Village · Co. Galway
“Town of the ford of the king” — the medieval town on the River Clare, 25 km east of Galway, with the town wall, the castle, the priory, the 13th-century street-plan and the song that made its fields famous.
Athenry (Baile Átha an Rí in Irish, meaning “town of the ford of the king”) is a town in County Galway, Ireland, which lies 25 kilometres east of Galway city. The attractions of the medieval town are its town wall, Athenry Castle, its priory and its 13th-century street-plan — the shape of the town is the medieval shape, kept through the centuries, and the walk through it is the walk that passes the wall, the castle and the priory on the way to the river. The town is also well known by virtue of the song “The Fields of Athenry”, which made the fields around it famous beyond the county.
Athenry's name derives from the ford — Áth — crossing the River Clare just east of the settlement. It was originally called Áth na Ríogh, “Ford of the Kings”, because it was the home area of the Cenél nDéigill kings of Soghan, whose leading lineage were the Ó Mainnín. On some medieval maps of English origin the town is called Kingstown — the ford, the kings and the name, and the river that the town was built to cross. The town is in a townland, civil parish and barony of the same name: the country is the town's, from the river to the fields.
The town wall, the castle and the priory are the town's landmarks — the defences, the lord's house and the church of the medieval town, and the 13th-century street-plan that keeps the shape of all of it. The walk from the castle to the wall and on to the river is the walk that gets done: the stones, the plan and the water, with the fields of the song around it. The town works as the base for the Corrib's lower country — the river, the fields and the fields of the song.
Athenry is 25 km east of Galway city, on the River Clare; the wall, the castle and the priory are in the town, and the 13th-century street-plan is the walk. The town is the quiet place between the city and the Shannon country — the stones in the morning, the river in the afternoon.
Where to stay
Athenry puts the wall, the castle and the river all within a walk — the 13th-century plan is the point.
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