placenamesRecess
Sraith Salach
A station beside Glendollagh Lough and an ambitious railway hotel connected Recess with the development of Connemara tourism.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- Sraith Salach · Irish · main form · validated name
- Recess · English · main form
Place & story
A station beside the lake
The Midland Great Western Railway’s Galway–Clifden line opened in 1895, bringing rail transport through central Connemara. Recess station stood at the north-west corner of Glendollagh Lough. A black-and-white photograph preserved by the Irish Capuchin Archives, catalogued to about 1930, records the station during its working life. The image belongs to the archive’s photographic collections and preserves a view of the village’s role as a stopping place on the route. [2]
The Great Western Hotel
Railway investment extended to accommodation. The Irish Architectural Archive records an 1896 hotel project at Recess for the Midland Great Western Railway Company, associated with Thomas Newenham Deane and Son and estimated at £8,500. The subsequent building process was more complicated: in August 1897 the company chairman reported that much of the hotel had been taken down and rebuilt under its own engineer, William Purcell O’Neill. A later archive reference concerns compensation after the hotel’s destruction. These records connect the resort’s development with both architectural plans and railway management. [3]
Football and the schoolmaster’s bicycle
The Connemara GAA history project records Recess entering the Mongan Cup in 1938, with training on ground in front of the later quarry. Its account draws on Paddy Joyce’s memories of seven-a-side games in the 1940s, when players came from Oughterard and Clifden. He also remembered Mayo and Connacht footballer Henry Kenny cycling to his teaching work with his football boots hanging from the bicycle. Kenny’s association with Recess was therefore a working connection through the local school as well as a sporting one. [4]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Galway
- Barony
- Ballynahinch
- Civil parish
- Moyrus
- Within
- Lissoughter
- Coordinates
- 53.46969, -9.71695 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 131024 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Recess. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Recess Railway Station, County Galway, IE CA CP/1/1/2/7/11 · Irish Capuchin Archives
- Co. Galway, Recess, Great Western Hotel, work 59873 · Irish Architectural Archive, Dictionary of Irish Architects
- Recess: history and local memories · Connemara GAA & Political History Project
- Glendollagh Lough at Recess illustration: based on a Loch Ghleann/Da Loch Garroman by Maigheach-gheal. AI-assisted watercolour and ink adaptation; cream paper margins added, incidental clutter omitted and fine details simplified. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.