County Dossier
Galway
A western county of lakes, stone and Atlantic horizons.
Galway stretches from the rich lands around the Corrib and the city of Galway westward into Connemara, one of the island's most distinctive landscapes of bog, mountain and rock.
At a glance
Galway at a glance
A western county of lakes, stone and Atlantic horizons.
- Connacht and the city of the Tribes
- County by the 16th century
- Connemara, Corrib and the Aran coast
- Area: 2,374 sq miles / 6,149 sq km
- Population: 250,541
- County Top: Benbaun (2,392ft / 729m)
County Geography
Galway meets Mayo to the north, Roscommon to the east, Offaly and Tipperary across the Shannon and Lough Derg to the south-east, and Clare across Galway Bay and the Shannon to the south, while the Atlantic forms the county’s western edge. The county is shaped by Galway Bay, Lough Corrib, the Connemara mountains and bogs, and the eastward opening plain.
Galway is easy to recognise through Galway Bay, Lough Corrib, Connemara, and the eastern pasture country.
Map Reference
View Galway on the map
Galway is the county. The map shows its boundary, places, and neighbouring counties.
The county.
The county boundary.
Nearby counties and places.
Places and routes
Galway, Tuam, Ballinasloe, Loughrea, and Clifden show the county from its city-side core and eastern plain to its outer Connemara west.
Connections
The county’s routes have long centred on Galway and the Corrib side, crossed east toward Tuam, Loughrea, and Ballinasloe, and run west to Clifden and Connemara. Movement follows the same bay, lake, western mountain, and eastern plain pattern.
Names
- Galway
- County Galway
- County of Galway
Gaillimh is the Irish form of Galway. County Galway is the formal historical style, the county name comes from the stony river at Galway, and the county’s older history combines the city of the Tribes with the Gaelic west of Connemara and the Aran coast.
Galway was a county by the sixteenth century, and its combination of city, bay, western upland, and eastern plain still makes it a distinctly readable historic county.