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County Galway · Connacht · Béal Átha Ghártha

About Ballygar

Ballygar is a village in County Galway, 55 km north-east of Galway city, with 660 people at the 2022 census. A planned market town of 1820 at the gate of Castle Kelly, where the landlord walked every house on the first of the month with tickets for cleanliness and a prize at the year's end.

Population
660 (2022 census)
Where
55 km from Galway, 138 km from Dublin
Position
53.5223° N, 8.3261° W, 66 m above sea level
In Irish
Béal Átha Ghártha
On the model
984 buildings, 2 streets, 69 places in 15 kinds
Read more
Ballygar on Wikipedia
The 3D model of Ballygar with every named place pinned

A short history

  1. 1585
    Francis Shane of Ballygar. On 6 August the chieftains of Galway and Roscommon met Lord Deputy Perrot in Galway to surrender their lands and take them back at a penny an acre; Francis Shane, gent, of Ballygar, perhaps the owner of the castle, signed.
  2. 1641 to 1704
    The castle goes. The Earl of St Albans held Bealagara in 1641 and lost it; the castle, garrisoned in the rebellion of the 1640s, passed to Clanricarde and vanished early in the eighteenth century.
  3. 1820
    Denis Henry Kelly's market. The owner of 13,500 acres set up a toll market by the main entrance to Castle Kelly.
  4. 1835 to 1841
    Loans and tidiness. A Reproductive Loan Fund, run like a credit union, opened in 1835 with 1,000 pounds circulating by 1844.
  5. 1840
    Second only to Athlone. Twenty years after its founding, the market was said to be the second in trade in the region and the town had 52 houses and 363 people.
  6. 2022
    660 people. The census count for the village, 19 km from Roscommon town.

The full history, 6 moments in order

What to see

  1. The market square and diamond

    Kelly's planned town: the wide Main Street, the square and the diamond at the estate gate.

  2. St Mary's Church96 m

    The parish church at the top of the town.

  3. Killeroran1.4 km

    The old church and graveyard of the parish, 1.4 km out.

  4. Ballinlass9.8 km

    The memorial to the eviction of 1846, 10 km away.

  5. Woodbrook House8.0 km

    The ruined house 8 km from the village.

All the things to see and do

Questions people ask

Where is Ballygar?
In County Galway, in the province of Connacht, in the west of Ireland: 55 km north-east of Galway city and 138 km west of Dublin, on the N63, 19 km from Roscommon town.
What is the population of Ballygar?
660 people at the 2022 census.
What is there in Ballygar?
On the map, 69 named places in 15 kinds: 0 places to eat and drink, 2 shops, 3 schools, churches and public buildings, and 62 things to see within 12 km.
What is Ballygar known for?
Being Denis Henry Kelly's planned market town of 1820, once second only to Athlone in trade, with its cleanliness tickets and loan fund.

Getting around

Ballygar sits on the N63, 19 km from Roscommon town. 2 bus stops and 0 car parks are on the map.

History, sights and civic facts summarise Wikipedia, "Ballygar" (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.