A History of Galway

Medieval Galway

The origin of the place named "Galway" ('Gaillimh' in Irish) is uncertain with many suggested origins. It is known however that among the ancient Irish, foreigners were called 'na Gall', hence the suggestion that Gaillimh was "the place of the foreigners". The term may have derived its name from the Anglo-Norman settlement founded by the de Burgos in the 13th Century beside a ford on the River Corrib. There were native Irish settlements in the area for a long time before the Normans and English came. The O’ Connors and O’Flahertys occupied an important fortification at the mouth of the Corrib and there are many references to that structure in various annals. It was later occupied by a Norman Castle and a hall of stone.

The modest beginnings of Galway were as a fishing village on the east bank of the present site of St Nicholas’s Collegiate Church. By 1270 Walter de Burgh commenced the enclosing of the settlement with walls, and the medieval city grew inside a great encircling wall. Galway became a lone outpost of English influence in the West of Ireland. The arrival in the 13th and 14th centuries, of a number of Welsh and Norman families who sought protection against the resurgent Irish with in the walls of Galway, heralded the commercial development of Galway as a major sea-port and center of trade with mainland Europe. These early settlers saw the gradual development of Galway into an independent city state with a merchant oligarchy which controlled and promoted trade contacts all over Europe.

Medieval Galway became a powerful city-state. It traded in wine, spices, salt, animal products and fish. The wealth of its citizens was expressed in the many fine stone-faced buildings. The Church of St. Nicholas of Myra, started in 1320 has become its most important building. Galway became a Royal Borough in 1396 and when in 1484 Richard the Third of England gave it mayor status, power was transferred from the de Burgo to the leading fourteen tribes or merchant families.

Contemporary writers describe Galway in the 16th century as a compact, well laid out town with fourteen ramparts, including Shoemakers and Penrices Towers (recently excavated in the Eyre Square Center), and a corresponding number of gates. There were also fourteen principal streets. It is clear, therefore, from both the written and pictorial record that early 17th century Galway was a magnificent city.