In a recent episode of the Irish Passport Podcast, we visited the medieval city of Galway to trace the town’s ancient merchant oligarchy: the so-called Tribes. You can see some of the landmarks mentioned in that episode below, and if you are lucky enough to visit the city in the future, you can source them out for yourself!
The foundations of this unassuming house on Quay Street actually contain the remnants of the first building to be called a “castle” in Ireland – the 12th century Dún bhun na Gaillimhe (Fort at the mouth of the Galway River). The original building was erected by the Gaelic King of Connaught, Tairrdelbach UaConchobair, before the Norman invasion of 1169.On the winding Druid’s Lane, the remnants of a grand 13th century civic hall was discovered in the 1990s – this is the Hall of the Red Earl, where merchants and townspeople would meet for banquets, to collect taxes, and hold court. Hidden above a window on Cross street, Adrian Martyn notes that this 14th century lintel is probably the only surviving depiction in stone of the (now-extinct) Irish wolf.The fishing village of the Claddagh, just outside the city walls, is world-famous for its distinctive wedding ring. Many of the gold rings were pawned during the Great Famine to pay for passage to America, and thus became a symbol of Irish immigration around the world.Marriage stones, celebrating familial alliances among the Tribes, are to be found above doors all over the city. This one, from 1615, is typical in its depiction of a double-herald, with both family crests united. The initials of the newlyweds are carved below. The magnificent Lynch’s Castle was not a defensive building, but the town house of one of the most powerful Tribes: de Lynch. It hints at the splendour of the city’s architecture during the height of the Tribes’ commercial success.Acts of vandalism committed by Cromwell’s invading army can still be seen in St Nicholas’s Church (est. 1320). Catholic iconography was defaced by the English army, and the church was reputedly used as a stable for the army’s horses.This famous city map (now thought to date from 1664, rather than 1651) was created in the aftermath of Cromwell’s invasion, and is singularly noted for its exquisite detail. It was, in the words of Adrian Martyn, a message from the tribes that “This is our city, and by God we’re going to get it back”.
You can listen to our episode “Galway, City of The Tribes” here.
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