- This article is about the city in Ireland. For other uses of the name, see Galway (disambiguation).
Galway (Irish: Gaillimh) is the largest city in the province of Connacht in Ireland. The city is located on the west coast of Ireland on the north-eastern corner of Galway Bay in County Galway. (53.28°N 9.06°W). The Corrib River runs through the city. CSO Census 2002 indicated the city has a population of approximately 66,000.
Galway is known as The City of the 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, Deane, Font, French, Joyce, Kirwin, Lynch, Martyn, Morris, Skerrett.
Access
 Cannons at Eyre Square, Galway The cannons were presented to the Connaught Rangers at the end of the Crimean War (1854-1856) in recognition of their military achievements.
Road Three national primary roads serve the city: the N17 from the North (Tuam, Sligo, Donegal), the N6 from the East (Athlone, Dublin), and the N18 from the South (Shannon, Limerick and Cork). National primary roads are usually well maintained roads, but are not motorway grade. The speed limit is 60 mph, except in built-up areas where the limit is normally 30 mph (Ireland, despite being a metric country defines speed limits in miles per hour; this is due to change by January 20, 2005). It is expected that motorways will link Galway to the other major cities sometime between 2010 and 2020.
Travel time to Dublin is about 4 hours. Travel time to Shannon Airport : 90 minutes. Travel time to Limerick: 2 hours.
Rail There are six return rail services to/from Dublin each day. The service also stops at Athenry, Ballinasloe, Athlone, Tullamore, Kildare. Travel time is about 3 hours. The rail service is run by Iarnród Éireann (Irish Rail) (http://www.irishrail.ie/).
Air There are five flights daily from Galway Airport to Dublin, and two flights daily to London (Luton, England), as well as flights to Birmingham, Edinburgh, Manchester and Lorient. Also convenient to the city is Shannon International Airport (about 90 minutes drive from Galway) and Knock Airport (also about 90 minutes drive).
See also: Transportation in Ireland
Cultural Events Annual events include the Galway Early Music Festival (May), the Galway Film Fleadh (July), the Galway Arts Festival (July), Galway Races (August), Galway International Oyster Festival (September) and the Baboró Galway International Arts Festival for Children (October)
Education The city is the location of Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology and National University of Ireland, Galway two higher education institutions. The institute of technology has campuses in counties Galway and Mayo.
The offices of the Central Applications Office are also located in the city, this is the clearing house for undergraduate college and university applications in the Republic of Ireland, a related organisation the Postgraduate Applications Centre processes some taught postgraduate courses.
History Galway was in it's origins an anglo-norman city, and it grew to prominence in the late middle ages. A walled city, it remained loyal to the crown during the Gaelic resurgence. Galway endured diffult relations with it's 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 citizens' not to "strutte or swagger through the streets of Galway". During the middle ages, Galway was ruled by an oligarchy of anglo-norman families, the 'tribes' of Galway. The city thrived on international trade. Galway was on the losing side in the Civil War (it supported the king), and again in the War of the Two Kings (it supported King James II of England). 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.
Hardiman's History of Galway was long considered to be the definitive history of Galway city and county. It was first published in 1820 and most of it is now available on the web (http://www.galway.net/galwayguide/history/hardiman/). It covers the history of the region from the earliest of times until the early 19th century.
John Cunningham's 'A town tormented by the sea: GALWAY, 1790-1914', which was published during 2004 by Geography Publications takes up Galway's story where Hardiman left it in 1820. Excerpts from Cunningham's book may be read on-line (http://www.john-cunningham.net/)
The Claddagh ring is associated with the Claddagh, a fishing village located just outside the old walls of the Galway city.
Galway People A longer list may be found in the article Galway Biographys.
Nora Barnacle
Captain James 'Spanish'Blake, fl. 1588-1603.
St. George Daly, 2nd Baron Dunsandle, 1810-1893.
Patrick Darcy
Lady Gregory, d. 1932.
James Hardiman
Michael D. Higgins
William Joyce,aka Lord Haw-Haw, ex. 1946.
Lord Killanin, d.1999.
Richard Kirwan
Sir Gerard Lally, fl.1689-1737.
Martin Mor McDonagh
Pat McDonagh
Walter Macken, 1915-1967.
Richard Martin, aka Humanity Dick Martin
Violet Florence Martin, 1862-1915.
Edward Martyn, 1859-1923.
Gideon Ouseley
Padraic O'Conaire
Eamonn O'Cuiv
Liam O'Flaherty
Rory O'Flaherty
Peter O'Toole, b.1932.
External links - Galway.Net: Galway City & County Portal (http://www.galway.net/)
- Galway City Council (local authority) (http://www.galwaycity.ie/)
- Galway County Council (local authority) (http://www.galway.ie/)
- Galway Chamber of Commerce and Industry (http://www.galwaychamber.com/)
Pictures of Galway - Irelandscape (http://www.irelandscape.com) - Pictures of Galway, surroundings and other Irish locations.
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