Kinvara
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| Irish : | Cinn Mhara |
| County : | County Galway |
| Province : | Connacht |
| Residents : | 945 (2002) |
Kinvara (also Kinvarra ; Irish : Cinn Mhara , which means head of the sea ) is a small port town on the southern edge of County Galway in the province of Connacht on Galway Bay in Ireland . The notation with an r is the most common form. The place is west of the Barony of Kiltartan near the border with the Burren in County Clare .
Kinvara developed around a now completely destroyed, built near the port Tower House ( Ó hEidhin ). Here are the ruins of the medieval church of St. Comam ( Caimín ) and the port ( O Hynes or Ó hEidhin ). The tower house of the port master ( Dún Guaire ) is east of the village. It is believed that this building was built on or near the main residence ( Ráth Dúrlais ) of Guaire Aidhneach , the 7th king of Uí Fhiachrach Aidhne and Connacht. It is also believed that the remains of Ráth Dúrlais are in a fenced-in property on the small peninsula west of Dunguaire Castle .
At the beginning of the 19th century, the Terry Alt Agrarian Resistance movement was active in Kinvara . In 1831 a large armed force formed from this movement to fight the British crown on the border between Kinvara, Oughtmama, Burren and County Clare, which, however, disbanded with the approaching British troops.
During the Great Famine between 1840 and 1851 and further waves of emigration until around 1960, the population of the once important export port city (at that time mainly corn and seaweed exports) was reduced to a few hundred inhabitants. The population has been growing again since around 1980.
The first shots were fired in Kinvara during the Easter Rising in 1916. The incident took place outside the vicar's house on Green Road when the Royal Irish Constabulary tried to arrest him and members of the Óglaigh na hÉireann .
Two festivals take place in Kinvara every year: Fleadh na gCuach (also known as the cuckoo festival ) in early May and Cruinniú na mBád ( gathering of the boats ) in August. The latter, the larger and longer festival, celebrates the traditional craft of sailing, especially the Galway hookers . This type of ship was particularly traded in the area west of Galway. Since there is no bog in the area around Kinvara and since peat was the most important source of energy at the time, it had to be imported, while barley, timber and lime could be exported in return. The festival was first celebrated in 1979 with a series of regattas and other events on the harbor. The Irish music festival Fleadh na gCuach has been celebrated since 1994 and is a reminder of the old Irish festival of Beltane (May 1st), which marks the beginning of summer in Ireland.
Sons of the city
- Edmund Burke ; 19th Century Writer, Musings in the Village Haunts
- Francis A. Fahy (September 29, 1854 - April 1, 1935), songwriter ( The Ould Plaid ), poet
Web links
Coordinates: 53 ° 8 ′ N , 8 ° 56 ′ W