placenames.ie
Townland

Clifden

An Clochán

The original tables distinguish the town, the rural return and neighbouring institutional populations.

Watercolour and fine ink view of St Joseph's Church in Clifden, with its tall stone spire, clock and paired belfry openings beside the gabled entrance front.
Illustration, St Joseph's Church, Clifden, County Galway
Recorded locationClifden53.49084° N · 10.02527° WInteractive map supplied by OpenStreetMap.
Recorded place location · Logainm.ie

The name

clochánstepping-stones, causeway; old stone structure

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

  • An Clochán · Irish · main form · non-validated name
  • Clifden · English · main form

Place & story

A return including an industrial school

Clifden’s rural townland return in 1911 recorded 284 inhabitants, fifty-two male and 232 female. A footnote states that this figure included inmates of an industrial school. Twenty-eight of thirty houses were inhabited and two were empty. The table places the townland in Omey parish and gives its area as 315 acres, one rood and twenty-seven perches. [2]

The separately counted town

Clifden town had 809 inhabitants in 1911, with 180 occupied houses, ten empty houses and one being built. A footnote explains that it stood within Clifden townland, whose area and valuation included the town; its estimated extent was forty acres. The workhouse population was included under neighbouring Tullyvoheen, rather than in Clifden’s rural townland row. These distinctions preserve how the census divided the wider settlement. [2]

Geographic information

Place type
Townland
County
Galway
Civil parish
Omey
Coordinates
53.49084, -10.02527
Mapped area
1.28 km²
Logainm ID
1411940 ↗

People & family history

Census figures refer to the matched historical census area for each year. Boundaries and spellings can change over time.

Sources & further reading

  1. Logainm.ie — Clifden. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
  2. Census of Ireland1911: County Galway, printed pp18–19 · His Majesty’s Stationery Office; printed by the Athlone Printing Works Company, Limited, 1912
  3. Boundary geometry retains its source attribution and licence in the downloadable geographic record. Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors.
  4. Saint Josephs Catholic Church, Clifden, County Galway illustration: based on a St Joseph's church, Clifden by Meirion. 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.