Shanaglish Explained

Settlement Type:Village
Shanaglish
Native Name:Sean Eaglais
Native Name Lang:gd
Pushpin Map:Ireland
Pushpin Label Position:right
Pushpin Map Caption:Location in Ireland
Coordinates:53.0121°N -8.8392°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

Shanaglish is a village in the parish of Beagh in the south of County Galway, Ireland, close to the border with County Clare. The name Shanaglish comes from the Gaelic 'Sean Eaglais', meaning 'old church'. The village was formerly in the parish of St Anne's and there is now a Roman Catholic church dedicated to St Anne.[1]

Ardamullivan Castle is located nearby.

Notable residents

The Irish nationalist brothers, Patrick and Harry Loughnane, farmed in Shanaglish before they were kidnapped and executed by the Auxiliaries in November 1920.[2]

Sonny Glynn (born 1903 Shanaglish - died 1953 New York) and Matty O’Shaughnessy (born 1901 Shanaglish - died 1978 Shanaglish) emigrated to New York City from Shanaglish in the early 1920s. Both found construction work on the Rockefeller Center and have been identified by documentary film maker, Seán Ó Cualáin, in the film Lón sa Spéir, as two of the eleven men in the iconic 1932 photograph, Lunch atop a Skyscraper. A copy of the photograph hangs in Whelan's Bar in Shanaglish.[3]

Notes and References

  1. A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, Samuel Lewis, 1837
  2. Web site: Bureau of Military History Witness Statement 1652 .
  3. News: Column: The untold story of two Irish workers… and this iconic picture . . 2012-07-12 . 2014-01-27 .