Tradition · Galway city

The Claddagh ring

Two hands hold a heart, and the heart wears a crown: the heart is love, the crown loyalty, the hands friendship. The Claddagh ring, fáinne an Chladaigh, has been made in Galway since at least 1700 and takes its name from the fishing village at the mouth of the Corrib, though nobody called it a Claddagh ring before the 1830s. It is the ring Irish mothers give daughters, the ring couples marry with, and the ring presidents come home wearing.

Checked against the source on 2026-09-19.

Gold Royal Claddagh Ring Claddagh Ring
Royalcladdagh, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Claddagh Ring Museum, Claddagh Jewellers, Claddagh and Celtic Jewellery on the 3D model; tap a pin for its page and directions.

A fede ring from the Claddagh

The design belongs to a European family of rings called fede rings, from the Italian mani in fede, hands joined in faith; the clasped-hands gesture goes back to Rome, where it sealed a vow, and such rings served as engagement and wedding rings through medieval and Renaissance Europe. Galway's version, with the crowned heart between the hands, took its modern form in the seventeenth century, and the oldest surviving examples were made by Bartholomew Fallon. It almost certainly began in or near the Claddagh itself.

Richard Joyce and the legend

The story most often told is of Richard Joyce, a Galway silversmith of around 1700. Captured by Algerian corsairs about 1675 on a voyage to the West Indies, he was sold to a Moorish goldsmith who taught him the craft. When William III sent an ambassador to Algiers to demand the release of enslaved British subjects, Joyce, after fourteen years, was freed and came home to Galway, where he is said to have made the first rings. Legend or not, the Joyces were one of the Tribes of Galway, and the craft has stayed in the city.

How it is worn

The ring is a friendship ring for some, but most often an engagement and wedding ring. The way it is worn carries a message: on which hand and with the heart pointing in or out, single, spoken for, engaged or married, a code understood in Ireland, the United States, Canada and wherever the Irish settled. A Fenian Claddagh, without the crown, exists but never caught on. The motto that goes with it is Let love and friendship reign.

John F. Kennedy and his wife received rings on their visit to Galway in 1963; Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton were given theirs by Ireland. Queen Victoria, Edward VII and Queen Alexandra wore them after 1849. Walt Disney came home from Ireland with one, and it is on his hand on the Partners statue at Disney World, heart facing outward though he was married. Maureen O'Hara and John Wayne got theirs while making The Quiet Man; Peter O'Toole and Daniel Day-Lewis have often been seen wearing one.

Questions people ask

What does the Claddagh ring mean?

The heart is love, the crown loyalty, the two hands friendship; the motto is Let love and friendship reign.

Which way do you wear a Claddagh ring?

By custom the hand and the direction of the heart tell whether the wearer is single, in a relationship, engaged or married; the ring is most often used as an engagement or wedding ring.

Where does the Claddagh ring come from?

From the Claddagh fishing village in Galway. Rings have been made in the city since at least 1700, and Richard Joyce, a silversmith once enslaved in Algiers, is the legendary maker.

Written from Wikipedia, "Claddagh ring" (CC BY-SA 4.0), read on 2026-09-19, and from the OpenStreetMap places on the model. Nothing has been added from memory; follow the source for its footnotes.