Kinvara , is a sea port village located in the south of
County GalwayCounty Galway is one of the traditional Counties of Ireland. It is located in the province of Connacht. It was named after the city of Galway...
in the province of
ConnachtConnacht , formerly Anglicised as Connaught, is the western province of Ireland, comprising counties Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon and Sligo. Its main urban centres are Galway in the south, and Sligo in the north...
on the west coast of
IrelandIreland is a country in north-western Europe. The modern sovereign state occupies about five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned on 3 May 1921. It is a parliamentary democracy and a republic...
. Kinvara is also the name of the parish in which the village is situated. Kinvara is occasionally spelled
Kinvarra in
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
; this may be seen on some maps and road signs, although Kinvara is the most common spelling used nowadays. Kinvarra is still the official form of the name for the townland and this form is still used on polling cards as the name of the townland while the District Electoral Division (DED) is called Kinvara.
The village lies at the head of Kinvara Bay known in Irish as Cinn Mhara (or more recently Cuan Chinn Mhara) from which the village took its name.
Kinvara , is a sea port village located in the south of
County GalwayCounty Galway is one of the traditional Counties of Ireland. It is located in the province of Connacht. It was named after the city of Galway...
in the province of
ConnachtConnacht , formerly Anglicised as Connaught, is the western province of Ireland, comprising counties Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon and Sligo. Its main urban centres are Galway in the south, and Sligo in the north...
on the west coast of
IrelandIreland is a country in north-western Europe. The modern sovereign state occupies about five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned on 3 May 1921. It is a parliamentary democracy and a republic...
. Kinvara is also the name of the parish in which the village is situated. Kinvara is occasionally spelled
Kinvarra in
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
; this may be seen on some maps and road signs, although Kinvara is the most common spelling used nowadays. Kinvarra is still the official form of the name for the townland and this form is still used on polling cards as the name of the townland while the District Electoral Division (DED) is called Kinvara.
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The village lies at the head of Kinvara Bay known in Irish as Cinn Mhara (or more recently Cuan Chinn Mhara) from which the village took its name. This is an inlet in the south-eastern corner of
Galway BayGalway Bay is a large bay on the west coast of Ireland, between County Galway in the province of Connacht to the north and the Burren in County Clare in the province of Munster to the south. Galway city is located on the northeast side of the bay...
referred to in local lore by its Irish name Loch Lurgan. Kinvara is situated in the territory of
Ui Fiachrach AidhneUí Fhiachrach Aidhne was a kingdom located in what is now the south of Co. Galway. In the centuries prior to the historical era, the Aidhne branch of the Ui Fiachrach dynasty emerged as the ruling tuath in this part of Connacht. Their territory was known as Aidhne or Maigh Aidhne / Maigh nAidhne...
also known as
AidhneAidhne also known as, Uí Fhiachrach Aidhne, Maigh Aidhne / Maigh nAidhne was the territory of the Ui Fiachrach Aidhne, a tuath located in the south of what is now County Galway in the south of Connacht, Ireland. Aidhne is coextensive with the present diocese of Kilmacduagh...
, which is coextensive with the diocese of
KilmacduaghKilmacduagh is a small village in south County Galway, near Gort, in Ireland. It is best known for Kilmacduagh monastery, seat of the Diocese of that name and in the Diocese of Limerick, Ardfert, Aghadoe, Killaloe, Kilfenora, Clonfert, Kilmacduagh and Emly in the Church of Ireland....
(
). Kinvara is situated in the west of the barony of Kiltartan (now obsolete) in County Galway close to the border with
BurrenBurren can refer to:*The Burren, a karst landscape in County Clare, Ireland*Burren, County Down, a village in Northern Ireland*Burren College of Art, an art college in Ballyvaughan, County Clare, Ireland...
in
County ClareCounty Clare commonly referred to as simply Clare, is a county of Ireland and part of the wider province of Munster. Clare is one of the 26 counties within the Republic of Ireland and it provides a basis for local government, in the form of its own constituency within the Dáil Éireann...
in the province of
MunsterMunster is a province of Ireland, located in the south-west of the island. The province is not used as an administration division as such, with the counties filling that role. Much of the area aside from Clare is represented internationally by the South constituency of the European Parliament...
. The modern parish of Kinvara is roughly with coextensive with the slightly larger late medieval territory of the Ó hEidhin clan Coill Ua bhFhiachrach ("forest of the descendents of Fiachrach") which was an ancient sub-district of Aidhne stretching from Garryland to Doorus. The Ó hEidhin / (O Hynes) clan who were also chiefs of Uí Fhiachrach Aidhne. The modern parish of Kinvara contains of the civil parishes of Kinvarradoorus and Killinny or the medieval parishes of Kinvara, Doorus and Killinny(Killina). Kinvara developed around an
(O Hynes) towerhouse (now completely demolished) close to the main pier and the medieval church of St.Comam better known as St.Caimín (now in ruins) which is situated between the main road through the village and Céibh a'Chéile (the oldest part of the quay). The church of St. Caimín dates to the early 13th century but is built on the site of Saint Caimín's original early medieval church. It belongs to the style of architecture known as the School of the West which was a style of building in use in Connacht before the English invasion of the kingdom in the early 1200s. , one of the principal towerhouses of the clan, is located to the east of the village. It was probably built by Flann Ó hEidhin in 1520 and not by Ruaidhrí Mór Dearg Ó Seachnasaigh who is referred to as the builder in Lewis's Topographical dictionary who probably got this explanation from local folklore. This towerhouse is believed to have been built on or close to the site of
Dúrlas Guaire the main residence of
Guaire Aidne mac ColmáinGuaire Aidne mac Colmáin was a king of Connacht. A member of the Ui Fiachrach Aidhne and son of king Colmán mac Cobthaig . Guiare ruled at the height of Ui Fiachrach Aidne power in south Connacht.-Early reign:...
; the 7th-century king of Uí Fhiachrach Aidhne and
ConnachtConnacht , formerly Anglicised as Connaught, is the western province of Ireland, comprising counties Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon and Sligo. Its main urban centres are Galway in the south, and Sligo in the north...
. The ráth (earthen enclosure) on the small peninsula east of Dún Guaire is thought to be the remains of
Dúrlas Guaire also called
Ráth Dúrlais.
Dunguaire Castle was used as a filming location for the Scottish castle home of the main character in the 1979 film
North Sea HijackNorth Sea Hijack , also released under the alternate titles ffolkes and Assault Force, is an action film starring Roger Moore, James Mason, Anthony Perkins, and Michael Parks. It was directed by Andrew V...
.
The Terry Alt agrarian resistance movement of the early 1800s was active in the Kinvara area. In 1831, a large force of Terry Alts gathered on the border between Kinvara parish and Oughtmama parish, Burren, County Clare and challenged the English Crown forces to battle. They, however, dispersed before the arrival of the English forces. They also unsuccessfully attempted to ambush a body of English infantry at Corranroe in the west of the parish, which led to the death of one of their members.
Kinvara's population according to the
2002 CensusThe Central Statistics Office , or in Irish, An Phríomh-Oifig Staidrimh is the statistical agency responsible for the gathering of "information relating to economic, social and general activities and conditions" in Ireland, in particular the National Census which is held every five years...
was 945. The Great Famine in the 1840s and a series of emigrations that continued up until the 1960s reduced the population of the village—once a thriving port and a significant exporter of corn and seaweed—to no more than a few hundred people. From around the 1980s the population of the parish of Kinvara started to increase while the village started to grow in size.
The first shots of the 1916
Easter RisingThe Easter Rising , was an insurrection staged in Ireland during Easter Week, 1916. The Rising was mounted by Irish republicans with the aims of ending British rule in Ireland and establishing the Irish Republic...
in County Galway were fired in Kinvara. The incident took place outside the curate's house on the Green Road when the RIC attempted to arrest him and local members of Óglaigh na hÉireann.
Kinvara is home every year to two festivals,
("the cuckoo festival") at the start of May and
Cruinniú na mBád ("gathering of the boats") in August. Of these, the latter festival is the larger and longer-running; it celebrates the traditional sailing craft (
Galway HookerThe Galway hooker is a traditional sailing boat used in Galway Bay off the west coast of Ireland. The hooker was developed for the strong seas there. It is identified by the sail formation, which is extremely distinctive and quite beautiful. It consisted of a single mast with a main sail and two...
s) and the trade they once did between Kinvara, western County Galway and the north of
County ClareCounty Clare commonly referred to as simply Clare, is a county of Ireland and part of the wider province of Munster. Clare is one of the 26 counties within the Republic of Ireland and it provides a basis for local government, in the form of its own constituency within the Dáil Éireann...
.
TurfPeat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation matter. Peat forms in wetlandbogs, moors, muskegs, pocosins, mires, and peat swamp forests...
was imported into Kinvara from the west of County Galway while
barleyBarley is a cereal grain derived from the annual grass Hordeum vulgare. It serves as a major animal feed crop, with smaller amounts used for malting and in health food. It is used in soups, stews and barley bread in various countries, such as Scotland and in Africa...
,
limeLime is a general term for calcium-containing inorganic materials, in which carbonates, oxides and hydroxides predominate. Strictly speaking, lime is calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide. It is also the name for a single mineral of the CaO composition, occurring very rarely...
, and
timberTimber may refer to:*Lumber, i.e. wood materials* Timber, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the U.S. state of Oregon* Timber , a 1984 arcade game by Bally Midway* An alternative spelling for Timbre...
was exported from Kinvara. Turf, the main fuel used here prior to coal and oil, had to be imported as Kinvara is in an area without bogs. The festival started in 1979 and features a series of boat races as well as a variety of other events on the pier. The
(started in 1994) is a festival of Irish music that celebrates the old Irish festival of Bealtaine (the First of May), which in Ireland marks the start of Summer.
See also
- List of towns and villages in Ireland