The history of Claddaghduff
Omey's five thousand years, O'Connell, the Famine, the writers. 4 moments, in order.
- 5,000 years ago
Omey
Human history on the island goes back at least that far; its granite, the Omey pluton, is among the oldest in Connemara, and the medieval Teampall Feichin stands in it.
- 1840s
O'Connell's rally
Claddaghduff was the scene of at least one of Daniel O'Connell's monster rallies for emancipation.
- 1847 to 1848
The Famine
Large numbers left for America and Boston; the graveyard by the shore at Grallagh was chosen for the children starvation and disease took. English landlords owned most of the farmland, and the abandoned houses round the village show what tenancy meant.
- 20th century
Writers
Richard Murphy's poetry drew on the lore, land and sea here, John McGahern lived in the village, and much of Walter Macken's scenery comes from his time around it.
Where this comes from
Every paragraph above summarises a statement in Wikipedia, "Claddaghduff", licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, as it read on 2026-09-19. Follow it for the footnotes. Nothing has been added from memory.