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Spiddal
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Spiddal
Spiddal, also known as Spiddle (Irish and official name: An Spidéal, pronounced [ənˠ ˈsˠpʲɪdʲeːlˠ], meaning 'the hospital'), is a village on the shore of Galway Bay in County Galway, Ireland. It is 18 kilometres (11 mi) west of Galway city, on the R336 road. 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. Spiddal is a centre for tourism with a beach, harbour, and shore fishing. The village is part of the civil parish of Moycullen.
The name of the village in Irish, An Spidéal, derives from the word ospidéal, which in turn derived from the Insular French, or Anglo-Normand, word ospitel.
The name originates from a mediaeval leper hospital situated in An Spidéal Thiar (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.
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.
From 1848, the evangelical Protestant Irish Church Missions were active, establishing the Connemara Orphan's Nursery (Spiddal Orphanage or Nead Le Farraige) in the early 1850s, 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). Following its closure as an orphanage, it became a secondary school for girls run by the Catholic Sisters of Mercy.
The local Catholic church, Cill Éinde (church of Saint Enda), was built in 1904. The ruin of an older chapel, dating to 1776, is nearby.
There are a number of pubs, shops and other services in the village. Spiddal's Garda (police) station is on Mountain Road. An Ceardlann ("the workshop" in Irish) is a craft centre east of the village where craft works are made and sold.
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Spiddal
Spiddal, also known as Spiddle (Irish and official name: An Spidéal, pronounced [ənˠ ˈsˠpʲɪdʲeːlˠ], meaning 'the hospital'), is a village on the shore of Galway Bay in County Galway, Ireland. It is 18 kilometres (11 mi) west of Galway city, on the R336 road. 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. Spiddal is a centre for tourism with a beach, harbour, and shore fishing. The village is part of the civil parish of Moycullen.
The name of the village in Irish, An Spidéal, derives from the word ospidéal, which in turn derived from the Insular French, or Anglo-Normand, word ospitel.
The name originates from a mediaeval leper hospital situated in An Spidéal Thiar (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.
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.
From 1848, the evangelical Protestant Irish Church Missions were active, establishing the Connemara Orphan's Nursery (Spiddal Orphanage or Nead Le Farraige) in the early 1850s, 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). Following its closure as an orphanage, it became a secondary school for girls run by the Catholic Sisters of Mercy.
The local Catholic church, Cill Éinde (church of Saint Enda), was built in 1904. The ruin of an older chapel, dating to 1776, is nearby.
There are a number of pubs, shops and other services in the village. Spiddal's Garda (police) station is on Mountain Road. An Ceardlann ("the workshop" in Irish) is a craft centre east of the village where craft works are made and sold.
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