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Loughrea, County Galway

Things to do in Loughrea

The cathedral, the lake and its crannog, St Mary's Abbey and the town wall, the Walks, the Turoe Stone.

Plan of Loughrea with the main sights labelled

The sights as pins on the model; tap one for its page and directions.

8 things to see

  1. St. Brendan's Cathedral
    01

    St Brendan's Cathedral

    Barrack Street · 228 m south-east of the centre

    The cathedral of Clonfert on the lakeshore, designed by William Byrne in 1897 and finished in 1902, with double transepts and a celebrated collection of Celtic Revival art.

  2. Lough Rea
    02

    Lough Rea

    1.3 km south of the centre

    The spring-fed grey lake the town is named for, overlooked by Knockash: brown trout, pike, perch and eels, wintering ducks from Europe, a site of international importance for the shoveler, and swimming and water sports.

  3. 03

    The crannog

    The remains of an ancient island dwelling just behind the boathouse, one of up to fourteen in the lake, where people once lived for safety from raiders.

  4. Saint Mary’s Abbey
    04

    St Mary's Abbey

    The Walks · 193 m north of the centre

    The medieval priory that went with de Burgo's town of 1236, with the wall, the moat and a gate still to be seen.

  5. 05

    The Walks

    The Walks · 188 m north-east of the centre

    The park by the lake at the edge of the centre.

  6. 06

    Stoney Brennan

    The stone face on Millennium House at West Bridge, said to be the man hanged for a turnip in the 1700s.

  7. 07

    The Turoe Stone

    6.1 km north of the centre

    The carved Iron Age stone in the country north of the town, one of the finest of its kind in Europe.

  8. 08

    Dartfield Horse Museum

    6.7 km north-east of the centre

    The horse museum on the Athenry side of the town.

Things to do

Hurling

Loughrea GAA won Galway and Connacht in 2006 and reached the All-Ireland club final of 2007. Johnny Coen, an All-Ireland winner with Galway in 2017, is from the town.

The BAFFLE poetry festival

Every October the town hosts the BAFFLE International Poetry Festival; it also has a musical and dramatic society and a historical society.

The lake

Fishing for trout, pike and perch, swimming and water sports on Lough Rea, and the junior and senior triathlon the local club runs each year under Triathlon Ireland rules.

Irish

Gaeilge Locha Riach, which promotes the language in the town's community and businesses, was named best voluntary committee in Connacht at the 2018 Glór na nGael awards. The Gaelscoil takes the lake's old name, Riabhach.

Rugby, soccer, golf

A rugby club, a soccer club, a Gaelic football club, a volleyball club, an 18-hole golf course, a cycling club and an athletics club all work from the town. Ciaran Fitzgerald, the Irish rugby international, is a Loughrea man.

Castles, abbeys and old churches nearby

  1. 193 m
  2. 2.1 km
  3. 2.2 km
  4. 3.2 km
  5. 3.3 km
  6. 3.4 km
  7. 3.4 km
  8. 3.9 km
  9. 4.0 km
  10. 5.0 km
Ringforts and sites21Holy wells7Castles13

Parks, beaches, lakes and views

  1. 188 m
  2. 1.3 km
  3. 1.6 km
  4. 3.1 km
  5. Turoe Stone
    Attractions
    6.1 km
  6. r
    Gardens
    6.4 km
  7. 6.6 km
  8. 6.7 km
  9. 6.8 km
  10. 9.0 km

Sport and leisure

  1. 105 m
  2. 280 m
  3. 1.1 km
  4. Loughrea GAA Club
    Sports centres
    1.2 km
  5. 1.3 km
  6. 1.6 km
  7. 2.7 km

Photographs: Vanessa Kennedy, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons; Anthony2285, public domain via Wikimedia Commons; Andreas F. Borchert, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

The descriptions summarise Wikipedia, "Loughrea" (CC BY-SA 4.0, read 2026-09-19); positions and the lists are OpenStreetMap. Opening times and admission are not on record here; check before a visit.