Ballinderreen (), also Ballindereen, is a village located on the N67 road between

Kilcolgan Kilcolgan (), is a village on the mouth of the Kilcolgan River at Dunkellin Bay in County Galway, Ireland. The settlement is at the junction of the N67 and R458 roads, which lies between Gort and Clarinbridge. The village is near the site of ...

and

Kinvara Kinvara or Kinvarra () is a sea port village in the southwest of County Galway, Ireland. It is located in the Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish of Kinvarradoorus in the north of the Barony (Ireland), barony of Kiltartan. Kinvarra is also ...

in south

County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...

, Ireland.

Location and name

Ballinderreen village is approximately 22 km south of

Galway City Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

and is a part of the townland of Ballinderreen. Ballinderreen is both the name of the Catholic diocesan parish of Galway and the townland where the village is situated. It takes its name from oak trees in the village. The Irish name of the village, ''Baile an Doirín'', means "town of the little derry or little oakwood", suggesting the area may once have been more heavily forested with oak trees. It contains the early Christian settlement of Surney of Drumacoo. The parish of Ballinderreen covers a larger area, taking in part of the village of Kilcolgan and borders

Clarinbridge Clarinbridge or Clarenbridge () is a village in south County Galway, Ireland. It is on the mouth of the Clarin River at the end of Dunbulcaun Bay, which is the easternmost part of Galway Bay. The village is 13 km south-east of Galway cit ...

, Kinvara and

Ardrahan Ardrahan () is a village and civil parish in County Galway, Ireland. History Richard de Burgo conquered Galway in 1236, and granted the land to Maurice Fitzgerald who built the castle whose ruins still stand today. The churchyard wall cont ...

. Ballinderreen village and townland are in the barony of Dunkellin and in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of Drumacoo.

Amenities

The village of Ballinderreen has a pub, a primary school, a church (Roman Catholic, St. Colman's), a creche, several sports pitches (mainly used for

hurling Hurling (, ') is an outdoor Team sport, team game of ancient Gaelic culture, Gaelic Irish origin, played by men and women. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goa ...

and athletics), a nursing home, and a community centre. A small shopping centre including a fuel station, convenience store, hairdressers, and take away restaurant opened in 2009. Between 2000 and 2010 Ballinderreen saw the construction of new houses and several small residential developments. This has resulted in an increase in the village's population.

Geography

Ballinderreen is located close to

, to the neighbouring villages of

and

, is located on the shores of

Galway Bay Galway Bay ( Irish: ''Loch Lurgain'' or ''Cuan na Gaillimhe'') is a bay on the west coast of Ireland, between County Galway in the province of Connacht to the north and the Burren in County Clare in the province of Munster to the south; Galway ...

(the village itself is approximately 1.5 km from the shore). Nearby locations within the bay include Brandy Harbour and Dunbulcaun Bay to the north and Kinvara Bay to the west. Aran Pier, Mulroog Pier and Tarrea Pier shelter some private pleasure crafts on these shores. Public transport to the village includes two to three services per day passing through the village. Bus Éireann and CityLink operate services frequently through Kilcolgan, five minutes away, to Galway, Limerick, Cork and Shannon Airport. The Ballinderreen area itself has sometimes referred to by locals as the "mini-Burren" due to its turlough and

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

pavement. A lake with extensive reed beds is present about 1 km west of the village.

Education

Residents of Ballinderreen typically send their children to the national school in the village, which is one of the oldest national schools in the country, having been built in 1857. Other primary schools in the area include the Irish Language ''Gaelscoil de hÍde'' in nearby Oranmore and

Educate Together Educate Together () is an educational charity in Republic of Ireland, Ireland which is the patron body to "equality-based, co-educational, child centred, and democratically run" schools. It was founded in 1984 to act as the patron body for the ...

in Kilcolgan. Secondary schools in Kinvara (Seamount College) and Gort (Gort Community School) cater for the older children.

Music

A community of local musicians and singers known as ''Ceoltóirí an Doirín'' has formed a nonprofit organisation aimed at providing facilities for learning and playing traditional Irish music in Ballindereen. This group organise lessons and instrument rental to encourage traditional music and have recorded examples of local musicians and produced several musical events in the area. The tradition of Mummers is also alive in the Ballinderreen area with regular visits by

Wrenboys Wren Day (), or Hunt the Wren Day (), is an Irish and Manx custom on 26 December, Saint Stephen's Day (known in most of Ulster as Boxing Day). Traditionally, men and boys hunted a wren, which was revered as the 'king of the birds'. They displa ...

() frequent on St. Stephen's Day (26 December) and Mummers calling door to door at Halloween.

Sport

Ballinderreen hurling club was founded in 1884, and has had relatively little success in terms of silverware at the older age level but did win the minor B in 1987. The club plays at the senior level. It won the Galway Intermediate hurling championship in 2017, beating Meelick Eyrecourt by 1–14 to 0–13 in the final. Players from the club have included Noel Lane,

Joe McDonagh Joseph McDonagh () (November 1953 – 20 May 2016) was an Irish hurler and, later, Gaelic games administrator, who served as the president of the Gaelic Athletic Association from 1997 until 2000. He played hurling with his club Ballinderree ...

, and Mick Gill. The Ballinderreen

GAA Gaa may refer to: * Gaa language, a language of Nigeria * gaa, the ISO 639 code for the Ga language of Ghana GAA may stand for: Compounds * Glacial (water-free), acetic acid * Acid alpha-glucosidase, also known as glucosidase, alpha; acid, an e ...

colours are two vertical stripes of green and white. Other sporting activities in the area include a golf society, a camogie club which caters for teams from U'8 up to Junior, and a variety of water sports, including boating, canoeing and swimming at the local pier at Killeenaran.

External links

Ballinderreen Community Website

References

{{Roman Catholic Diocese of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora Towns and villages in County Galway Townlands of County Galway