The Mills of Cregg and Drumgriffin

The Mills of Cregg and Drumgriffin

We are all familiar with the beautiful imposing Cregg Mill building, a landmark in our parish, which has been carefully maintained and occupied up to the present day. However, at one time, this was just one of three mills in a milling complex on the Cregg River, demonstrating a rich history in milling in this area spanning at least the last four centuries. The building we call ‘Cregg Mill’ today was originally known as Drumgriffin Mill, with the original Cregg Mill across the river in Aucloggeen on the Cregg Estate, and the Aucloggeen Mill across the road.
Milling in Annaghdown Parish is first recorded in the Books of Survey and Distribution, where Andrew Kirwan is listed in 1641 as the proprietor of a ‘Grist Mill & Tucking Mill under one Roofe’ in Craigebulline Cooley (now Cregg townland). There are only 15 mills listed in Co. Galway in this period with most described as Mill’ or ‘Little Mill’. There is only one other grist mill recorded in the county, and only three corn mills. Grist mills ground cereals into flour and tuck mills were a step in the process of woollen cloth making.

Corbally / An Corrbhaile

Townland. It is the property of James O’Hara, Esq., Galway. The greater portion under tillage and a very large portion subject to winter floods forming part of the Turlough. The townland abounds in small forts and near its North side is Corbally house the residence of Browne, Esq., of this townland forms a demesne. There is a Trigl. Station in its Western centre 131 feet above the sea, and the general surface of the townland and varies from 94 to 130 feet above the sea.

Shanbally / An tSean Bhaile

Shanbally / An Seanbhaile Compiled by Paul Greaney Overview Irish name: An Seanbhaile Irish pronunciation: English name: Shanbally Meaning: the old town/village Area: 165 acres and 29 perches. Field Names: None yet recorded. Information from O’Donovan’s Field Name Books Other names: Shanbally, Sean bhaile, Shanmhallagh (Bostoon!), Shanbally (B.

St Brendan’s Church, Corrandulla

St Brendan’s Church, Corrandulla

The foundation stone for St Brendan’s was laid in 1831, under the direction of parish priest Rev. Raymond Hargadon. The building was part of a wave of new churches built throughout the country following the relaxation of the Penal Laws under the Roman Catholic Relief Act of 1829. The church is actually located in the townland of Carrowbeg South, and replaced a thatched chapel in Corrandulla townland, the ruins of which can be seen in the present cemetery. The site appears to have been supplied by the Blake family of Cregg Castle, who later provided the adjoining site for the Franciscan Monastery and Boys’ School. The church is built to a standard cruciform plan, along an inverted liturgically-correct axis (east to west rather than west to east). It consists of a two-bay double-height nave opening into single-bay transepts centred on the chancel, with a pitched slate roof, and with a single-bay three-stage tower on a square plan attached to the main entrance.

Forty Years at Gort Roe, Corrandulla

John Arden

I came to Gort Roe in 1971, with my wife Margaretta D’Arcy and our four young sons. We had been living on an island in Loch Corrib, but because of the difficulty of getting the boys to school, we decided to move to the mainland during term-time. Margaretta went into Collerans, the estate agent, saying how much she was prepared to pay for a small house outside Galway that would be near a bus stop and near a shop. “Why, we have just the thing!” We could walk right into it that very day. Danny Griffin, shopkeeper in Wood Quay, had bought the house from the Cahills whose farmhouse it had been until they built a new bungalow next door. Mrs Griffin unfortunately had become ill so their dream of retirement into a cottage in the country was dashed.

How Far Back Can We Go?

How Far Back Can We Go?

Was Annaghdown parish populated during the time of Brian Boru and if so did the inhabitants ever hear of the great king? Well we know that St Brendan and St Briga with their communities lived in Annaghdown long before the times of Brian the brave. Dare we enquire how far back in time we can go regarding human habitation in this parish? We hit the jackpot way back in 1934 though few people knew about the discovery then, and perhaps not many know about it today. Remain in ignorance no longer for this is how it happened. At that time the local farmers were forced to try a variety of means available to them to eke out a living on their small holdings of land – not only by raising stock but by such enterprises as cultivating sugar beet or by selling turf, cabbages or potatoes. During the month of November 1934 potatoes were selling at 4d. per stone, butter at 1 shilling a lb., eggs at 2s. 6d. a score, hay at 25 shillings a cwt. while two year old heifers and bullocks would realise 46 each.

The Galway Peace Resolution of 1920

The Galway Peace Resolution of 1920

One hundred years ago at the end close of 1920, tensions were high across Ireland. November was a bloody month, with British Crown Forces intensifying their campaign of terror. The murder of Eileen Quinn from Kiltartan near Gort, a pregnant mother of four children, followed by the abduction and murder of Fr. Michael Griffin in Galway shocked the world. This was followed by `Bloody Sunday’ in which twenty individuals identified as British agents by Michael Collins and his comrades were targeted and fifteen killed. In revenge for these deaths, Auxiliaries and Black and Tans killed at least fourteen and injured dozens in and around Croke Park that afternoon. At the same time, two high-ranking IRA officers, Dick McKee and Peadar Clancy, as well as Clareman Conor Clune were being tortured by Auxiliaries in Dublin Castle. They had been picked up the night before having been betrayed by an informer. Their bodies were found the next day battered, bayoneted and shot to death. It was a big blow to the IRA, but morale was boosted a week later when at Kilmichael, Co. Cork, the 3rd West Cork Brigade ambushed an Auxiliary convoy, killing seventeen. On 29 November, possibly the most gruesome act of the conflict occurred with the abductions and brutal murders of the Loughnane brothers of Shanaglish near Gort by the Auxiliary Division of the RIC.