Medieval Tour of Galway

Take a walk through a city steeped in medieval history - where fathers condemned their own sons to the gallows, and a wall was the only thing between you and the blade of a dreaded O'Flaherty. At the mouth of the River Corrib as it meets Galway Bay, stands Galway. This modern city has at its heart, the fabric of the original medieval settlement. Over the centuries, people have used this location to establish and develop a town, which became one of the most important trading posts along the western seaboard in the medieval period. Galway has a rich and complex history. Archaeological excavations in the city have revealed the story of the walled town and the earliest buildings, including the de Burgo castle first built in 1232 and the Red Earl’s Hall constructed in the late 1200s or early 1300s. The origin of the name ‘Galway’ from the Irish ‘Gaillimh’ is uncertain. One theory suggests that the name derives from the Galway (Gaillimh) River, now the River Corrib, from the Irish words ‘gall’ and ‘amh’ meaning ‘stony river’. According to local legend, the town is called after Gaillimh or Galvia, the daughter of the mythical King Breasal, who drowned in the river.