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Athenry �tha na Rí

Location

Athenry

Its name derives from the ford ('�th') crossing the river Clarin just east of the settlement. Because three kingdoms met at that point, it was called '�th na Ríogh', or 'the Ford of the Kings'. On some medieval maps of English origin the town is called Kingstown. The kingdoms were Hy-Many to the north-east, east and south-east; Aidhne to the south and south-west; Maigh Seola to the west and north-west. Up to around 1000 it was included in Uí Briúin Seóla. In the mid-11th century it was part of the trícha cét of Clann Taidg.

The earliest remaining building in the town is Athenry Castle which was built sometime before 1240 by Meyler de Bermingham. In 1241, the Dominican Abbey was founded, a major institution. It was ostensibly closed during the Reformation but survived until been desecrated and burned during the Mac an Iarla Wars of the 1570s, and was finally vandalised by Cromwellians in the 1650s. The Medieval walls around Athenry are among the most complete and best preserved in Ireland and still retain a number of the original towers as well as the original North gate. The remains of the Lorro Gate were partially unearthed in 2007 during redevelopment road works in the area. In the centre of the town is the square; it is here that Athenry's late 15th century Market Cross is located. The monument which is of Tabernacle or Lantern type is the only one of its kind in Ireland and the only medieval cross still standing in situ in the country. A Heritage centre now occupies the remains of the mid 13th century St Mary's Collegiate Church immediately North of the Square. The original church is largely destroyed but in 1828 Church of Ireland church was built into its chancel.

Moyode Castle is another tall sixteenth-century fortified tower house of the Dolphin family, which went to the Persse family. The castle is now restored and inhabited and is located 3.5 miles from the town of Athenry.

Athenry is served by the newly constructed M6 Motorway which links Galway city to Dublin. The town lies on the Galway–Dublin main line of the Irish rail network, at the junction of that route with the currently disused Limerick–Sligo line (dubbed the Western Railway Corridor – see Irish railway history). Work is now underway ('West on Track') to re-open these passenger links, with the Ennis-Athenry section due for re-opening in 2009 and the Athenry-Tuam section by 2011. Athenry railway station opened on 1 August 1851.^[7]

Athenry is home to St. Mary's G.A.A. club^[8] who have won numerous All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championships.

Athenry Athletics Club^[9] has had a large juvenile section for many years and was complemented in 2002 by a senior section.^{[citation needed]} The senior section now has over 100 members, approximately half of whom are women. The club has produced two Olympic sprinters, Martina MacCarthy, who is from Oranmore and Paul Hession who hails from Ballydavid, just outside the town itself. Martina represented Ireland in the women's 4 x 400 metres relay at the Sydney games and Paul competed in the 200 metres at the Beijing games. A number of other club members have represented their country with distinction in both track and field and cross country across Europe and North America.^{[citation needed]}

Athenry also home to Athenry Soccer Club^[10] which reached the 2006 final of the FAI Junior Cup.^[11] In 2007 Athenry Soccer Club became the Galway Premier League Champions for the first time in the clubs 36 year history. In 2007 and 2008 Athenry Soccer Club also won back to back Connaught Junior Cup Titles.

Athenry Golf Club is an eighteen hole championship course located between Athenry and Oranmore in the townland of Palmerstown. The club is a mixture of parkland and heathland built on a limestone base against the backdrop of a large forest giving excellent drainage, which makes the course playable all year round. Athenry Golf course was extended to 18 holes in 1991 under the guidance of architect Eddie Hackett and further improvements in recent years have led to the club hosting recent Provincial and National championships.

Athenry is twinned with the town of Quimperlé in Brittany.

Achtan inion Olc Acha, fl. 1st-2nd centuries - ancestor of the Connachta

Rev. James Patrick Broderick (1891-1973) - Jesuit and religious writer

Conainne fl. c. 500 - early Christian missionary

Ciarán Cannon (born 1965) - leader of Progressive Democrats

Eugene Cloonan (born 1978) - sportsperson

Patrick D'Arcy (1598–1668) - leading Irish Confederate

Basilia de Bermingham (fl. c.1250) - religious patron

Meyler de Bermingham - founder of Athenry

Rickard de Bermingham (d.1322) - Lord Athenry, victor of the Second Battle of Athenry

Liam Deois (fl. early 1800s) - highwayman

Padraic Fallon (1905–1974) - poet

Peter Feeney - Mayor of County Galway 2008-09^[12]

Tony Flannery - redemptorist and religious writer

Paul Hession (born 1983) - Olympic sprinter

Kerrill Christian missionary - fl. c. 480?

Larry Lardner fl. 1920 - I.R.A. commander

Maél Póil - medieval abbot of Templemoyle

P.J. Molloy (born 1952) - former hurler

Fr. Tom O'Connor - missionary priest and controversial historian

Joe Rabbitte (born 1970) - local hurler

Frank Shaw-Taylor (died 1920) - killed during Irish War of Independence