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County Galway · Connacht · Baile Átha an Rí

About Athenry

Athenry is a town in County Galway, 20 km east of Galway city, with 4,603 people at the 2022 census. A ford of the kings, a Norman castle, a Dominican priory and the most complete town wall in Ireland, still on its thirteenth-century street plan.

Population
4,603 (2022 census)
Where
20 km from Galway, 165 km from Dublin
Position
53.2990° N, 8.7466° W, 47 m above sea level
In Irish
Baile Átha an Rí
On the model
2,427 buildings, 61 streets, 226 places in 80 kinds
Read more
Athenry on Wikipedia
The 3D model of Athenry with every named place pinned
Ulster Bank, The Square, Athenry, Co. Galway
Ulster Bank, The Square, Athenry, Co. Galway
P L Chadwick, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Athenry, County Galway, Ireland St. Mary's Parish Church and town as seen from Athenry castle, looking…
Athenry, County Galway, Ireland St. Mary's Parish Church and town as seen from Athenry castle, looking…
Andreas F. Borchert, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
AIB (Allied Irish Banks), The Square, Athenry, Co. Galway
AIB (Allied Irish Banks), The Square, Athenry, Co. Galway
P L Chadwick, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Athenry Castle - Ireland
Athenry Castle - Ireland
Ingo Mehling, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

A short history

  1. Before 1135
    The ford of the kings. The name is Baile Átha an Rí, the town of the ford of the king: the crossing of the Clarin river just east of the town, in the home country of the Cenél nDéigill kings of Soghan and their leading family, the Ó Mainnín.
  2. 1230s
    The Berminghams. Meyler de Bermingham displaced the Ó Taidg in turn, and before 1240 he had built the castle that is still the oldest building in the town.
  3. Late 1400s
    The Market Cross. The cross in the Square, of the tabernacle or lantern type, is the only one of its kind in Ireland and the only medieval cross in the country still standing where it was put.
  4. 1828
    A church in the chancel. St Mary's Collegiate Church of the mid-thirteenth century was mostly gone, so a Church of Ireland church was built into its chancel in 1828.
  5. 1863
    A Bronze Age shield. A late Bronze Age shield was found near the town in 1863; it is in the British Museum.
  6. 2022
    A town of 4,603. The census counted 4,603 people, more than double the 2,154 of 2002, on the M6 between Galway and Dublin.

The full history, 11 moments in order

What to see

  1. Athenry Castle189 m

    Meyler de Bermingham's castle, built before 1240 and the oldest building in the town.

  2. The Dominican priory165 m

    Founded in 1241, a house of learning burned in the Mac an Iarla wars and wrecked by Cromwellians; its ruins were almost all standing when a French traveller saw them in 1791, and still are.

  3. The town wall and the North Gate215 m

    Seventy per cent of the medieval circuit survives with its towers, the original North Gate, and the Lorro Gate found in 2007: among the most complete town walls in Ireland.

  4. The Market Cross

    In the Square, the only tabernacle-type cross in Ireland and the only medieval cross still standing in situ, with markets held around it since the seventeenth century.

  5. The Heritage Centre73 m

    In the remains of St Mary's Collegiate Church of the mid-thirteenth century, beside the Square, with the 1828 church built into the old chancel.

  6. Moyode Castle5.7 km

    A tall sixteenth-century tower house of the Dolphin family, later of the Persses, restored and lived in, 5.6 km from the town.

All the things to see and do

Population since 1821

1,1512,3023,45218211851190119511971200220224,603

Source: Wikipedia article 'Athenry', Historical populations template, citing the CSO census.

Questions people ask

Where is Athenry?
In County Galway, in the province of Connacht, in the west of Ireland: 20 km east of Galway city and 165 km west of Dublin, on the M6 between Galway and Dublin.
What is the population of Athenry?
4,603 people at the 2022 census, up from 4,445 in 2016.
What is there in Athenry?
On the map, 226 named places in 80 kinds: 27 places to eat and drink, 35 shops, 18 schools, churches and public buildings, and 80 things to see within 12 km.
What is Athenry famous for?
Its medieval town wall, the most complete in Ireland; the castle of the 1230s; the Dominican priory of 1241; the only medieval market cross in Ireland still standing where it was put; and the song The Fields of Athenry.
What is the history of Athenry?
A royal ford of the kings of Soghan, taken by the O'Connors in the twelfth century and the Berminghams in the 1230s, who built the castle and founded the priory; a walled market town through the Middle Ages, wrecked in the wars of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; a railway junction from 1851; and a fast-growing commuter town on the M6 today.

Getting around

Athenry sits on the M6 between Galway and Dublin. 5 bus stops and 3 car parks are on the map.

History, sights and civic facts summarise Wikipedia, "Athenry" (CC BY-SA 4.0, read 2026-09-19). Population is the CSO census as listed there. Distances and everything on the model are OpenStreetMap.