Galway

Fishing port and county town of County Galway, Republic of Ireland; 200 km/124 mi west of Dublin; principal city of Connacht province; population (2002) 65,800. It produces textiles and chemicals, and there is salmon and eel fishing; Galway has recently become important for its computer industry. Queen's College (founded in about 1845) was renamed University College in 1908, and is part of the National University of Ireland; teaching has been bilingual, conducted in both English and Irish, since 1929. Galway is an important centre of the Irish language; Galway Theatre, An Taibhdhearc, only stages plays in Irish.

Features Galway lies at the mouth of the short River Corrib which connects Lough Corrib with Galway Bay. It has a Roman Catholic cathedral, begun in 1957, and is home to the popular Galway Races, a three-day horse racing fixture which takes place at the end of July. There is an important annual arts festival held in July, and an oyster festival in mid-September. The suburb of Salthill is a leading tourist resort.

History Galway was founded in the 12th century by the de Burgo family. It was an important Anglo-Norman settlement and stronghold. Its first charter was granted in 1484 by Richard II. Until the Reformation, Galway was an important port and mercantile centre with significant trading links with Spain, France, and the West Indies. The Spanish Arch (believed to have formed part of an Anglo-Norman bastion) and Spanish Parade are named after the importance of Spanish mercantile activity during this period. Part of the medieval town walls can be seen to the south of the Spanish Arch.

During the Anglo-Norman period the Irish population was segregated from the city's inhabitants, being confined to Claddagh, a former fishing village demolished in the 1930s, and now a residential area in the west of the city. The Claddagh Ring (two hands holding a heart) is named after this district.

In 1651 the city was subject to lengthy conflict and surrendered to Cromwellian forces; in 1691 it fell to the troops of William III. By the early 18th century Galway's importance as a port and mercantile centre had begun to decline.

Features The Church of St Nicholas is a Norman construction of 1320; expanded in the 15th and 16th centuries, it is noted for its triple nave. Lynch's Castle, a 16th-century mansion house, has some fine carvings on its exterior, and was built by the Lynch family, who were important Anglo-Norman merchants; it is now a bank. Eyre Square in the city centre is a memorial garden to J F Kennedy, former president of the USA, who visited the city in 1963. In the centre of the square is a statue by Albert Power of Patrick O'Connor (1882-1928), a writer in the Irish language; there is also a statue of Liam Mellows, an activist in the 1916 Easter Rising who was executed during the Irish Civil War (1922-23). On Bowling Green is the former home of Nora Barnacle (1884-1951), novelist and wife of James Joyce; the house is now a museum.