Clifden

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Clifden
To Clochán
Clifden
Clifden (Ireland)
Red pog.svg
Coordinates 53 ° 29 ′  N , 10 ° 1 ′  W Coordinates: 53 ° 29 ′  N , 10 ° 1 ′  W
Basic data
Country Ireland

province

Connacht
county Galway
ISO 3166-2 IE-G
Residents 1597 (2016)
Telephone code +353/95
Website www.clifden.org (English)
View of Clifden
View of Clifden
Area where Alcock and Brown landed in 1919
Remains of the Marconi radio station in 2009
Main Street and Saint Joseph's Church
Ruins of Clifden Castle

Clifden ( Irish Clochán ) is an Irish town in County Galway and the unofficial capital of Connemara . Clifden is on the N59 national road , approximately 80 km west of Galway City at the confluence of the Owenglin River and Clifden Bay. At the 2016 census, the popular tourist destination had 1,597 inhabitants.

history

Clifden was founded in 1812 by landowner and High Sheriff of Galway, John D'Arcy. D'Arcy had the intention to give the region a higher reputation, as it was considered lawless. The Derrygimlagh Moor is a few kilometers southeast of the city . John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown landed here . June 1919 were the first to cross the Atlantic non-stop by plane. Also here is the place where the Italian radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi had set up his radio station, with which he made the first wireless transatlantic telegraph service possible for the public from 1907 . The broadcasting station was destroyed during the Irish Civil War in 1922 and the Marconi Railway then shut down.

economy & Administration and Management

Clifden is the administrative center for the local government. The judiciary, banking, medical, professional and retail services for all of western Connemara are located here. In earlier centuries agriculture and fishing formed the economic basis of the inhabitants of the place and its surroundings. The trade in cattle, sheep and Connemara ponies still play an important role in Clifden. Tourism has developed into an important economic factor since the 20th century.

Not to be forgotten is the weekly farmer's market held on Friday, which offers residents and visitors numerous fresh products such as organic vegetables, homemade bread, cakes, herbs, fruits, flowers and plants.

Culture and sport

Clifden is home to numerous craft shops. The pony market has been held in Clifden on the third Thursday in August every year since 1924, with the world's largest show of Connemara ponies. For this purpose, breeders and interested parties from many countries around the world come to Clifden.

Every year at the end of September, the Clifden Community Arts Week takes place with poetry readings, lectures and traditional music. Teachers from Clifden Community School started the festival in 1979.

In addition, the Omey Island Races, horse races on the beach, have established themselves. And on September 12th there will be a flag flying spectacle with the flag of Mexico in honor of Jon Riley.

Clifden is home to the Connemara Blacks rugby club.

For the tourists there are golf courses and many outdoor activities, including fishing, sailing or hiking.

traffic

The N59 national road from Galway to Westport passes through Clifden. Regular bus routes operated by Bus Éireann and Citylink connect Clifden with Galway or Clonbur / Headford in the north of Lough Corrib.

Between 1895 and 1935, Clifden was the western terminus of the Connemara Railway . Clifden station was opened on July 1, 1895, but closed on April 29, 1935 when rail operations were terminated. The railway administration later had the station complex converted into apartments, a hotel, a museum and shops.

In 1989 a group of business people from Clifden founded a stock corporation in order to be able to create a nearby airfield. The planning permission was not granted by the Galway County Council because it would "destroy nature" and deeper encroachments on the Connemara landscape were feared. For this, a small airfield was allowed to be built near Cloon Cleggan, which has a runway only 600 meters long and is therefore not suitable for large aircraft. The facility with the airport code EICD was not opened to traffic until 2012.

However, small aircraft can use Shannon International Airport (SNN), located on Galway Fjord near Shannon .

Attractions in and around Clifden

In the town

  • The Protestant Church and the Catholic St. Joseph Church (consecrated in 1879) dominate the townscape with their respective towers. In the Protestant church, built in 1853 instead of an older church building , there is a copy of the Cross of Cong .
  • At the intersection (Market Square) there is a triangular aluminum obelisk, which marks the location of the historic market square.
  • Main Street is where most of the restaurants, shops, and craft workshops are located.
  • Ruins of Clifden Castle (on Sky Road), the former residence of city founder John D'Arcy

In the neighborhood

Web links

Commons : Clifden  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Clifden (Town) on citypopulation.de, accessed on October 9, 2018
  2. ↑ a b c d Clifden on www.connemara.net (English)
  3. ^ Farmers market in Clifden
  4. ^ List of Irish train stations. (PDF) railscot.co.uk, 2003, accessed February 18, 2017 . P. 16
  5. ↑ Information on Shannon Airport and transfers to Clifden