Meelick, County Galway
Meelick is a townland on the river Shannon. It is approximately 6 kms east of Eyrecourt in County Galway. File:Meelickeast.jpg
Oldest Catholic Church in Use
Meelick has the oldest Irish Roman Catholic church with continuous use since 1414 AD. [1] Originaly founded as a Franciscan abbey, the church and sacristy are still in use today. The ruins include traces of the transept chapel, friary and small mill. Papal permission for Meelick friary was granted by John XXII in 1414. The last friar of Meelick was Fr. Bonaventure Francis Reynolds. When he died in November 1852, there was no friar available to replace him. Since then the church has been maintained for weekly services.
Fishing
It is also a well-regarded location for fishing, primarily salmon and wild brown trout. [2] The river at this point is wide and full of islands, weirs, pools and streams. At its widest point it is over 1½ kms in width. Meelick is a known angling location when the salmon are running and has some varied waters ranging from fast runs to glides and pools to slow deep stretches. There are islands separating an artificial cut on the Co Offaly bank with the main River Shannon at Meelick on the Co Galway bank. It has a very small spring salmon run best time April into mid May. Summer salmon arrive generally from mid June in normal years and fishing is best up to mid July and its at this time that anglers tend to fish the area. Runs are moderate and variable from year to year. It regularly attracts a large number of fishing tourists from England.
In 1887 Meelick were one of the first teams to compete for the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship, the first national championship of the game of hurling ever held in Ireland. Representing County Galway in the final, Meelick were defeated by Thurles, representing County Tipperary. The game was held in Birr in County Offaly in front of a crowd of 5,000. Meelick-Eyrecourt is the name of the local GAA club.
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