Spiddal

Spiddal, also known as Spiddle (Irish and official name: Template:Lang, Template:IPA, meaning 'the hospital'),<ref name="logainm">Template:Cite web</ref> is a village on the shore of Galway Bay in County Galway, Ireland. It is Template:Convert west of Galway city, on the R336 road.<ref name="devPlan">Template:Cite web</ref> It is just east of the county's Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking area) which is in the Connemara region.

According to the 2022 census, approximately 75% of the population are Irish-speaking and, of these, approximately 40% speak Irish on a daily basis outside the education system.<ref name=cso2022/> Spiddal is a centre for tourism with a beach, harbour, and shore fishing. The village is part of the civil parish of Moycullen.

Old harbour with ruined 18th century chapel at left. Tower of adjacent 20th century chapel, Template:Lang, behind tree.

Name

The name of the village in Irish, Template:Lang, derives from the word Template:Lang, which in turn derived from the Insular French, or Anglo-Normand, word Template:Lang.<ref name="enty">Template:Cite web</ref>

The name originates from a mediaeval leper hospital situated in Template:Lang (West Spiddal). A number of other hospital facilities were based in the area over the years, including a famine hospital during the Great Famine of the mid-1840s. While "Spiddle" is recorded in the Placenames Database of Ireland as the English variant of the name, "Spiddal" is used locally.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

History

Spiddal, like much of the west of Ireland, suffered greatly during the Great Famine of the 1840s, with many people being evicted, and many starving. Appeals were made by the parish priest John O'Grady and by A.W. Blake and, as a result, the Board of Works employed some men in improvements to the village harbour.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

From 1848, the evangelical Protestant Irish Church Missions were active, establishing the Connemara Orphan's Nursery (Spiddal Orphanage or Template:Lang) in the early 1850s,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the home could accommodate up to 90 boys and girls, and became affiliated with the Protestant-run Smyly Homes (and was even referred to as The Bird's Nest, the name of the home in Dublin).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Following its closure as an orphanage, it became a secondary school for girls run by the Catholic Sisters of Mercy.

The local Catholic church, Template:Lang (church of Saint Enda), was built in 1904.<ref name="devPlan"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The ruin of an older chapel, dating to 1776, is nearby.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Amenities

The Pier, Spiddal

There are a number of pubs, shops and other services in the village.<ref name="devPlan"/> Spiddal's Garda (police) station is on Mountain Road.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Template:Lang ("the workshop" in Irish) is a craft centre east of the village where craft works are made and sold.

There is a primary school (Template:Lang) and secondary school (Template:Lang).<ref name="devPlan"/>

The area is served by Bus Éireann route 424 from Galway City.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Boluisce River flows south from Boluisce Lake and enters Galway Bay at Spiddal.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Culture and sport

Template:Lang, the craft centre

Each summer, groups of Irish teenagers visit Spiddal for three-week Irish language courses. Template:Lang and Template:Lang are two Irish language summer schools. American students visit for the autumn term each year to study Irish-language literature and culture.Template:Fact

Live traditional Irish music is regularly performed in the village's pubs.Template:Fact The music group The Waterboys recorded part of their Fisherman's Blues album in Spiddal.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> They also recorded a song called Spring Comes to Spiddal on their album Room to Roam. The television series Template:Lang is filmed there, and broadcast on TG4.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The local Gaelic Athletic Association club is Template:Lang, with Gaelic football and hurling being the most popular sports. There is also a sailing club in the village.

Notable people

• Mary Bergin, musician
• Ronan Browne, musician
• Thom McGinty, actor and stillness artist
• Michael Morris, 3rd Baron Killanin, journalist and the sixth president of the International Olympic Committee, had family connections to the area.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
• Máirtín Ó Cadhain, writer of modern literature in Irish, and author of the comic and modernist work Cré na Cille.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Dónall Ó Héalai, actorTemplate:Fact
• Seán Ó Neachtain, former Member of the European Parliament and Fianna Fáil party politicianTemplate:Fact
• Eimear Ní Chonaola, journalist and broadcast news presenterTemplate:Fact
• Máire Ní Thuathail (1957–2016), television producer.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Gráinne Seoige, television presenter<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Síle Seoige, television presenter<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Máirtín Thornton (died 1984), heavyweight boxer in the 1940s<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

See also

• List of towns and villages in Ireland

External links

• Website of Comhlacht Forbartha an Spidéil
• "Spiddle" in A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837) by Samuel Lewis