Castlegar, County Galway

Castlegar An Caislean gCearr
—  Town  —
Castlegar Location in Ireland
Coordinates: 53°18′00″N 9°01′00″W
Country	Ireland
Province	Connacht
County	County Galway
Elevation	85 m (279 ft)
Population (2002)
• Rural	842
Time zone	WET (UTC+0)
• Summer (DST)	IST (WEST) (UTC-1)
Irish Grid Reference
Website	www.castlegar-county-galway.com

Castlegar is a village and parish in County Galway, Ireland, located just outside of the city of Galway. It extends from Lough Corrib across to Merlin Park by the old Galway-Dublin road. The annual Galway Races are held at Ballybrit Racecourse in Castlegar Parish.

History

The name Castlegar is derived from the Irish words "Caislean Gearr". This mean "Short Castle". The small Castlegar Castle, in the middle of the parish, was a guest or "short stay" castle for the Blake family's Menlo Castle. There being so many castles in the parish, the distance between was also very short, so some have posited that this is the source of the name. Parts of the parish, most notably Carrabrowne, Ballindooley and Menlo were until recently, strongholds of the Irish language. But with recent development of the area, and the influx of non-native speakers, the use of Irish is very much reduced. Emigrants from Ireland went to British Columbia and named a place there after it. See Castlegar, British Columbia.

Famous people

• The Blake Baronets from 1622 through 1910.
• Castlegar is home to the hurling family, the Connolly brothers, John and Joe Connolly.

Castles in Castlegar, County Galway

Plaque at Castlegar Castle

• Ballybrit Castle,
• Ballindooley Castle (Ballindooly),
• Castlegar Castle (Castle Gar),
• Cloonacauneen Castle (Cluanacauneen),
• Killeen Castle (Killeen),
• Menlo Castle (Menlough),
• Merlin Park Castle (formerly Doughiska/Doughiskey)

Menlo Castle

Villages and townlands in Castlegar, County Galway

• Ballybrit,
• Ballindooley,
• Ballintemple,
• Briarhill,
• Bruckey,
• Cappanabornia,
• Carrabrowne,
• Castlegar Village,
• Killeen,
• Kyloughter,
• Menlo,
• Two-Mile-Ditch,
• Killtulla
• Coolough

References

Coolough

External links

• Menlo and Ballindooley Castle
• Castlegar Castle
• Cluanacauneen and Killeen Castle
• Merlin Park Castle
• Menlo Castle
• Map of all Castlegar Castles