Ballinderreen

Ballinderreen
Baile an Doirín
Town
Ballinderreen village
Ballinderreen
Location in Ireland
Coordinates: 53°11′10″N 8°54′29″W / 53.186°N 8.908°W / 53.186; -8.908Coordinates: 53°11′10″N 8°54′29″W / 53.186°N 8.908°W / 53.186; -8.908
Country Ireland
Province Connacht
County County Galway
Elevation 20 m (70 ft)
Population (2011)
 • Rural 1,239
Time zone UTC+0 (WET)
 • Summer (DST) UTC-1 (IST (WEST))
Irish Grid Reference M392154

Ballinderreen (Irish: Baile an Doirín, meaning "townland of the little oak grove")[1] is a village located on the N67 route between Kilcolgan and Kinvara in south County Galway, in Ireland.

Overview

Ballinderreen village is approximately 22 km south of Galway City and is a part of the townland of Ballinderreen. Ballinderreen is both the name of the Catholic diocesan parish of Galway and the townland where the village is situated. It takes its name from oak trees in the village. The Irish name of the village, Baile an Doirín, means "town of the little derry or little oakwood", suggesting the area may once have been more heavily forested with oak trees. It contains the early Christian settlement of Surney of Drumacoo. It had a population of 997 under the 2006 census (under Drumacoo). This represents an increase of 15% on the 2002 figure.[2]

The Ballinderreen GAA colours are two vertical stripes of green and white.

The parish of Ballinderreen covers a larger area, taking in part of the village of Kilcolgan on the N18 and borders Clarinbridge, Kinvara and Ardrahan.

Hierarchy English name Irish name
County Galway Gaillimh
Barony Dunkellin Dún Coillín
Civil parish Drumacoo Droim Mucú
Townland Ballinderreen Baile an Doirín

[3]

The village itself is quite small, with a pub, a primary school,[4] a church (Roman Catholic, St. Colmans), a creche, several sports pitches (mainly used for hurling, a nursing home,[5] and a community centre. A small shopping centre including a fuel station, convenience store, hairdressers and take away restaurant opened in 2009.

Between 2000 and 2010 Ballinderreen saw the construction of many new houses and several small residential developments. This has resulted in a large increase in the village's population. Ballinderreen has become a popular place to live, mainly due to its close proximity to Galway City. Other factors include vibrant festivals in the neighbouring villages of Clarinbridge and Kinvara, its location on the shores of Galway Bay (the village itself is approximately 1.5 km from the shore) and scenery of the bay and The Burren in County Clare.

Geography

The parish is bordered by the shores of Galway Bay. This includes Brandy Harbour and Dunbulcaun Bay to the north and Kinvara Bay to the west. Aran Pier, Mulroog Pier and Tarrea Pier shelter some private pleasure crafts on these shores and offer views of Galway Bay.

Public transport to the village is poor with only two to three services per day passing through the village. However Bus Éireann and CityLink operate services frequently through Kilcolgan, five minutes away, to Galway, Limerick, Cork and Shannon Airport.

The Ballinderreen area itself has sometimes referred to by locals as the mini burren due to its turlough and limestone pavement. A lake with extensive reed beds is present about 1 km west of the village.

Education

Residents of Ballinderreen typically send their children to the national school[6] in the village, which is one of the oldest national schools in the country, having been built in 1857. Other popular primary schools in the area are the Irish Language Gaelscoil de hÍde in nearby Oranmore and Educate Together in Kilcolgan.[7] Secondary schools in Kinvara (Seamount College[8]) and Gort (Gort Community School[9]) cater for the older children.

Music

A community of local musicians and singers known as Ceoltóirí an Doirín have formed a nonprofit organisation aimed at providing facilities for learning and playing traditional Irish music in Ballindereen. This group organise lessons and instrument rental to encourage traditional music and have recorded examples of local musicians and produced several musical events in the area.

The tradition of Mummers is also alive in the Ballinderreen area with regular visits by brightly dressed Wrenboys (Irish: Lucht an dreoilín) frequent on St. Stephen's Day (26 December) and Mummers calling door to door at Halloween.

Sport

Ballinderreen hurling club was founded in 1884, and has had relatively little success in terms of silverware at the older age level but did win the minor B in 1987. The club has always been very competitive in senior competition, and currently plays at senior level. It won the Galway Intermediate hurling championship in 2017, beating Meelick Eyrecourt by 1-14 to 0-13 in the final. The club has produced many local legends, some of whom of are regarded amongst the greats of the game: Noel Lane, Joe McDonagh, and Mick Gill.

Other sporting activities in the area include an active golf society[10] which hosts regular golf outings, a camogie club[11] which caters for teams from U'8 up to Junior, and a variety of water sports, including boating, canoeing and swimming at the local pier at Killeenaran.

In 2011 the club's Junior B hurlers became the first Galway team to win a Leinster title. Shortly afterward, the team secured an all Ireland victory after a 2-6 to 0-5 defeat of Donneraile, Co. Cork.

See also

References

  1. ↑ A. D. Mills, 2003, A Dictionary of British Place-Names, Oxford University Press
  2. ↑ http://www.cso.ie/census/
  3. ↑ The Irish Placenames Commission (An Coimisiún Logainmneacha) http://www.logainm.ie/
  4. ↑ http://ballinderreenns.net
  5. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20070602065243/http://www.stcolumbasnursinghome.ie/
  6. ↑ http://ballinderreenns.net
  7. ↑ http://www.kilcolganetns.com/
  8. ↑ Seamount College
  9. ↑ Gort Community School
  10. ↑
  11. ↑
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