Kinvara


Kinvara, also spelled Kinvarra, is a sea port village located in the southwest of County Galway, Ireland. It is located in the civil parish of Kinvarradoorus in the north of the barony of Kiltartan. Kinvarra is also a District Electoral Division.

Geography

The village lies at the head of Kinvara Bay, known in Irish as 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.
Kinvara is also situated in the territory of Uí Fiachrach Aidhne, which is coextensive with the diocese of Kilmacduagh.
The civil parish is bounded on the north by Galway Bay, on the east by the parishes of Ballinderreen and Ardrahan, on the south by the parishes of Gort and Boston and on the west by the parishes of Carron and New Quay. It is roughly coextensive with the Ó hEidhin territory of Coill Ua bhFiachrach and this name was still in use in the mid-19th century as recorded by John O'Donovan in his Ordnance Survey letters.

History

Dunguaire Castle

Dunguaire Castle, a towerhouse of the Ó hEidhin clan, is located to the east of the village. A Fearadhach Ó hEidhin 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. Eoghan Mantach Ó hEidhin, chief of the clan, is mentioned as the owner of the castle in the Indentures of Composition of 1585.
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Terry Alts

The Terry Alt agrarian resistance movement of the early 19th century was active in the Kinvara area. In 1831, a large force of Terry Alts gathered on the Galway/Clare border on Abbey Hill between Kinvara and New Quay, County Clare and challenged the 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.

Population

The electoral division population related to Kinvara according to the 2011 Census was 1,351. 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 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.

Religion

In the Catholic Church, the Ecclesiastical parish of Kinvara is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora and comprises the civil parishes of, Kinvarradoorus and Killinny. The area is part of the Church of Ireland united Diocese of Limerick and Killaloe.

Festivals

Kinvara is home every year to two festivals, Fleadh na gCuach an Irish music festival at the start of May and the Cruinniú na mBád in mid August.

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 associated with Kinvara