Kinvara Explained

Settlement Type:Village
Kinvara
Native Name Lang:ga
Pushpin Map:Ireland
Pushpin Label Position:right
Pushpin Map Caption:Location in Ireland
Coordinates:53.139°N -8.938°W
Blank Name Sec1:Irish Grid Reference
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name:Ireland
Subdivision Type1:Province
Subdivision Name1:Connacht
Subdivision Type2:County
Subdivision Name2:County Galway
Unit Pref:Metric
Elevation M:10
Population As Of:2022
Population:721
Population Footnotes:[1]
Area Code Type:Dialing code
Area Code:091

Kinvara or Kinvarra [2] is a sea port village in the southwest of County Galway, Ireland.[3] It is located in the civil parish of Kinvarradoorus in the north of the barony of Kiltartan.[4] Kinvarra is also an electoral division.[5]

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, from which the village took its name. It lies in the north of the barony of Kiltartan, close to the border with The Burren in County Clare, in the province of Munster.

The townland of Kinvarra lies in the civil parish of Kinvarradoorus.[6] This civil parish is bounded on the north by Galway Bay, on the east by the parishes of Ballinderreen (Killeenavarra) and Ardrahan, on the south by the parishes of Gort (Kilmacduagh) and Boston (Kilkeedy) and on the west by the parishes of Carron and New Quay (Abbey and Oughtmama). It is roughly coextensive with the Ó hEidhin territory of Coill Ua bhFiachrach (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 and ring fort sites in the surrounding townlands of Dungory West, Ballybranagan and Loughcurra North.[7] [8] There are similar sites, as well as the ruins of lime kiln and 18th century windmill, within Kinvarra townland itself.[7] [9]

Dunguaire Castle

See main article: 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.[10] 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. This list was thought to have been compiled for the use of the Lord Deputy Sir Henry Sidney who planned the composition of Connacht.

Mass rock

The Poulnegan Altar, a Mass rock located near Kinvara, is known in Connaught Irish as Poll na gCeann ("chasm of the heads") and is said to have been the location of a massacre by the soldiers of Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army. Historian Tony Nugent states that, "According to local tradition, there was a college nearby and some of the student monks were killed there by Cromwellian soldiers while attending Mass and their heads were thrown into a nearby chasm".[11]

Terry Alts

The Terry Alts, an Irish agrarian secret society of the early 19th century, was active in the Kinvara area. In 1831, a large group of Terry Alts gathered between Kinvara and New Quay on Abbey Hill in County Clare, and challenged government troops to battle. The group dispersed before the troops arrived. They also unsuccessfully attempted to ambush a detachment of soldiers 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.[12] [13]

Religion

In the Catholic Church, the ecclesiastical parish of Kinvara is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora.[14] Churches within Kinvara parish include Saint Colman's Church (built 1819) and Saint Joseph's Church (built 1877).[15] [16] Saint Joseph's Presbytery, formerly a convent, dates to .[17]

Kinvara lies within the Church of Ireland united Diocese of Limerick and Killaloe.

Festivals

Kinvara is home every year to two festivals, ("cuckoo festival") an Irish traditional music festival at the start of May and the Cruinniú na mBád ("gathering of the boats") in mid August.[18] [19]

Sports

Kinvara is home to Kinvara GAA, a Gaelic Athletic Association club. The club is almost exclusively concerned with hurling but also plays Gaelic football at Junior level.

Notable people

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Profile 1 - Population Distribution and Movement F1015 - Population: Kinvara, Co. Galway . . 21 July 2023.
  2. Web site: Cinn Mhara / Kinvarra (town) . Placenames Database of Ireland . logainm.ie . 27 April 2021 .
  3. Web site: Kinvarra, 1:50,000. osiemaps.ie . https://web.archive.org/web/20100529055024/http://ims0.osiemaps.ie/website/publicviewer/main.aspx#V1,536992,710032,5 . 2010-05-29 . Ordnance Survey Ireland.
  4. Web site: Kinvarradoorus civil parish . Placenames Database of Ireland . logainm.ie . 27 April 2021 .
  5. Web site: Cinn Mhara / Kinvarra (electoral division) . Placenames Database of Ireland . logainm.ie . 27 April 2021 .
  6. Web site: Kinvarra Townland, Co. Galway . townlands.ie . 13 March 2022 .
  7. Book: Recorded Monuments Protected under Section 12 of the National Monuments (Amendment) Act, 1994 - County Galway . Archaeological Survey of Ireland . 1997 . Dublin .
  8. Thomas Johnson Westropp . Westropp . T.J. . 1919 . Notes on several forts in Dunkellin and other parts of southern Co. Galway . Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland . 49 . 167–86.
  9. Web site: Windmill, Kinvarra (Kiltartan By), Kinvara, Galway . National Inventory of Architectural Heritage . buildingsofireland.ie . 27 April 2021 .
  10. Web site: Dunguaire Castle . Galway Tourism. 2019 . 15 December 2019.
  11. Book: Nugent, Tony . 2013 . Were You at the Rock? The History of Mass Rocks in Ireland . Liffey Press . 149.
  12. Web site: Kinvara (Ireland) Census Town . City Population . 13 March 2022 .
  13. Web site: Sapmap Area - Settlements - Kinvara . Central Statistics Office . Census 2016 . April 2016 . 27 April 2021 .
  14. Web site: Diocese of Galway & Kilmacduagh - Parishes - Kinvara . galwaydiocese.ie . 13 March 2022 .
  15. Web site: Saint Colman's Church, Ballybranagan, Kinvara, Galway . National Inventory of Architectural Heritage . buildingsofireland.ie . 27 April 2021 .
  16. Web site: Saint Joseph's Church, Kinvarra (Kiltartan By), Kinvara, Galway . National Inventory of Architectural Heritage . buildingsofireland.ie . 27 April 2021 .
  17. Web site: Saint Joseph's Presbytery, Convent Road, Kinvarra (Kiltartan By), Kinvara, Galway . National Inventory of Architectural Heritage . buildingsofireland.ie . 27 April 2021 .
  18. Web site: Fleadh na gCuach – Kinvara. kinvara.com . https://web.archive.org/web/20030505023238/http://www.kinvara.com/cuckoo/. dead. 5 May 2003. 8 March 2016.
  19. Web site: Cruinniú na mBád – Kinvara. 8 March 2016 . cruinniunambad.com .
  20. Web site: Fahy, Francis Arthur . dib.ie . Dictionary of Irish Biography . Paul . Rouse . October 2009 . 13 March 2022 .
  21. Web site: Path Breaking Women . NUI Galway . nuigalway.ie . 13 March 2022 . 21 November 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20171121183608/https://www.nuigalway.ie/media/nuigalwayie/content/files/aboutus/Path-Breaking-Women---Brochure.pdf . dead .
  22. Web site: Siggins . Lorna . Former taoisigh among mourners at PJ Mara's burial . www.irishtimes.com . 6 November 2020.
  23. Book: Ball, F. Elrington . The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921 (Volume 1) . John Murray . London . 1926 . 364.
  24. Web site: John Prine: 'The country music they play now is just bad pop' . Irish Times . irishtimes.com . Breen . Joe . 14 August 2017 . 27 April 2021 . [Prine] likes to spend time in this country and not just because he met his wife, Fiona, here. They have a cottage in Kinvara, Co Galway .
  25. News: Kinvara woman new Chief Justice in Seychelles. The Clare Champion. Corless. Nicholas. 4 August 2016.
  26. Web site: 'They were proactive to stop the spread' - Galway star praises locals at home after spate of Covid-19 cases . the42.ie . Sinead. Farrell . 3 April 2020 . 27 April 2021 .
  27. News: First female Attorney General a 'smart and able advocate' . . Paul . Cullen . 10 March 2011 . 27 April 2021 .

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