THE BONDS IN CATHAIR NA GAILLIMHE, CONNACHT

The Bonds walking across Cathair na Gaillimhe

Gaillimh or Galway is a city in the West of Ireland in the province of Connacht. 

Galway City Council is the local authority for the city. Galway lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay and is surrounded by County Galway. It is the fourth most populous urban area in the Republic of Ireland and the sixth most populous city in the island of Ireland.

The city's name is from the Irish name for Abhainn na Gaillimhe, which formed the western boundary of the earliest settlement, Dún Bhun na Gaillimhe, Fort at the mouth of the Gaillimh. 

More information: Galway Tourism

Historically, the name was Anglicised as Galliv, which is closer to the Irish pronunciation as is the city's name in Latin, Galvia.

The city also bears the nickname Cathair na dTreabh, The City of the Tribes, because of the fourteen merchant families called the tribes of Galway led the city in its Hiberno-Norman period. The term tribes was a derogatory one, because the merchants saw themselves as Anglo-Irish and were loyal to the King during the English Civil War. They later adopted the term as a badge of honour and pride in defiance of the town's Cromwellian occupier.

The Bonds visiting Cathair na Gaillimhe at night

Dún Bhun na Gaillimhe was constructed in 1124, by the King of Connacht, Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair (1088–1156).

Eventually, a small settlement grew up around this fort. During the Norman invasion of Connacht in the 1230s, Galway fort was captured by Richard Mor de Burgh, who had led the invasion. 

As the de Burghs eventually became Gaelicised, the merchants of the town, the Tribes of Galway, pushed for greater control over the walled city.

This led to their gaining complete control over the city and to the granting of mayoral status by the English crown in December 1484. Galway endured difficult relations with its Irish neighbours. A notice over the west gate of the city, completed in 1562 by Mayor Thomas Óge Martyn, stated From the Ferocious O'Flahertys may God protect us. A by-law forbade the native Irish, as opposed to Galway's Hiberno-Norman citizens, unrestricted access into Galway, saying neither O’ nor Mac shall strutte nor swagger through the streets of Galway without permission. 

During the Middle Ages, Galway was ruled by an oligarchy of fourteen merchant families, twelve who claimed to be of Norman origin and two of Irish origin. These were the The Tribes of Galway. 

During the 16th and 17th centuries Galway remained loyal to the English crown for the most part, even during the Gaelic resurgence, perhaps for reasons of survival. However, by 1642 the city had allied itself with the Catholic Confederation of Kilkenny during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. During the resulting Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, Cromwellian forces captured the city after a nine-month siege. At the end of the 17th century the city supported the Jacobites in the Williamite war in Ireland and was captured by the Williamites after a very short siege not long after the Battle of Aughrim in 1691. The great families of Galway were ruined. 

The city suffered further under the Potato Famines of 1845–1852, and it did not fully recover until the period of strong economic growth of the late 20th century.

More information: Galway International Arts Festival 2017

 If her hair was black and her eyes were blue,
I've traveled around I've been all over this world.
Boys I ain't never seen nothin' like a Galway girl.

Steve Earle