballyhale Shamrocks is a Gaelic Athletic Association club located in the parish of Ballyhale in County Kilkenny, Republic of Ireland. The club was founded in 1972 and is primarily concerned with the game of hurling. Ballyhale Shamrocks are the ...
. Loughrea has a rugby club, a
soccer club, a
Gaelic football club, a
volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...
club, an 18-hole golf course, a cycling club and an athletic club. Loughrea cricket club is one of the leading clubs in Connacht. Actor Kiefer Sutherland has an affection for the town, twice visiting family as a young boy and is said to have been amazed at the skill of the players down at the handball alley.
Each year, in October, the town plays host to the BAFFLE International Poetry Festival. Loughrea also boasts a Musical and Dramatic Society, historical society, and a community association. In the 2018 National Glór na nGael awards for "Irish language in local communities", Loughrea's "Gaeilge Locha Riach" was awarded best voluntary committee in Connaught. Gaeilge Locha Riach promotes the Irish language in Loughrea among the community and businesses. There is also a Foróige Youth club in the town.
Each year the Local Triathlon club called Predator organise a junior and senior triathlon event. The race was created by French coach Sebastien Locteau in 2006 with Tony Daly. Loughrea Triathlon is part of the national event calendar under Triathlon Ireland rules.
Notable people
*
Mark Boyle (born 1979), Irish social activist and writer also known as "The Moneyless Man" owing to his choice in 2008 to stop using money as he considers the concept of money harmful, he also gave up modern technology in 2016 after deciding that it was also part of the problem, Boyle though not born in Loughrea lives his moneyless, techless life near Loughrea
*
William Malachy Burke (1819–1879), Irish physician and Registrar General
Annalistic references
* ''797(802). The demolition of Loch Riach by Muirghius, son of Tomaltach.''
* ''821. Fearghal, son of Catharnach, lord of Loch Riach, died.''
* ''823. Fearghal, son of Cathasach, lord of Loch Riach, died.''
* ''881. Cormac, son of Ceithearnach, Prior of Tir Da Ghlas and Cluain Fearta Brenainn, and the second lord who was over Loch Riach at that time, died.''
* ''1408. O'h-Echeidhein was slain by the O'Dalys on the plain of Moinmoy.''
See also
*
Frederick William Conway
*
List of abbeys and priories in Ireland (County Galway)
*
List of towns and villages in Ireland
*
Marquis de St Ruth
Charles Chalmot de Saint-RuheLecestre, L. (ed.) (1921). ''Memoires de Saint-Simon'', v. 19, Hachette et cie, p. 135 (c. 165012 July 1691) was a French cavalry officer, serving in the armies of Louis XIV.
Despite a long career, Saint-Ruhe is re ...
References
External links
discoverloughrea.com - Discover Loughrea is your news, entertainment, sport and music website brought to you by Loughrea Chamber of CommerceGaelscoil Riabhach: Loughrea's GaelscoilTourist Information for Loughrea Provides information on Loughrea's attractions, activities and businesses.
Gaeilge Locha RiachLoughrea Foróige
{{Authority control
Towns and villages in County Galway