Galway (city, Ireland), city in western Ireland, in Connacht Province, county borough of county Galway, seaport on Galway Bay. The city of Galway, in addition to being an export center for wool and agricultural produce from its hinterland, has fisheries, distilleries, iron foundries, flour and corn mills, and marble-polishing works. The older section of the town is built in an irregular fashion, and many of the older buildings are Spanish in architecture. The new town, with spacious streets, is built on rising ground, which slopes gradually toward the bay and the Lough Corrib.
Among the churches in Galway is Saint Nicholas, a cruciform structure dating from 1320. Walls, fragments of which remain, were built around the town about 1270, and the commercial development began about that time. Galway is the site of University College (1845), a constituent college of the National University of Ireland. From the 13th to the 17th century, Galway had considerable trade with Spain. Population (1996) 57,000.xxxx
Galway (county, Ireland), maritime county, western Ireland, in Connacht Province, bounded on the west by the Atlantic Ocean; after county Cork, Galway is the largest Irish county. Most of the eastern part of county Galway is a plain with extensive bogs, but the Connemara region in the west, extending south from county Mayo to Galway Bay, is rugged in terrain, with Benbaun Mountain, in the Twelve Pins (Twelve Bens) group, reaching a height of 730 m (2395 ft) above sea level. The Galway coast has many inlets and is dotted with islands. The county has numerous lakes, the largest being Lough Corrib, 43 km (27 mi) long. The economy of county Galway is based largely upon the growing of wheat, oats, barley, and potatoes and the raising of sheep, pigs, and poultry.
Fishing, gathering kelp, and quarrying limestone, gravel, marl, and black and red marble are also important. The principal towns of the county are the county borough Galway, Ballinasloe, Tuam, and Loughrea. Several ancient encampments, burial sites, and ruins of castles and monasteries are in the county. Area, 5939 sq km (2293 sq mi); population (1991) 180,364.
