Garbally House is a country house built by the Lord Clancarty in the 17th century. It has two floors and fine views over

Ballinasloe Ballinasloe ( ; ) is a town in the easternmost part of County Galway, Ireland. Located at an ancient crossing point on the River Suck, evidence of ancient settlement in the area includes a number of Bronze Age sites. Built around a 12th-centur ...

. It is situated beside

Garbally College St. Joseph's College, Garbally Park ( Irish: ''Coláiste Sheosaimh'') is an Irish voluntary Catholic secondary school situated in Garbally Park, the former seat of the Earl of Clancarty, near Ballinasloe in County Galway. It is a single-sex boy ...

(Garbally Court), which is an all boys secondary school in Ballinasloe

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 ...

. It has an obelisk, pond, steps (nicknamed the 40 steps) (that have no current use but were previously one of many entrances into the vast estate) and a system of tunnels (that are now closed) on its grounds. It is owned by the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Clonfert The Diocese of Clonfert () is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in the western part of Ireland. It is in the Metropolitan Province of Tuam. Michael Duignan was appointed by the Holy See on 16 July 2019 and ordained bishop on 13 Oc ...

and is inhabited by a local priest who serves as a groundskeeper. It was once used as a hospital by the English after the

Battle of Aughrim The Battle of Aughrim () was the decisive battle of the Williamite War in Ireland. It was fought between the largely Irish Army (Kingdom of Ireland), Irish Jacobitism, Jacobite army loyal to James II of England, James II and the forces of Will ...

in 1691. Following the secession of the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State (6 December 192229 December 1937), also known by its Irish-language, Irish name ( , ), was a State (polity), state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-ye ...

from the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

in 1921, the House along with the surrounding land which constituted Garbally Park was sold to the

, transferring ownership of all fixed assets to the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. The following year in 1922 St. Joseph's College, the diocesan second-level school of Clonfert, moved its premises to Garbally Park, henceforth being commonly referred to as

. Until 2008, the house served as residence to boarding students at Garbally College until the boarding of students at the college came to an end in the same year.

References

External links

Turtle Bunbury; Clancarty
{{coord missing, County Galway Buildings and structures in County Galway