Kildaree () is a small townland located on the R327 regional road approximately 2.8 miles/4.4 km outside the small village of Williamstown in northeast

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 Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. It is approximately in area.

Location

The townland is situated on the Galway/Roscommon border to the west and is 4.5 miles/7.3 km from the village of

Cloonfad Cloonfad () is a village in County Roscommon, Ireland, at the crossroads of the N83 National secondary road and the R327 regional road, about 10 km from the town of Ballyhaunis in County Mayo. A public walkway takes walkers to neighbouri ...

County Roscommon County Roscommon () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is part of the province of Connacht and the Northern and Western Region. It is the List of Irish counties by area, 11th largest Irish county by area and Li ...

. To the north, Kildaree is bordered by a turlough known as Coolcam Lough (listed as a

special area of conservation A special area of conservation (SAC) is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), also known as the ''Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora''. They are to protect the 220 habitats and ap ...

). This is a temporary lake that dries up during the warmer summer months, a typical feature of counties

Galway 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 ...

, Mayo,

Roscommon Roscommon (; ; ) is the county town and the largest town in County Roscommon in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is roughly in the centre of Ireland, near the meeting of the N60 road (Ireland), N60, N61 road (Ireland), N61 and N63 road (Irelan ...

and

Clare Clare may refer to: Places Antarctica * Clare Range, a mountain range in Victoria Land Australia * Clare, South Australia, a town in the Clare Valley * Clare Valley, South Australia Canada * Clare (electoral district), an electoral district * Cl ...

in the West of Ireland. The townland is also home to four

ringforts Ringforts or ring forts are small circular fortified settlements built during the Bronze Age, Iron Age and early Middle Ages up to about the year 1000 AD. They are found in Northern Europe, especially in Ireland. There are also many in S ...

, Iron Age remnants of a by-gone era. Folklore and superstition have surrounded these ringforts for centuries and they are often referred to as

fairy fort Fairy forts (also known as ''lios'' or ''raths'' from the Irish language, Irish, referring to an earthen mound) are the remains of stone circles, ringforts, hillforts, or other circular prehistoric dwellings in Ireland. From possibly the late I ...

s by older generations.

Cemetery

The focal-point of the townland is the graveyard or cemetery from which the area gets its name. Originally, a church stood within the grounds of this graveyard but there is little evidence of its existence today. Some foundations remain but they are mostly hidden by growth and all that remains visible is a holy water font carved into a rock near what would once have been the entrance to the church. The water font is associated with a legend which suggests that two local kings once fought over ownership of the church lands. In the heat of the battle, they struck the water font several times with their swords, cutting a number of slices into the stone that are visible today. A more likely story is that this was a rejected piece of masonry from the construction of the church that was later recycled into a holy water font, and the markings are stonemason's toolmarks.

Gore-Booth family

In the time of Landlord ownership, Kildaree was once part of a larger swath of land owned by the Gore-Booth family who lived in

Lissadell House Lissadell House is a neo-classical Greek revivalist style country house in County Sligo, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The house was built between 1830 and 1835 for Sir Robert Gore-Booth, 4th Baronet (1784–1835) by London architect Francis G ...

County Sligo County Sligo ( , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region and is part of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. Sligo is the administrative capital and largest town in ...

. Constance Gore-Booth is today better known as

Constance Markievicz Constance Georgine Markievicz ( ; ' Gore-Booth; 4 February 1868 – 15 July 1927), also known as Countess Markievicz and Madame Markievicz, was an Irish politician, revolutionary, nationalist, suffragist, and socialist who was the first woman ...

, a close friend of

W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (, 13 June 186528 January 1939), popularly known as W. B. Yeats, was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer, and literary critic who was one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the ...

and an iconic female figure involved in the early struggle and politics of the founding of the state, the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

. Today, the area has a small population of just 28 people and has only 10 houses within its boundaries.

References

External links

* http://www.williamstown.ie {{coord missing, County Galway Townlands of County Galway