Kinvara

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Kinvara
Cinn Mhara
Village
Dunguaire Castle
Dunguaire Castle
Country Ireland
Province Connacht
County County Galway
Elevation 10 m (30 ft)
Population (2016)[1] 734
Dialing code 091
Irish Grid Reference M369103

Kinvara or Kinvarra (Irish: Cinn Mhara, meaning "head of the sea")[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 Chinn 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),[citation needed] and this name was still in use in the mid-19th century as recorded by John O'Donovan in his Ordnance Survey letters.[citation needed]

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

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Dunguaire Castle (Irish: Dún Guaire [lit, the Castle of Guaire]), a 16th-century towerhouse of the Ó hEidhin (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.[citation needed]

File:Viewofkinvara.JPG
View of Kinvara from Dún Guaire Castle

Terry Alts

The Terry Alt agrarian resistance movement of the early 19th century was active in the Kinvara area.[citation needed] In 1831, a large force of Terry Alts gathered on the Galway/Clare border on Abbey Hill between Kinvara and New Quay in County Clare, and challenged the (British) army to battle. They, however, dispersed before the arrival of the soldiers. They also unsuccessfully attempted to ambush a body of infantry at Corranroo in the west of the parish, which led to the death of one of their members.[citation needed]

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.[citation needed]

In the 25 years between the 1991 and 2016 census, the population of Kinvara increased by 170%, from 425 to 734 people.[11][1]

Religion

In the Catholic Church, the ecclesiastical parish of Kinvara is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora.[12] Churches within Kinvara parish include Saint Colman's Church (built 1819) and Saint Joseph's Church (built 1877).[13][14] Saint Joseph's Presbytery, formerly a convent, dates to c. 1875.[15]

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

Festivals

File:Kinvara Cinn Mhara.jpg
Street of Kinvara in 2007

Kinvara is home every year to two festivals, Fleadh na gCuach ("the cuckoo festival") an Irish music festival at the start of May and the Cruinniú na mBád ("gathering of the boats") in mid August.[16][17]

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

References

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